When I began to think of Flying and Freedom the first person to come to my mind was of course The Pan himself.  To live the life of Peter Pan has been the fancy of many a child.  Just think… never growing old, having a fairy for a best friend, having amazing adventures every day, fighting off Pirates and any other wrong doers who threaten Never-Neverland. And oh yes, how could I forget, Peter’s most memorable and amazing attribute.  Peter Pan can fly.

I read a book a couple years ago called Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson.  And well, basically it’s about how Peter Pan became Peter Pan.  It starts out with Peter and a few other boys (a.k.a the Lost Boys) from the local orphanage being loaded on to a great ship called (obviously…) The Neverland, to be sold to a far off King as slaves.  But the Neverland is accidentally loaded with a mysterious cargo, which we later discover as a trunk full of magical starstuff, or a fallen star.

And low and behold this magical cargo is perused my the most notorious pirate to ever sail under the Jolly Roger, Black Stache (who of course later becomes affectionately known as Hook, after Peter cuts off his hand and feeds it to the ridiculously large crocodile Mister Grin who develops an affinity for said pirate and follows him around for the rest of his life hoping for another taste.)

When tragedy falls the Neverland  leaving Peter and the Lost Boys, along with the trunk of starstuff, shipwrecked on a desert Island. (I’m sure you can see where this is headed…) Leaving them sitting ducks for Stache, or so he thinks.  Battles commence in which Black Stache has his hand cut off, and Peter and the Island (which they name Neverland after the name plank from the ill fated ship washes up on shore) are exposed to large amounts of the starstuff, allowing Peter to once and for all escape the clutches of Stache and his crew by flying to his freedom, and thus creating his legacy.

Before I begin I apologize for being absent from the discussions, and late in posting my posts for family issues kept me from it.

My favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and upon reading Chapter Two: Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion I immediately recalled a meal scene that takes place at the beginning of Chapter Three.  It’s the first day of school and, after having made her look bad in front of the whole class and the new teacher, Scoutcaught Walter Cunningham in the playground and began to pummel him before her older brother Jem intercedes and breaks up the fight.

Upon recieving a stroke of genius, and just a jolt of common curtesy, Jem innvites Walter to their house for lunch.  Since he is “one of them Cunningham’s” he hesitates, before finally giving in and follows them home for dinner.  This is where, if you haven’t already guessed, the meal scene takes place.

During the meal Jem and Scout look on in wonder at Atticus and Walter “talked together like two men” in a conversation that neither Jem nor Scout could follow.  But as they are eating Walter asked for the molasses, and upon receiving the pitcher drowns his whole dinner in the syrup.  This act shocks Scout into asking, in her own blunt way, “what in the sam hill he was doin’.”  This of course invokes embarrassment in Walter, who is unable to answer.  Seeing the poor boy’s shame, Calpurnia summons Scout into the kitchen, where she begins to reprimand Scout for contrdicting the boy in such a way.

Scout not only earns a stinging smack to the behind but also a brand new sense of respect.  She learns that when at her family table whoever is sitting there breaking bread with them that at that moment they are equal.  During this time she not only earns a friendship with Walter, which happens to aid in keeping them safe on the steps of the jailhouse later on in the book, but she learns accecptence.  Cunningham or not.

But I also find it slightly ironic that Scout gets her revelation from Calpurnia, who is her black maid, and who isn’t allowed to sit at the same table as Scout.