Pindrop followed Garland to the South Beach. It was a wide sandy beach fronted by a clear sea with gentle waves breaking on the sand. Pindrop immediately felt the urge to go swimming, but curbed it as Garland led him to a boy wearing a fox pelt and sitting on a log, tossing shells into the oncoming waves. He was a little shorter than Pindrop and skinny. Pindrop couldn't tell what colour his hair was, because he had the hood of the fox pelt securely fastened to his head. He looked over at the two boys as they approached him and then went back to staring at the sea while throwing more shells.

"Corus, this is our newest Lost Boy, Pindrop. Pindrop this is our second newest Lost Boy, Corus. Corus is like a mythical god of wind from Rome or Greece or someplace like that."

Corus looked up at Pindrop, squinting because of the sun, and nodded hello. Pindrop noticed he didn't seem real happy and wondered if he had done something wrong. "Hi," Pindrop said hesitantly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing okay, I suppose," Corus said in a downhearted way. "You'll like it here. It's fun. Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks." Pindrop stood there for a moment and then, unable to contain himself, said, "Is everything alright?"

"No, but it's okay. I'm used to it and it's not like I probably don't deserve it," he looked up at Pindrop with dark eyes and half-grinned. "It's good of you to ask though. I'll see you around." He got off the log, let out a sigh, and wandered down the beach, every now and again bending over to pick up a shell or something to toss in the water.

"Did I say something wrong?" Pindrop anxioulsy asked Garland. "I didn't mean to upset him."

"Naw, you didn't. Corus is just that way. He has trouble believing he's part of the group and is always waiting for something to happen to cause him to be an outcast or something. It's because of some stuff that happened to him before he became a Lost Boy. He'll do anything in the world for you, but won't ask anything from anyone. He's afraid if he asks for anything or says something wrong, everyone's going to stop being his friend."  Garland looked up at the clouds wandering by above for a second.  "I think he may try too hard, and he knows he does, but is scared not to."

"How do you know about it, then?" Pindrop asked, perplexed.

"Oh you know."

Pindrop didn't know, but before he could ask, Garland had changed directions and left that topic far behind. "Let's head back for the tree. It should be about lunchtime and it's my turn to prepare it. You can be my first helper today." Garland took off at a trot, but every now and again stopped to snag a certain flower along the path. With a last look towards where Corus appeared as a tiny dot down the beach, Pindrop took off after Garland.

Pindrop followed Garland through a maze of trails, paths, and cross-country.  He wondered if he'd ever be able to figure out how to find his way around Neverland.  Garland kept up a constant patter of information, thoughts, and odds-and-ends as they walked along.  Pindrop liked listening to Garland's accent.  He found out that the yellow flowers made perfect garlands when mixed with the green ones, that red berries that looked like grapes should be avoided, and that if you put a pod of those things on someone's chair or in their sleeping pallet, it would create a most magnificent stench.  "You should probably make sure you're not going to be in the area when it happens, though."

The two boys came to a fork in the path they were on, and Garland led them to the left and down into a small valley full of apple trees.  When they got to the edge of the orchard, Pindrop suddenly stopped.  Garland took another step and then stopped as well.  He didn't say anything, but looked at Pindrop in an expectant manner.  "I feel sort of funny.  Like something isn't quite right," Pindrop finally ventured.  "It's not scary or anything, just like I should be careful."

"Yeah, that's the 'feeling'.  Every Lost Boy who wanders to this place has always gotten that feeling.  Nothing has ever happened here, but it just feels funny."  He pointed to where someone was snoozing under an apple tree.  "There's Phooka, over there."

The two walked over to where Phooka was.  His eyes opened before they got there and he grinned and nodded at them as they approached.  Phooka was dressed in a moose pelt, but without the antlers.  Pindrop hadn't ever seen anyone his size before.  He wasn't really fat, although he was definitely more than chubby.  It wasn't really weight, but more of just being big, Pindrop decided.  Phooka looked very strong and could probably move anything he took it in mind to.

"Phooka, this is our newest, Pindrop.  Pindrop, this big moose is called Phooka.  Don't turn your back on him, he loves to cause things to happen that probably shouldn't.  Most of them are pretty funny."

"Are you an Indian?" Pindrop blurted out.  Both Garland and Phooka laughed.

"Nope, I was a Samoan before I became a Lost Boy.  You look pretty sturdy, you play football?"

"Sometimes, but I get tackled a lot."

"Tackled?  Ohh, sorry about that.  I mean soccer.  Or how about rugby?"

"Yeah, I like soccer.  Isn't rugby sort of like football?"

"Kinda.  Don't worry, we'll teach you all about rugby."  He looked over at Garland.  "Cool, another player.  We got us a team now."

Garland looked at me with a rueful look.  "All Phooka wants to do is play rugby.  Can't imagine why.  It's not like he looks like he'd be good at it."

"Is a Phooka a kind of moose?" Pindrop suddenly asked. "And why don't you have antlers?"

"Cuz I'm a small moose," Phooka said, causing Garland to snort in disbelief.  "A phooka is sort of a magical faery creature.  They like to play tricks on the unsuspecting," he said while giving a significant look at Garland.  "Some of us have our heads in the clouds so often, it's not hard to trick them.  Phookas can shapeshift too."

"Wow!  Can you do that?"  Phooka just grinned at Pindrop without answering.  Any other time, Pindrop would have figured that meant no, but there was something in that grin that said anything was possible and perhaps here it was.

"C'mon Pindrop," Garland finally said.  "Let's go find the last of our merry bunch."

"Try near the south beach.  That's where he said he might head to today."  Phooka negligently tossed an apple to Pindrop.  "Here ya go, these taste better than any other apples in the world.  When Garland's finally shown you everything he wants to, come find me and I'll show you the greatest waterfall ever."

Pindrop thanked him and both he and Garland left the orchard, Pindrop munching on the apple that really was one of the best things he'd ever tasted.  "Just a word of caution," Garland said when they were out of earshot.  "You might want to be careful around water when Phooka is nearby.  Otherwise you might 'accidentally' get wringing wet."

Pindrop was fascinated by his tour of the area around Hangman’s Tree. He had thought that he’d known most of the stuff there was to know about Peter and the Lost Boys, but was finding out how little he really did know. Garland had taken him inside, after showing him his own private trap door. “Everyone gets their own so they fit perfectly through it,” Garland had explained to him. Garland had then shown him the sleeping/living/common room. There were a number of hammocks on one side and a very large, throne-ish looking chair on the other. “That’s Peter’s chair,” Garland had explained. “Don’t ever let him catch you sitting in it.”

Garland had led him to a boy who looked to be about Pindrop’s age sitting on a small stool by the hammocks and whittling a block of wood. He had dark black hair, black eyes, and a small button nose above a mouth twisted in concentration. He was dressed in what looked like a mouse or a mole skin. The boy looked up as Pindrop and Garland approached him, but his eyes didn’t seem to focus on them.

“Pindrop,” Garland said, “I’d like to introduce you to Eagle Eye. Eagle Eye, this is Pindrop.”

Eagle Eye put down the wood and knife. “Glad to meet you. You’re a new one, huh? What animal did Peter make you?”

“I’m a polar bear,” Pindrop proclaimed proudly, before looking at Garland in a bemused manner.

Eagle Eye seemed to pick up on Pindrop’s confusion. “I guess ‘mind like a steel trap’ didn’t bother to mention I’m blind. You’ll get used to that. Garland has a tendency to let his mind wander when he’s doing something.”

Garland laughed. “How else do you think I get so many things done around here? If I focused too much, we might actually have to get you to do something.”

Pindrop waited for Eagle Eye to get upset, but he just laughed. “Well at least if I did it, it might actually get completely done instead of halfway finished. Hey, Pindrop. Would you mind coming over here and kneeling down by me for a minute.” Pindrop turned to look at Garland who nodded in the affirmative. “You’d better nod yes Gar,” Eagle Eye said. Pindrop knelt down in front of Eagle Eye who put his hands up to the boy’s face and ran his hands over it. He did this for a few seconds and then nodded. “Thanks, Pindrop. Since I can’t see you with my eyes, I have to see you with my hands. Hey, you like books?”

“Some of them I guess.”

“Great. Can you read?”

“A little,” Pindrop said. He could read some stuff, but wasn’t exactly what he’d call good at it. He wondered what on earth being able to read could have to do with being a Lost Boy.

“Even greater. I’ll teach you some more and then you can read to me. I love adventure stories and we have a few books around here. Gar reads to me, but that wild crazy accent of his makes it hard to figure out what he’s trying to read.” Both Garland and Eagle Eye laughed as though this was a longstanding running joke.

“Yeah, sure. I’d be happy to do it.”

“Great! Maybe we can start tomorrow.”

Pindrop and Garland said their goodbyes to Eagle Eye and, each taking their own trap door, left Hangman’s Tree again. “Eagle Eye is unreal,” Garland said. “He’ll teach you stuff that you wouldn’t even think about asking. As far as being blind? He may not be able to see with his eyes, but the reason Peter called him Eagle Eye is that he must be able to see with something else. That boy can see things for certain that we can’t manage to see in the middle of the day with our eyes wide open. Let’s see,” he mused aloud. “I know. Let’s head to the apple orchard. Unless I miss my guess, there’ll be someone else to introduce you too there.

Jason's mother was no longer at home, but in the clinic that served as a hospital for the town.  This had come about when her coughing had worsened after the man from the Coast Guard had arrived to say they had given up the search for the boat that Jason's dad has been on.  After a prolonged bout of coughing that morning, Jason had run to the clinic in barefeet and harassed the staff, begging for someone to look at his mom and threatening to simply start screaming until a nurse had finally agreed in exasperation to come with him back to his house.  Five minutes were all it took for the nurse to decide that Jason's ma needed to be moved to the clinic immediately.  The coughing seemed to lessen and his mom smiled at him a couple of times, but none of the nurses or the doctor ever seemed to be able to hear his questions about how she was doing.

At 2:40 in the morning, he watched as his mom quietly left to start her new adventure and join her husband.  He sat there for a moment totally confused.  He carefully wrapped the blanket around her and kissed her lips for the last time.  He knew that he should probably cover her face, but he couldn't bring himself to do that.  Although he knew what had happened, that act would make it 'too' final.  In the confusion of two drunken fishermen being brought in to repair the damage they had done to each other in a fight, Jason was able to simply walk out of the clinc without being stopped or asked any questions.  There seemed to be some sort of large hole in him that he was keeping plugged by doing 'normal' things.  Thinking about what would have to be done.  The fact that he'd had no other family besides his ma and dad.  Figuring he needed to straighten his room up.  These thoughts kept him numb to what had gone on and his mind was most agreeable to keeping it that way for the moment.  As he walked back to his house in the early morning silence of the small town, though, he wondered why he didn't seem to feel any worse about what had happened this week. 

He supposed he'd end up in some orphanage as Johann had last year.  He'd received two letters from him telling how horrible things were there before the letters had stopped coming.  Jason had tried writing to him a few times, but hadn't received a response.  His ma had tried to find some news out about his friend, but had been unable to get by whoever was in charge of such places.

He figured it would probably be a couple of hours before the nurse noticed he was missing and just a couple more hours after that before one of the neighbors came by to see if he had come back here and what he was doing.  Reaching a decision, Jason took the pillowcase off his pillow and went downstairs and grabbed a half loaf of bread from the kitchen.  He added a couple other things and then went back upstairs to grab his jacket.  He came close to losing it when he saw the scarf that his Ma was always telling him to wear, and stuffed that in as well.  Next was the toy soldier he had gotten for Christmas.  He looked around the room and his eye fell on the journal that his Ma had given him.  He grabbed it and looked at the two entries he'd written.  He threw it, his pencils and his crayons in the case, added a clean pair of small clothes, a pair of socks and left the room.

He walked into his parents' room and looked at the bed.  The place where he'd been welcomed during thunderstorms and bad dreams.  The mornings he had jumped on top of his dad to wake him up for the 'big day' ahead.  He looked at the clock on the bedside table that was still ticking as it kept track of the time.  It seemed strange that it hadn't stopped at 2:40 since Jason felt everything else in his life had stopped then.  He looked at the dresser and saw a picture of himself and his parents taped to the mirror.  He remembered that day as clearly as it was yesterday.  It had been the first time he'd ever ridden a horse, although it had been led by the owner.  They'd had a picnic lunch and seen a show and there had even been some fireworks.  He grabbed the picture and put it in the pillowcase.

Downstairs he wandered thorugh the kitchen and the sitting room remembering the times they'd all spent together.  It was when he saw the marks on the kitchen door where they'd measured his height that he finally couldn't take it any longer and fled the house throught he backdoor, being careful to make sure it was locked first.

He wandered around the house for another half hour listening to the clock in the sitting room tick away the minutes.  He spent some time in his parents' room and then wandered down to the kitchen and through the sitting room.  He stored each room away in his memory and relived some of the ones he'd made with his parents.  A sudden noise outside the house had him flying away out the back door and down the alley.  He didn't stop running until he reached the edge of town.

Jason had no idea where he was headed or what he was going to do, he just knew that he couldn't stay anymore.  He was still horrified over the fact that he had yet so shed a tear for either one of his parents and wondered what sort of awful person he was.  He walked into the woods at the side of the road so he couldn't be seen and started following the road in the woods as it wound its way west.  He walked the rest of the night, the moon providing enough light to see where he was stepping, and all the next day.  He gradually got bruised and scraped pushing his way through the undergrowth fo the woods, refusing to step out in view of the road.  There was no thought in his mind except that he had to keep moving one foot in front of the other and keep moving.

Darkness fell once again, this time the moon was obscured by clouds that were strangely moving from east to west against the wind.  Jason tripped over a branch, stumbled and fell to the ground.  He lay there smelling the damp leaves.  It was as though the jolt had opened something within him.  Making that hollow place plugged within him suddenly open up.

Half an hour later a figure dressed in green hovered above a lost boy who was bawling as though he would never stop.

This winter was the worst that Baie-Daniel had experienced in almost a century.  Not only was the snow and cold bad, but it seemed every other day a storm moved through bringing high winds and closing parts of the town as the bay flooded it because of the huge waves crashing into town.  At first Jason was caught up in the excitement of the storms, but as they continued he began to get more and more worried about his Da.  Rumors started spreading through town as the rerun of the fishermen became later and later.

Jason continued to become more and more concerned about his mother as well.  She seemed to be eating less and less and coughing frequently.  Sometimes the coughing was so bad that Jason could see her grimace in pain through the wracking coughs.  Whenever Jason tried to ask her about it, she'd simply give him a weak grin and tell him everything would be okay when his Da got home.  Jason would agree to this to make his Ma feel better, but was not at all sure he believed it.

Rarely did Jason get the opportunity to play with his friends anymore.  Instead he'd either be trying to earn a few pennies by doing chores and errands for his neighbors or he'd be down at the Canadian National freight yard looking for spilled coal for the fire.  Fortunately Baie-Daniel was a fairly close community so he was able to earn more than he might have otherwise been able to and the conductors looked the other way when they found him haunting the yard.  The landlord would ask about the rent on occasion but was willing to wait until Jason's Da came back from sea.

Each night Jason would climb into his bed and slowly be carried away from the cares, concerns and the sound of his Ma's coughing as he read his favourite book before falling asleep.  Once asleep his most pressing concerns would be keeping up with the other boys, fighting off pirates, and exploring the neverending wonders of the forest around Hangman's Tree.

Jason looked out the window and was excited to see it was still snowing.  There was enough of the white stuff on the ground to build a pretty decent snow fort.  If it kept snowing for a little while longer, decent would become super.  He shifted position, his nose making a dot in the condensation his breath had caused on the window.  On the second floor, if he shifted just right and looked to the left, he could see a tiny slice of the bay that led to the ocean.  Da had left on the tide yesterday and was supposed to be back in two or three weeks.  Da had been pretty sure that there would be enough money from his share of the catch to buy the new sled Jason wanted.  The water of the bay, the little bit Jason could see of it, was being whipped about by the wind.  Before he could be concerned about it though, there was a knock on the door downstairs.  That would be Pierre ready to start building the fort.  Jason ran down the stairs, pausing for a moment when his ma told him to put on his scarf.  The concern came back to Jason as his ma was interrupted twice by coughing.  It sounded worse than a cold and seemed to have been around for a long time.  He asked if they should tell da about it.  In no uncertain terms, had his ma told him not to say a word to his da.  "Everything will be fine.  It's just one o' them stubborn winter colds."  Once again the worry was dispelled by Pierre knocking on the door.  Jason gave his ma a hug and told her he'd be back before sunset.  Her answer was interrupted by another cough, but she gave a reassuring smile and told him to be sure he stayed warm and for him and Pierre and Jean to come in if they got too wet.  Jason promised and then flew out the door where Pierre was waiting for him.  "Today I get to be Peter Pan, you're a Lost Boy and Jean is Hook because he wasn't here in time.