There never was a happier, simpler family. Mr. Darling was a banker who knew the cost of everything, even a hug. Mrs. Darling was the loveliest lady in Bloomsbury... with a sweet, mocking mouth that had one kiss on it... that Wendy and Kayla could never get. Though there it was, perfectly conspicuous on the right-hand corner. And sometimes there was Aunt Millicent...who felt a dog for a nurse lowered the whole tone of the neighbourhood.
"Wendy's turn!" The boys yelled, "Wendy must tell a story!" At that the boys started listing off pirates, and Wendy started talking about the adventures she planned for her future!
"My unfulfilled ambition is to write a great novel in three parts about my adventures."
"What adventures?" A worried Aunt Millicent asked.
"I've yet to have them, but they will be perfectly thrilling."
"But, child, novelists are not highly thought of in good society," Aunt Millicent started, "And there is nothing so difficult to marry as a novelist."
Suddenly the word going around the room was 'marry'
"But Aunt," Mother said, "the twins are not yet 13."
"Walk toward me, dears, that I may appraise you."
"Go on." Fathers urged, "Walk to your auntie. Stand up straight."
"Mm, yes. Oh, it's quite as I expected. The twins each possess a woman's chin. Have you not noticed? Observe their mouths. There, hidden in the right-hand corner, is that a kiss?"
"A kiss?"
"Like Mother's kiss."
"A hidden kiss."
"But what is it for?" They question.
"It is for the greatest adventure of all. They that find it have slipped in and out of heaven."
"Find what?" The twins ask.
"The one the kiss belongs to."
"My girls, women."
"Almost women." And with that they were sent off to bed, but all four of them hid outside the door to listen in on the grownups conversation.
"They must spend less time with their brothers, and more time with me. They must have their own room. A young lady's room."
"Leave the..."
"George, the daughter of a clerk cannot hope to marry as well as that of a manager. You must attend more parties, make small talk with your superiors at the bank."
"Wit is very fashionable at the moment."
We heard father very nervously muse about wit before we all trudged up the stairs.
KAMU SEDANG MEMBACA
In a Cloud of Green
Fiksi PenggemarWhat if Wendy had a twin sister, what if Wendy never fell for Peter Pan, what if Peter Pan never fell for Wendy? In this remake of the classic 2003 Peter Pan movie, you meet Kayla Darling, the inventive twin sister of Wendy Darling. Join them on a...
