Pepito

But the truth was this: he himself had firmly decided that didn't want to grow up (just like Peter Pan). Never ever! When he was romping wildly with the golden-colored dog one night in the sala, he told her plainly, “I never want to grow up! It is far too much fun being a kitten… forever and ever and ever…” And with that, he stood up on his hind legs and embraced the golden-colored dog with his soft, white paws. Then he jumped on her back, as if she were a horse! She threw him off and gently played with him, nosing him in a motherly way and making contented “aawrrh” noises. “When I'm a kitten”, he confided to her, “the children like to play with me and I make them laugh prancing around… and my mistress is sure to spoil me constantly if I remain a kitten. And the houseboy will always serve me mice from the traps. And I will spend my lazy afternoons watching the fascinating, colorful butterflies alighting on the fallen fruit of the breadnut tree, and I can swat at them and make them flutter like sillies in all directions. But most important of all, I want to always be the kitten in the story, you see…” Insert illustration no. 11 golden-colored dog and pepito conversing Ah, of course! So that's it! Now we realize why he refuses to grow up normally, for if he did, he would grow right out of the story, now wouldn't he? For Pepito had understood that childhood and kittenhood is a wondrous place in time. And because it is a particular place in a particular time, then even when we get old and gray we can return there, and relive those golden moments.