Peter Pan #01 - Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson

Author:Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson [Barry, Dave & Pearson, Ridley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure, Orphans, Magic, Humorous Stories, Fantasy & Magic, Friendship, Characters and Characteristics in Literature, Pirates, Islands
ISBN: 9781435257801
Google: Il1rNwAACAAJ
Publisher: Paw Prints
Published: 2006-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 34

REUNITED

PETER AWOKE FACEDOWN, with sand in his mouth and a bird on his head. When he spat out the sand, the bird squawked and fluttered into the air, landing a few yards away on the beach, disappointed at having lost its comfortable perch in Peter’s thick red hair.

Still spitting sand, Peter stood unsteadily and looked around him, blinking, almost blinded by the glare of the bright sun on the white sand. The beach, curving gently around a deepwater lagoon, stretched out several hundred yards in each direction; ahead of him, maybe fifty yards away, was a line of palm trees; beyond that, the land rose steeply, thick with green vegetation.

He looked at the bird, which was looking back at him.

“Can you tell me where I am?” Peter asked.

The bird said nothing.

“I didn’t think so,” said Peter.

He itched all over; he was hungry; his throat burned from swallowing seawater. He began trudging toward the trees. His plan was to climb into the hills, looking for a stream; there had to be water, he figured, with all this greenery.

But he was still weak from his ordeal at sea, and when he reached the palms, he decided to rest a bit. He sat beneath a tree, his back against its rough gray bark, and closed his eyes.

He opened them when he felt a shadow fall on his face.

“Hello, Peter,” said Molly.

“Molly!” said Peter, scrambling to his feet. “It’s you!”

This immediately struck Peter as an exceptionally stupid thing for him to have told Molly, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Yes,” she said. “It’s me. Are you all right?”

“Yes,” said Peter, brushing some sand off his clothes. “I’m fine. And I…That is, you…I mean, you…” He stammered to a stop, his face red.

“What is it, Peter?”

“I mean, thank you, Molly. For saving me.”

Molly took a step forward and put her hand on Peter’s arm. This felt absolutely wonderful to Peter; he cast his eyes down, lest she see the effect she was having.

“Peter,” she said. “It’s I who should be thanking you. You helped me when I desperately needed help. You got the trunk off the ship. You risked your life for me. The least I could do was try to keep you from drowning. I’m only sorry I let you fall…”

“That wasn’t your fault!” said Peter. “I couldn’t hold on any longer.”

“After you fell,” she continued, “I began to descend, and fortunately the wind drove me onto this island, not far from here. I’ve been searching since then, hoping that you were…I mean, I was so worried, Peter, and when I saw you against the tree, I…”

Now it was Molly’s turn to cast her eyes downward.

After an awkward silence, Peter said: “Have you seen a stream? I’m awfully thirsty.”

“No stream, not yet,” said Molly. “But I think I’ve found water.”

“What do you mean?”

“On the beach, just a bit that way,” said Molly, pointing. “There’s a barrel; it looks like a water barrel from the Never Land.”

“The Never Land,” said Peter, suddenly remembering. “Do you think it was…I mean, James and them, do you think…”

Molly’s look was somber.

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