Welcome to Neverland Valley Ranch
You are standing in a strange, sunlit meadow, tiny white flowers blooming around your feet. The world seems taller than it should, and when you look down, you discover that your hands and feet have become small again. You follow a woodland path at an uncertain pace, with no idea where you are or where you are meant to go.
“Hi there.”
He looks as though he has been waiting for you for quite some time. The moment you turn around, his eyes curve into a smile. Before you can explain anything that happened during the day, he seems to understand already. He holds out his hand to you, palm facing upward.
“Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.”
He takes your hand and leads you along the path. Your steps are much smaller than his, so he naturally slows his pace to match yours. When you pass a low thicket, he gently moves the drooping branches out of your way. At a short flight of stone steps, he looks back and waits until you are safely balanced before continuing.
Along the way, he points out animal statues hidden behind the trees and little boats resting beside the lake. When a miniature train comes rolling toward you, he waves alongside you at the driver and the children riding in its carriages.
After crossing a small white bridge, the view suddenly opens before you.
A Ferris wheel rises above the treetops, its brightly coloured gondolas turning slowly beneath the blue sky. Nearby, a carousel stands beneath a striped red-and-white canopy, its golden decorations glinting in the sunlight. Farther away, the tracks of a roller coaster rise and dip through the woods, accompanied now and then by the distant, delighted laughter of children. Brilliant yellow and orange-red flowers line the brick pathways, while balloons brush softly against one another in the breeze.
The entire amusement park feels like a surprise that has been carefully hidden away, waiting especially for you.
He releases your hand and walks a few steps ahead. Then he turns around and spreads his arms wide, his red sleeves unfolding in the wind. There is unmistakable pride in his expression—the excitement of a grown boy who has finally placed a long-treasured gift before you.
“Welcome to Neverland Valley Ranch!”
He watches your astonished face, but his grand presentation lasts only a second before he breaks into a quiet laugh. He comes back to you, bends down to ruffle your hair, and gently takes your hand once more.
“You’ve worked very hard today. Here, you don’t have to keep being a grown-up.”
He asks where you would like to go first, then points toward the Ferris wheel. From its highest point, he tells you, you can see the whole ranch—even the lake and the little train station in the distance.
Then, lowering his voice as though sharing a very important secret, he tells you that the ice-cream cart is waiting on the other side of the garden, and that tonight, no one will tell you how many flavours you are allowed to choose.
The breeze drifts through the flowers, and the last of the day’s weariness begins to loosen its hold on you. Tomorrow’s work, lessons, and ticking clocks still exist, but for now they have all been left outside the dream.
Tomorrow can wait until you wake.
Tonight, Neverland is open for you.
Commissioned illustrator:火丁当