Alice was talking to the White Rabbit last week about her upcoming croquet game with the Queen and how nervous she was at making an effort to do well so that she could make the Queen look good. (She had been invited to join the Queen’s Team by the Fish-Footman recently at a high-tea.)
The White Rabbit briefly checked his watch, and then casually pointed out to Alice that her way of playing croquet with the Queen could be so improved if she took advantage of some strategies that had been demonstrated by the Cheshire Cat last year and written up by the Dormouse. It should be noted and was forgotten by Alice at the time that White Rabbit always had good ideas that weren't always well thought out.The Dormouse had never made a lot of money, but was much smarter than most subjects in the Kingdom and did lots of strategizing and writing. The White Rabbit suggested she follow him down the Hole of Possibilities for a demo of this strategy. Alice eagerly complied and when they reached the bottom, he demonstrated this strategy on his new large computer and Alice, of course, was impressed. She knew that the Cheshire Cat had gotten an award by the Wonderland Croquet Association for his innovative approach last year and since she had some leftover cake in her apron pocket, she was hoping that she could get him to let her in on the little secret. After all, this would benefit all of the kingdom and not just her, because this would make the Queen very generous and happy for months.
After thanking White Rabbit Alice decided to run this idea by the Mad-Hatter. He seemed to be her mentor these days. His style of insanity seemed to work the best in the Kingdom. He also agreed with White Rabbit about approaching Cheshire Cat as a good way to use up the cake before it got stale. The Kingdom of Wonderland is full of stale cake at this time of the year.
So Alice put on her cleanest apron transferring the piece of cake to the starched pocket and went off to visit the Cheshire Cat at his office. Cheshire Cat was one of the few people in the Kingdom that had a windowsill to sit and dream on, which he seemed to do more often than not, and that was exactly how Alice found him. He smiled his 'Ultrabrite' toothy smile as she approached. (Alice hated that easy smile of his.) He stretched very slowly before leaping from the window sill, and took his time recognizing her presence. She explained her venture with the Queen and then told him she had talked with White Rabbit who in turn suggested she might use his "already created, magnificent, brilliant and very original strategy."
Cheshire Cat started purring and then looked off into space as if he were thinking. Somehow, above the noise of his loud purring, she knew he wasn’t thinking about any one thing and was just stalling for time or maybe deciding if he could disappear easily. After stroking his whiskers with both paws he finally stated that this type of strategy cost lots of cake and the time of someone very wise, such as Dormouse who happened to be under Cheshire Cat’s domain at the time.
“But you have already developed the strategy and I just want to implement it on the exact same croquet field? This would make us BOTH look good. We could BOTH benefit. I would certainly mention your name to the Queen.” Alice reasoned.
Cheshire Cat looked at her as though she were speaking French! He seemed insulted. (He had recently lost three mice due to starvation because he moved some cake into incorrect pantries and therefore, lost it, and as a result, he was a little on edge.)
“How many pieces of cake and how much time?” she finally asked.
Cheshire Cat stared at the ceiling. “Uh…” pause…”Ahem…” pause “maybe…I guess between 20,000 and 50,000 pieces of cake and …I don’t know how much time. You would have to ask the Dormouse but, unfortunately, he is visiting his Aunt Brie in Iceland right now.”
Alice stared at her shoes. She had only three days before the big event. She had 45,000 pieces of cake in her freezer, but she needed a new cake plate which cost about 6,000 pieces and she had promised Mad Hatter she would help him with a tea party that also needed cake and she didn’t know how many people were going to be invited to the tea party so she didn’t know how much cake would be needed and oh dear.
“Ok, I'll let you know if I can get my hands on some more cake,” she said and left.
Alice was low in mood and just a little panicked. She passed Mad Hatter by the stream and told him her dilemma. Mad Hatter suggested they keep her cake in the freezer until next year when it would be more useful---but maybe more stale. He also suggested that instead, an alternative would be to send the cake to Mock Turtle who was a very cooperative turtle and maybe he could study the strategy and help Alice.
Alice was wondering how long this would take. Friday’s and weekends were not the best days for the young and popular Mock Turtle to learn stuff and Mock Turtle was more a soccer kind of turtle and not a croquet kind of turtle.
Alice watched the sun set on another day beyond the field across the stream thinking and trying to be positive.
To be continued…maybe.
You tell me...you are the one with the wand.
ReplyDeleteMock Turtle as in mock turtle neck?
ReplyDeleteThose can be found at most department stores and I much prefer them to regular turtle necks as they itch me.
My comment to Alice would be "Stay home child and stop going underground with all those strange creatures. You need to find a nice little girl to be your playmate so you would not get so lonely."