From Lick Creek Line
Ron Jude
“You…you said no to him and he let you go! WOW! You must be fearsomely brave if he didn’t even challenge you to a duel!” She crowed. “What a Lost Girl I chose! Peter’ll be ever so proud of you. Not as proud as me though,” she said and yawned with the girl. “C’mon, I’ll show you back to my hideout and we’ll fix it up in the morning!”
Grizz nodded and sleepily attempted to smile largely at her accomplishment. “Oh yes, he just told me to leave!”, she explained. She followed Fauna to her hideout and crashed herself on the floor, completely knocked out.
“Just like that!” Fauna cheered, trying not to dwell on the first fall. “It gets real easy after a while!” she said, gliding over to her. “You’re doing splendidly!”
Grizzly smiled and turned over on her back, allowing the wind to just drift her anywhere it desired. “Ahh, this is fun!” She flipped back over to her stomach and noticed they were headed near the Jolly Roger. “I went there, I went there!”, she screamed. “I swam there and back. But I climbed on the ship, and Hook was there, and he wanted me to take him to Peter’s hiding place and I said no and then, and then…”, her voice trailed off and she let out a yawn. “And then he said get off his ship.”
Fauna clutched her stomach, giggling as she did. “You are flying very well,” she said. “But you kick too much! It’s not the same as swimming. Dive into the wind and you’ll find it much easier than flying against it.” Fauna swooped downwards to show her and pulled back up as it raced along the shoreline.
Grizzly watched and studied Fauna. “No kick, just dive!” She dove as best she could but fell flat on her face in the sand. “Oh shucks!”, she puffed and brushed herself off. She took a deep breath and kicked herself off the shore and back into the air. “Dive, dive, dive!”, she sand, practicing to the best of her ability. “Wee-hee!” She looked over at Fauna. “Like that?”
Fauna wriggled her shoulders; her body brimming with excitement. Grizz knew it, and Fauna knew it. “So do I,” she said, and blew the glowing fairy dust on the girl’s face. “And here…we…go…” Fauna said, taking the girl by both her hands and lifting her to the air.
“Weeee!”, Grizz beamed as they lifted off towards the sky. At first, Grizz was a little timid and clung to Fauna’s hands, but after a while, she got use to feeling as light as a feather, and sprang off on her own. “Fauna, look! I can fly like you!” Her lips curving upwards, her eyes adverting every which way. She could not believe she was flying with ease, or flying at all!
“Well, birdies need wind to carry them, so if it can carry them, it can carry me!”, she agreed. “Right? Right?!”, Grizz was now bouncing on her tip-toes. “Now what?”, she said with even wider eyes.
Fauna leaned in close so that their noses touched. If either of them sneezed, it’d be all over. “Pixie dust,” she said, so quietly that she wasn’t even sure if she had said it. Fauna was positively glowing in the stuff and she swept a hand down her arm, gathering it in her palm. “Just a dash of this will keep you flying for a month,” she said, playing it between her thumb and forefinger. “You think you can handle it?” she asked.
Grizzly stared at the shimmering dust for a really long time. “It’s - so - pretty.”, she managed to say. “I think I can handle that.”, she said in a matter-o-fact tone. Grizz looked into Fauna’s eyes now, not caring that their noses were touching. “Fauna, I can do it. I know it!”
Grizz placed her index finger on her chin and then nodded her head. “Yes, I have faith like all creature with wings! And in the wind and in Neverland! Yes, oh yes!” She grinned. “What else?” Her excitement was building faster and faster.
“Okay good,” she said, bringing her tongue across her teeth. “You’ve gotta trust the wind. Trust that it’ll carry you where you wanna go. Trust that it will never let you fall; as long as you’ve got faith.”
“Well, birdies need wind to carry them, so if it can carry them, it can carry me!”, she agreed. “Right? Right?!”, Grizz was now bouncing on her tip-toes. “Now what?”, she said with even wider eyes.
Lou listened to the girl. “Then Grizz it is.” She gently stroked the girl’s hair. “Why don’t you go to sleep?” She suggested.
Grizz’s eyes went droopy, but she tried to fight her drowsiness. “But Lou, I’m no-” She yawned again. “Not sleepy…”, she trailed off and finally doze to sleep.
“Ready, ready, ready!” Grizz quickly assured Fauna. She waited as patiently as she could for her new set of flying rules.
“It takes three steps. All very, very important.” Fauna said, putting her fists on her hips. “First off, it takes a lot of faith. Birds, bees and bats all have perfect faith. If they didn’t they’d fall right on their patookies and that’d be the end of that. Do you have faith in yourself? Faith in the wind? Faith in Neverland?”
Grizz placed her index finger on her chin and then nodded her head. “Yes, I have faith like all creature with wings! And in the wind and in Neverland! Yes, oh yes!” She grinned. “What else?” Her excitement was building faster and faster.
