Peter and Molly

This week on the Remember the Time Blog Hop, we’re talking about our imaginary friends.

I was a weird kid (I say that like I’m no longer weird, which is, in fact, false). As far back as I can remember, I talked to myself. I played games alone in the pool where I pretended to be a trapped mermaid. I played spy games in the car where I pretended I had a laptop and tracked the cars that followed us. I recognize I was strange.

I read a lot, too. For a few years, if we went out to dinner, or to a friend’s house, I brought a book “in case things got boring.” I always had a book at lunch, in case my friends were talking about make-up (which I did not wear) or boys (whom I was not allowed to date) or R-rated movies (which I was not allowed to see). We’d go to parties, and often I was the oldest kid, and the laziest, so everyone would go play tag (or whatever else) outside and I’d find a spot on the couch and read my book.

Every dinner, every party, even movies, there was always a book in my purse or the car.

And I went through books like other kids went through clothes. Entire series in a matter of a few weeks. I read them and couldn’t get enough. (On a side note: thanks Mom and Dad for funding my very expensive hobby.) And they fueled my games.

I read The Spiderwick Chronicles and thought there was stuff going on that I couldn’t see.

I read Harry Potter and pretended to have magical powers (I really did try to give my brother a tail, I think).

And I read Peter and the Starcatchers  and wanted to go on an adventure to find starstuff.

First, let me tell you I went through a phase, probably when I was about 10, when I was really obsessed with Peter Pan.

These books essentially explain how Peter became Peter Pan. He is an orphan and meets a girl, Molly, who brings him on an adventure, led by her father to find, “the greatest treasure.” When they find it, after wreaking on an island, they must keep it from the wrong hands. Molly is eventually captured and Peter must save her. Once it is discovered how dangerous the treasure is, Molly’s father decides to leave it on the island. Peter decides to stay and Molly leaves with her father.

Now, I was really obsessed. Like, I read all of these books and watched the various versions of the movies. I liked it a lot.

And one day, I was talking to myself or playing some game, and my brother came over and asked what I was doing. I told him to leave me alone and cracked some joke and laughed at myself. Well, my brother was not happy and asked who I was talking to, as I had just told him to leave me alone and then talked to myself. And I told him my friends Peter and Molly (see, the names aren’t as random as you thought), because that obviously makes complete sense. And from that moment on, I was never just talking  to myself, I was talking to Peter and Molly.

That eventually got really old. I liked being alone. And besides, who wants friends who can fly when she’s stuck on the ground? Not me. After a while, I told my brother that Peter and Molly had better things to do: fight pirates, save the world, never grow up, and that they would only come to visit me on occasion.

Those were the only imaginary friends who had names. I talked to my dolls sometimes, when we were having “tea” or watching movies. But, apparently, Peter and Molly were special.