Happy thoughts

Hook smiled his most cruel smile ever. His crew was cheering and as he looked at his hands. He realized he had done it!

Happy thoughts are a funny thing. Some can do wonders for the world. And some can be a very dangerous proposition.

Think about it – if you pardon the pun! What really defines happiness? Is it to benefit the world or just the single bearer of the happy thought? It would seem that most happy thoughts are selfish affairs that only regal the bearer of such a thought, and even worse most happy thoughts usually come at the cost of the happiness of others.

This was exactly the case.

Captain Hook had caught Tinker Bell and was trying to get her to reveal the latest location of the Lost Boys’ hideout.

For the umpteenth time.

This time, however, Hook was thinking of just getting rid of her once and for all. But he was not there yet. He shook her and shook her. And as he did, the helpless fairy started to feel the terrible pain of Hook’s hands and strength. And so, pixie dust burst out of her little wings.

Tink’ meant more to Peter than anything in the world. Hook knew that well. Peter would be coming to get her. This was the plan, as always. Capture Tinker Bell – check! Attract Peter Pan to a remote location – almost there. And then fight to the death – never. Peter Pan always won.

It took Hook years to find out how and why Peter flew. Hook always thought it was some sort of innate ability or superpower. Then Hook found out Peter had arrived as a regular boy in Neverland, just like Hook. So there was another explanation, logical or otherwise.

When Hook found out it was the pixie dust, he wasn't really surprised. After all, when you've been fighting an ageless flying boy for centuries, nothing much surprises you anymore.

The biggest hurdle was getting the little fairy to talk. Not only was she normally mute, but under threat and duress she was even more silent. So, after hours of torture and bouts of rage, days of pain for her, she was close to dying.

Hook and Peter had been locked in a never-ending battle for years. Centuries, even! Who could tell when time had no grasp on you in a magical land? But Peter always made it look like it was a game. Like it was child's play. But it was a man’s game. And Hook would win!

It had taken years to Hook to put two and two together. The pixie dust was one thing, but the stimulus for flight was another. Hook had never imagined he would ever be able to come upon some pixie dust. And even if he did, he didn’t know how it worked. He had heard the Lost Boys explain to some newly arrived orphans that a “Happy thought was all it took”, but a happy thought was such a strange concept for Hook that he never really paid attention to it.  

Having captured Tinker Bell, all Hook needed now was a happy thought. But Hook was not a happy man. And worse still, if he killed Peter he would be sad and that kept any happy thoughts away from his head.

Peter had been looking for days for Tink’. And after searching for her at the Indian camp and then at the Mermaids’ Creek, he knew there was just one last place to go look for her. Hook had kidnapped her a few times – or she had run away a few times to him as well, when she was jealous of Molly Darling, and then Wendy, and then Wendy's daughter. So when Peter showed up on Hook’s boat, the stakes were low. They were always low. It was all pretend, after all. No one was ever going to get hurt. That was an unsaid rule.

Hook was afraid he would lose his sense of purpose if he lost his greatest adversary. But then he realized that he could always find a new adversary. Sure, no one would ever be as formidable as Peter, but still Hook could look for one. After all, the Lost Boys would select a new leader and Hook would challenge him. And if this new leader wasn't up to par, then a new leader would be selected. And another one. And another one.

Until the Lost Boys would be no more. And then?

Hook would either go challenge the Indians or slaughter the Mermaids. And if they were all gone, he would go back to London to kidnap new children to find more Lost Boys.

This was a bit far-fetched, but it gave him plenty to look forward to! And that's when it happened. He had his first happy thought. The sad thought of losing his greatest nemesis was replaced by this new program, this new hope of finding an ever greater adversary than Peter. When Hook realized what was happening to him, he knew Peter was doomed

When the boy arrived on the boat, all clad in green and ready to fight with his usual bravado but his lack of seriousness, Hook knew the boy was done for. It was all a game for Peter. But Hook had raised the stakes. And it was time for his happy thought to become reality.

They started fencing and fighting. As always, Peter was leading the fight and getting the upper hand quite easily. Of course when you can fly and your opponent cannot, there is little you can't do. You always have the high ground, and in fencing the high ground comes with the upper hand.

Hook had ordered his men to hold back. They usually did, anyway. They enjoyed too much watching the frequent bouts to intervene. On the rare occasions that they did, they didn’t make much of a difference anyway!

And so, Peter was making fun of the Captain. Whirling around, taunting him, teasing him. Getting close enough for Hook to almost touch Peter, but never close enough for Peter to be in real danger.

But that's when Hook surprised everyone on his boat. Smee was not expecting this. The boat crew either. But most of all, Peter had never imagined for one second this could happen. So when it did, Hook immediately regained the upper hand. And Peter was so flabbergasted that he didn't react. And when Hook plunged toward him, Peter was not ready. He couldn't par. He couldn’t do anything.

It was like Dracula being able to stab Van Helsing in the heart during daytime. Or Lex Luthor sending Superman hurtling away with a single flick of the finger. There were unsaid rules in never-ending battles: one of them was that the villain was never able to acquire the hero’s powers. Never. But Hook had done so.

Hook was flying!

The pixie dust and the happy thought had done the trick. And when Peter finally understood  the whole consequences of it all, the scope of the new status quo, the possibility that Tink’ was probably dead having expired while letting go of the pixie dust, that this was not a game anymore, well, it was far too late. Hook had stabbed him in the heart and suddenly the boy who didn't want to grow up was no more.

Hook smiled his most cruel smile ever. His crew was cheering and as he looked at his hands he realized he had done it! Peter’s blood was all over his hands and now spreading on the deck. But Hook knew he would never clean the blood. He would let it cake on the wood as a reminder of his greatest victory.