Jas. Hook, Captain

Together We Stand...

When at last I did return, days later, I happened upon a rowdy feast. The Lost Boys were all engaged in a most glorious food fight, laughing wildly, but the moment I stepped into the firelight everything went still. They froze in a strange tableau, hands full of mashed potatoes, wielding drumsticks like clubs, but their expressions neutral.

Peter was not present, nor was Tinker Bell.

"Carry on, as if you were normal," I said. "Don't stop on my account."

From the far end of the table, Badger eyed me with caution. Not fearful, but also not respectful. I felt his gaze keenly, the judgment of it.

"You heard the Captain, boys. Go on then," he ordered.

They began again, but not in earnest. Their hearts were simply not in it. A flurry of diced carrots went one way, and a spray of peas another.

"All back the way it were, eh Cap'n?" Smee asked, rhetorical.

"Indeed," I replied.

"Good to have you back, sir. Nice to be working with a proper scoundrel again."

"Where is Peter? Tink?"

"Not hereabouts in weeks, sir."

"Weeks?" I asked, unable to mask my surprise.

"Well, yessir. That is, haven't seen them since..." he trailed off.

"Go on," I said. "Tell me."

The food fight continued, but I sensed many of the Lost Boys had reduced the intensity of their efforts in order to more properly hear us.

"After you left, the pixie sorted out old Badger's broken branch. Right as rain, he was, our Badger. Then Peter Pan came back and he had a bit of a temper you might say. Not too happy, he was. He and the pixie took off and haven't been around since. And as you were nowhere to be found they put old Badger in charge of our shenanigans and general tomfoolery."

"Is that so?" I asked.

"Indeed, sir, Cap'n sir. And you could say it's been a might bit uneasy round the old camp since then."

"Has it?"

"That's what all this was about, you could say. Just breaking the tension with a bit of culinary combat, sir. You see, since then, the battle that is, the whole of the Lost Boys have been divided you might say into two camps."

Looking upon them now, I could see what he meant. It was subtle, but there were indeed two factions before me. To an inexperienced observer it may have come as quite a challenge to discern them from one another, but to me it appeared as plainly as differing between sheep and cattle.

"There's them that have sore feelings over poor sweet Badger and his tribulations, and then there's them that feel he's made a rather larger something out of a rather small nothing, you see."

I pondered this as I scanned their faces.

"And you, Smee? What's your opinion on the matter?"

"Me, sir? Well, I'm of the mind that there's no harm so there's no foul. Been a bit dull without proper leadership roundabouts, so I reckon it's good to have you back and let's let bygones be... er," he paused, searching for the word.

"Bygones?" I offered.

"Exactly, Cap'n. Just so."

"Live and let live," I said.

"Precisely," said Smee.

I grabbed a handful of cake, took a small bite, and smiled.

"Very well then," and I threw it the length of the table, smattering the visages of several of my compatriots, and a great battle ensued.