A Mother's Love

Angie drove as fast as he could back to the house without going over the speed limit. It took about thirty minutes to get there. Angie pulled the car up to the curb in front of the house and they all exited the car quickly. May led the way across the sidewalk and up the front stairs with Parker and Angie in close pursuit.

The front door was locked and May started searching her purse for her keys, but before she could fish them out Parker used his keys to open the door. Parker pushed the door open and May rushed in calling for Peter but she got no response. She rushed down the hall towards the kitchen but did not find Peter or the Lost Boys. From down the hall in the parlor she could hear Parker calling her to with a sense of awe in his voice.

May ran down the hall and turned right into the parlor and saw what Parker had found. Parker made a signal with his hands for May to be quiet and not to disturb what was going on.

Standing in a single line, from shortest to the tallest, the Lost Boys stood facing forward into the room.

At the end of the line behind the tallest Lost Boy Peter stood on a small step stool. Peter had his hands placed on the sides of the boy head in front of him. The boy in front of Peter had his hands placed in the same position on the boy in front of him and so on down the line to the shortest of the Lost Boys. Around Peter’s head was a yellow glow like a halo that got brighter with each passing moment. Once the glow reached an appearance of staring directly into the lens of a flashlight it moved from Peter’s head along his arms to his hands. There the glow lingered surrounding the tallest Lost Boy’s head for about ten seconds then moved down the length of his arms to his hands. As before the glow lingered around the head of the next Lost Boy and moved on in the same manner down the line. When the glow finally reached the head of the shortest Lost Boy it lingered as it did before but this time it rose from the child’s head and just hung in the air directly above him. The smallest Lost Boy reached up and placed both his hands around the glowing ball of light and held it.

The sphere of light decreased in size and brightness then faded into nothingness between his fingers. In unison the twelve Lost Boys turned to face Peter and said using their voices “Thank you Peter.” Peter smiled and replied “You’re welcome brothers.

May, Parker and Angie did not understand what had just happened, but they could all feel the joy that the Lost Boys were feeling at that moment. May walked over to Peter and hugged him for a long moment then still holding him tight planted a kiss on his forehead. Peter looked at May and said “Mom they couldn’t talk so I fixed them so they could. I had to repair the damaged parts of their brains that had been modified by the doctor and the agency.” May replied “You did well Peter. Now could you introduce me to our house guests?” “They were never given names Mom, just numbers.” replied Peter. “Well that’s not acceptable. Everyone should have a name. What would you liked to be called?” asked May. The Lost Boys looked at each other then over at Peter and said, “That’s something we never really thought about. We’ve always been addressed by the doctor and the technicians by our numbers. Can’t you just give us names that we can go by?” Peter and May looked at each other and May shrugged her shoulders as if to say she hadn’t a clue to what to name them. A smile broke out across Peter’s face and he said “We should name them after characters from the Neverland tales. I think that would be our best bet.” The Lost Boys all nodded their heads in agreement and seemed excited by the prospect of being given names.

Peter thought for a moment then said “We’ll start at the tallest end of the line. You will be called Michael after Wendy’s brother, because he was the tallest of the Lost Boys. Next will be Tootles the boy that shot Wendy with an arrow. Then the next is Nibs considered to be the bravest of the Lost Boys. Slightly the funniest will be next, Curley the Lost Boy that always found trouble is next. Marmaduke the oldest of the twin lost boy and Blinky the younger of the twins will be for you two. That’s all the names of the Lost Boys so the rest of you I will name after the pirates. You will be Smee who was Hook’s right hand man. Then we’ll call you Starkey who was first mate. You’ll be called Cookson known to be the worst cook on the seven seas. We’ll call you Noodler. He was the pirate with backward hands. Lastly, the smallest and youngest will be named John after Wendy’s baby brother. Are you guys OK with those names?” All the Lost Boys smiled and nodded their heads in acceptance. Each of the lost boys started to introduce themselves to each other using the name given them by Peter. There was a lot of hand shaking and laughter going on in the process of introductions.

Peter and May smiled at each other as they watched the Lost Boys enjoy their first taste of freedom.

Peter mentally shared with May the feelings and emotions the Lost Boys were experiencing. May felt overjoyed with what Peter was sharing with her, but being a mother she also felt their needs hiding beneath the surface of their emotions. The one need that she felt the strongest was hunger and her motherly instincts kicked in to make sure they ate. She turned to Angie and Parker and said “Gentleman, I think it’s a time for celebration. What do you say we treat these boys to the wonderful favors of some Italian food and pastry? I’ll cook up some pasta and meatballs while you two go and get some treats from the bakery.” May still being connected mentally to the Lost Boys feelings and emotions, felt a surge of wonderment coming from them.

May then realized that these children have never eaten solid food. Through their whole existence they were nourished through feeding tubes. These feeding tubes delivered a liquid substance that feed and nourished them. She wondered if their digestive system could handle real world solid food. In her mind May heard the Oldest Lost Boy Michael say “Our digestive systems are quite capable of processing the food. We would very much enjoy tasting real food for the first time. Peter told us that you’re a great cook and that Papa Angie’s pastries are the finest in the world. Please do not deny us this simple pleasure. May looked over at Michael and said “It would be my pleasure to give you your first meal young man.”

Parker and Angie headed out to the bakery to get some pastries for the celebration. Before May headed for the kitchen to prepare a fine meal for the Lost Boys, she told Peter to watch over them. Peter asked them all to sit in a semi circle on the floor in front of the arm chair in the parlor and they did as he asked. Once they were all seated Peter walked over to the book shelf on the right wall of the room and took a book from the shelf. He sat in the arm chair and held up the book for all of them to see. It was the copy of Peter Pan that Fawn had placed in the basket with Peter tem years ago. “I would like to share this story with you. I find great comfort in it and I think you will too. Would you like me to narrate it for you?” asked Peter.

They all answered mentally to Peter and they all replied yes. Peter smiled and using his voice replied “You guys have to get use to using your new found voices, so from now on please use your voices to communicate. OK? I’ll ask again do you want me to read this story to you.” In unison and loudly the Lost Boys replied using their voices saying “Yes Peter. We want to hear the story of Peter Pan.”

May having heard their loud and vociferous response came walking back into the parlor from the kitchen. “Peter, I think we should eat first then we’ll all gather in here and you can read the story to us all. Is that OK with everyone?” May asked. Peter and all the Lost Boys agreed to eat first then enjoy the story of Peter Pan. May smiled at them all and returned to her cooking in the kitchen. Peter placed the book down on the arm of the chair and it slipped and fell to the floor. John, the smallest Lost Boy, reached over and picked it up to hand it back to Peter. As he did something fell out of the book and landed in the floor in front of Peter.

John picked it up and saw it was a picture of a young woman. He asked Peter who was the lady in the picture.

Peter took the picture from John and said “That was my birth mother. Her name was Fawn Moore. She saved me from the living hell you knew, and in doing so saved all of you.” He past the picture back to John and he looked at it for a long moment then passed it on to the next child. Each child held the picture for a moment and memorized the face of Fawn Moore then passed it on until it came full circle back to Peter. He held it for a moment then lifted it to his lips and kissed it. At that moment all the Lost Boys were privileged to share feelings of love that flowed through Peter. They also shared the heartache of the loss he felt and the underlying guilt for her sacrifice. May came back into the parlor and told all the children that dinner would soon be ready. She felt the sadness that filled the room and asked “Is there something wrong boys?” “No.” Peter responded “Just showing my brothers the picture of Fawn that was in the book and sharing my memories of her.”

When Parker and Angie returned the celebration began. Each boy was served a large plate of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. After watching the boys trying to get the spaghetti into their mouths without making a mess, Angie explained the fine art of eating spaghetti properly. He demonstrated to them how to curl the spaghetti around the fork so they wouldn’t have to slurp the long noodle into their mouths and causing the tomato gravy to splatter all over their faces. He also demonstrated how to use a knife to cut the meatballs into smaller portions to fit in their mouths. He did this because he saw they were trying to fit the whole meatball into their mouths in one bite. May, Parker and Angie had a glass of wine with their dinner, but the boys were served a cola soda. They boys savored the flavors of the food and soda and Peter shared their delight with May, Parker and Angie. Smiling Angie address the boys and said, If you think that this taste good.

Wait till you try the pastries.”

After they finished the main course May stared to gather up all the dirty dishes, but Michael the oldest of the boys said “We’ll take care of the cleaning up of the dishes Mom.” As soon as the last word left his lips Michael started to blush. He had read the mental image in May’s mind about calling her Mom. He started to apologize to her but was stopped by May as she said, “Michael I’m very flattered that you called me Mom and I was not offended. It was just surprising that’s all. Please all of you feel free to call me Mom, I won’t mind.

And I’m sure Parker and Angie wouldn’t mind you calling them Dad and Papa. We gladly welcome you all into our family.” Peter smiled at May and she felt his joy and that of all the boys spread through her spirit.

The boys did clean up the dinner dishes, but in a way that was most unusual. All the plates, glasses and silverware that sat stained with the remnants of the meal were instantly clean. Then one by one the plates popped out of existence, followed by the glasses and silverware. May sat with a surprised look on her face as she watched her dinnerware pop out of existence. “Don’t worry Mom, your dinnerware is okay. We just put them back where they belong after cleaning them.” said the boy now known as Curley. May stood up and said “Thank you boys for cleaning up, but we have a rule in this house about using your abilities. We have taught Peter that it’s okay to use his abilities when it is necessary, but on trivial thing like cleaning up after dinner should be done the old fashion way. We have done this so that he would learn how to function as a normal human in the real world. You boys must also learn how to live and function in the real world and we would like you to abide by this rule we have set. Do you understand and agree?” All the Lost Boys looked over at Peter for guidance and he sent them all a mental response that it was in their best interest to abide by the rule.

Curley responded verbally to May and said “We understand and agree to your rule. Peter has shown us that it is in our best interest to let you guide us into this new life we now have.” May replied “Thank you and now it’s time for dessert.”