Read Meme

Shawn at Letters to my Daughters tagged me with two memes simultaneously: one on reading and one on writing. I don't have time to do both tonight, so I'm going to do the easier of the two.

The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag 5 people

Peter Pan
Page 123 of that particular edition (the one I gave my husband as a Christmas gift 17 years ago because it is my favorite story and because the lost and thoughtless Peter reminded me of him even then) is a picture. So I got another of my editions, but page 123 was not particularly interesting. So I pulled down a third copy from my book shelf. But there are fewer than five sentences on page 123, so I'm giving up on the exercise and picking my favorite passage from that page, and going over by a sentence.

This is from the first American edition, titled Peter and Wendy. (I found it in a rare book store about 17 years ago as well, and indulged myself.) And yes, I own at least three different copies of Peter Pan.

You must not think from this that the mermaids were on friendly terms with them: on the contrary, it was among Wendy's lasting regrets that all the time she was on the island she never had a civil word from one of them. When she stole softly to the edge of the lagoon she might see them by the score, especially on Marooners' Rock, where they loved to bask, combing out their hair in a lazy way that quite irritated her; or she might even swim, on tiptoe as it were, to within a yard of them, but then they saw her and dived, probably splashing her with their tails, not by accident but intentionally.

They treated all the boys in the same way, except of course Peter, who chatted with them on Marooners' Rock by the hour and sat on their tails when they got cheeky. He gave Wendy one of their combs.

This is one of my favorite chapters, ending with one of my favorite lines and images: Peter ends up alone on the rock in the night with the tide coming up. Surrounded by mermaids calling to the moon, knowing he is likely to drown, he says "To die will be an awfully big adventure."

This book happened to be closest to my bed (where I am writing) because I want to reread it and post about Peter Pan and addiction. Someday...