Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon [15]
Lizzy and Rhonda hurried up onto the stage, holding their breath in anticipation: maybe today Peter would tell them about the play.
Hed been keeping to himself for weeks, locked in his room, spending afternoons at the library and coming out to the stage on warm days after school to write in his notebook. No one was allowed to disturb Peter when he was writing a play. And only when he was finished with the script and all his production notes, would he reveal anything.
Peter got to his feet, smiling impishly at the girls. He reached out his hand to Rhonda.
Come away with me, Wendy, he said.
And Rhonda took his hand without hesitation, without any consideration of who Wendy might be or where he wanted her to go. Together, her hand tucked into his, they jumped off the stage and ran around the clearing like crazy birds, cawing and laughing, Peter yelling, Isnt it wonderful to fly? Lizzy sat on the edge of the stage, clapping and laughing with them until finally, exhausted, they came back to the stage and collapsed at Lizzys feet. They were both on their backs, and Rhondas head was resting on Peters chest, going up and down with each breath he took. Lizzy lay down with her head on Rhondas belly and her legs over Peters, the three of them forming an imperfect triangle.
Have you guessed yet? Peter asked.
Rhondas mind was spinning with possibilities: a play about birds? Greek gods? Fairies maybe?
Peter Pan! Peter said at last. Were going to doPeter Pan ! Itll be the best play yet. Ill play Peter. You, Ronnie, are Wendy. And Lizzy, you are the infamous Captain Hook!
THEY HAD DONEother plays, of courseplays Peter had written, and ones theyd made up as they went along. Short, predictable dramas about knights slaying dragons, cowboys killing Indians, cops shooting criminals. Last year, Peter even let the girls talk him into doing a play about a roving band of gypsies. Peter played the gypsy king, Rhonda was the queen, and Lizzy her treacherous sister who was also in love with the king. Lizzy poisoned Rhonda, who got to die a spectacular, three-minute death on stage. Peter, the gypsy king, had Lizzy hung then stabbed himself in the heart with his dagger, cursing the wicked ways of women, damning the gypsy life. This followed the formula of most of their plays: all the important characters died at the end, even the hero. Only inPeter Pan , everyone would live.
Everyone but Captain Hook, that is, Peter explained. He gets eaten by the crocodile.
Peter, as writer, director, and star (not to mention the oldest kid in the neighborhood), made the rules, and, as they got older, the plays got more complicated, as did the rules. But from the beginning, it was a strict rule that the plays were not to be discussed with outsiders. No one was allowed to hear about the play, or see any part of it performed until the opening night, when it was for paying audiences only. Rehearsing a play was like training to be a ninja, Peter said. You cleared your mind of everything else and developed your art in secrecy. You strived for perfection.
Some children wanted a tree house, a secret fort somewhere, but these kids wanted a stage of their own, and they got their wish. Theyd built a stage out in the woods three years ago, in a clearing between Rhondas house and Peter and Lizzys, right beside Clems old, rusted-out Chevy Impala convertible, parked there the year Rhonda was born. Clem and Daniel helped put up the stage, doing all the sawing and