image creditAll children except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up... this is the beginning of the end. The first paragraph of James Barrie's classic story, Peter Pan, introduced its central theme. It sounds innocent, but a look at Barrie's life gives it a more sinister twist.
In 1866 when Barrie was six, his brother David, the pride of the family, died in a skating accident. To comfort his mother, little James began imitating David's mannerisms and mimicking his speech. This bizarre charade went on for years... and only got weirder: when James reached 13, the age at which David had died, he literally stopped growing. He never stood taller than 5'. He always had a thin, high-pitched voice.
