Chapter 2 - The Map to Neverland

Most of our adventures started like this. A book, a hidden meaning and then running into the forest with a bag of food and other trekking items… but mostly food… chips and popcorn. Back then we were innocent and had a mind ready to accept fantasy. Sad as it was, we were not children anymore and the magic in the world had been replaced with rationality, logic and a sense of fear of the unknown and in-explainable.

But just for one more time… I wanted to get lost in the world of imagination and have an adventure with Rona again. Run through the woods and act as if we could truly see the magic around us. Just once more before we went back to our boring old life. Before I have to go back to the loneliness of being a single child of parents who could hardly bear to spend their time under the same roof let alone spend time with her. And now there was that…

I blinked hard to fight the tears welling up in my eyes. I needed to do this with Rona, one last time before it all felt too ridiculous luckily Rona was all game

"Really? A map?" she said looking excited. She was just as willing to do this as I was.

"Yes!" I was so glad to have a cousin like her.

"Show me!"

"Here…" I put down the book on the vintage study table and pointed at the poem.

"Really?" Emmend rolled his eyes. "You guys gonna do this again? Aren't you a bit too old for play acting now?"

The look we gave him was enough to send him running back to the books he was arranging. He threw a glance at me before vanishing behind a pile of books. I knew about his little crush on me, I just chose to ignore it. And yet I could not fight the butterflies.

"Soo.." I tried to change the subject while ignoring the little side smile Rona wore. I took a pen from the table and got to work

"Between the woods and frozen lake," I read as I underlined the words. "The place where he stopped."

" Woods fill up with snow, The darkest evening of the year - the conditions. Luckily its winter!"

Rona raised an eyebrow. She expected better. So I jumped into explanation.

"This poem is about responsibilities and yada yada. Well leaving aside what the lines are trying to tell the duller people who have nothing to do with curiosity and a sense of adventure, it tells us where to find the entry into Neverland."

"Wow!" Rona exclaimed joining in. "Neverland!"

"Yeah a place where you don’t grow old and where you don’t have to keep the promises of the real world. While the poet chose to avoid the place to keep his promises and choose a real life that leads to death, he left us a tip to find the entrance to Neverland," I said.

"Well let's not make the same mistake he made. I mean who wants to be responsible and keep promises and grow old and die!!!" Rona said.

"Maybe he met twuu wuv," I was enjoying this.

"Ha!" Rona waved a hand disapprovingly throwing a glance at Emmend who was trying his best to act as if he was not eves dropping. "What a waste."

"Well then, let's not let his tip go to waste!"

"Yep! Let's go find Neverland!"