Jesse offered to have Winnie drink the spring water so she could become immortal when she was seventeen.
When Jesse first meets Winnie, there seems to be a big age gap between them. She asks how old he is, and he tells her the truth—he is one hundred and four years old. She doesn’t believe him, of course, because he looks like a teenager.
"Well then," he said, "if you must know, I'm seventeen."
"Seventeen?"
"That's right."
"Oh," said Winnie hopelessly. "Seventeen. That's old."
"You have no idea," he agreed with a nod. (Ch. 5)
Despite the age difference, Winnie and Jesse seem to get along. Jesse is very lonely for someone close to his age that he can talk to that understands him. He can’t have friends for long because they would age and he wouldn’t, so he has to keep to himself or keep moving.
Jesse gets close enough to Winnie that he makes her a rather extraordinary offer.
But the thing is, you knowing about the water already, and living right next to it so's you could go there any time, well, listen, how'd it be if you was to wait till you're seventeen, same age as me—heck, that's only six years off—and then you could go and drink some, and then you could go away with me! (Ch. 14)
Making a marriage offer to an eleven-year-old when you are seventeen may seem a little creepy, but from Jesse’s perspective it makes sense. When is he ever going to have a chance to meet a girl who knows about his secret? Winnie found out by accident. Maybe he thinks it is fate. She already knows about his family. He thinks if she waits until she is seventeen, they could be a good match.
Winnie chooses not to drink the water. At first she doesn’t drink the water Jesse gave her because she tells herself she can always get more. She still chooses not to. Eventually, the spring is destroyed and the chance is gone, but she lives and dies a natural life and the Tucks understand.
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