Alice before Wonderland

The book was an exciting one filled with dragons, knights, and damsels-in-distress. My governess, Lidia, sat daintily on the colorful patchwork quilt below my Reading Tree. She was reading aloud from one of the books she had brought with her from America. Lidia refused to read the political books to me as my mother demanded; instead she set them aside and turned to the more appealing books. Lidia fully trusted me to my imagination. I sat in my tree and listened in enraptured silence softly stroking my small kitten. These precious Saturdays with Lidia and my Reading Tree were the only things that kept me going for the other six days of the week. My mother was insistent on making my decisions for me; my mother with her love of red roses and croquet, yet tyrannical personality. It was these Saturday outings that offered an escape from her. I was awfully tired today. I had fought with my mother the previous day over an ugly velvet hat that made my blonde hair look stringy and my pale skin translucent. Mother had made me wear the hat to our afternoon tea time with the great-aunts, who I enormously despised. Their pointless blather was one of gossip and nitpicking. I had entertained myself by watching the small blue caterpillar that had landed on my great-aunt Iriss horrid black hat. After coming home from the dreadful day, I had not slept well. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep combined with Lidias soothing, sweet voice floating up through the leaves that made me fall asleep. I did not realize I was asleep; I lived so much in my imagination it was like any other daydream. A rustling in the bushes startled me. I looked below to find a smartly dressed rabbit with a golden pocket watch, muttering to himself. My curious nature got the better of me and I slid out my perch to talk to the rabbit, but he had already run off. I quickly followed his bobbing white tail into the forest, brushing past heavy branches as I ran and ducking under others. White Rabbit?! I called Im late! Im late, for a very important date, no time to say hello, goodbye. Im late, Im late, Im late! his musical voice answered back. My curiosity burned fiercer and I continued to follow him through the shrubs. Not noticing where my feet were I tripped and landed tangled on the mossy ground. I brushed myself off and discovered that my new dress of blue had received a hole and my stockings had grass stains. I looked around at my surroundings and noticed the small meadow I had landed in. Looking around for the rabbit I found he had disappeared again, the only thing that seemed of interest in the meadow was a small rabbit-sized hole at one side by the base of a tree. I crept closer and looked down into the blackness that curved around. I could faintly hear someone frantically singing they were late. I wanted so badly to follow the rabbit but the thought of my mothers pinched face stopped me in my tracks. What would she think of me ruining my new dress and then following a mad rabbit down a hole to an unknown place? I felt I should turn back and go home but I so badly wanted to make this decision on my own. I felt a shiver of excitement run down my spine as I made my decision. I climbed nimbly into the hole following after the quaint tune not expecting the adventure that would come next.

Anny Palmer

3/10/11

Hamblin(6)