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The gates, covered in vines and adorned with clocks.
“Why are you here?” a distant voice asks.
“To have tea, sir.”
“Where are you going to have tea?”
“With the hare, of course.”
“May I join you?”
“I certainly cannot invite you if I do not know you. And I certainly do not know you if I cannot see you. What is your name?”
“What is yours?”
A bell chimes and the clocks simultaneously break.
It is time for tea.
The voice asks again, “What is yours?”
“I believe it is now time for tea, so if you’d please excuse me.”
“You’re name is Alice.”
“Why have tea with the hare when you can have tea with me?”
“Pardon me sir, but I do not know you…”
He emerges from behind a glass pillar, with a sour look on his face.
“Why do you not want to have tea with me, Alice?”
“Because, sir, I already have plans with the hare. It would be impolite to be late.”
“His clock is an hour slow. You could spare me a few minutes out of that one hour, couldn’t you?
“If what you say about his clock is true, then I assume I am obligated to have tea with you.”
The chairs were tall and lined with magenta fabric. Diamonds wedged in little crevices on the arm rests gleamed in the noon sun. Alice, take a glance at your watch, would you please? It has been twelve for five minutes already. Your acquaintance sips his tea at even intervals and stares blankly at the artificial, unclouded sky.
“Why don’t you talk to me Alice?”
“But haven’t I? I spoke to you a few moments ago.”
“Must you know my name, then?”
The sky blackened and the previously golden tile floor melted into ugly, rusty metal.
Lowering his head and staring intently into his teacup, he forced a shaky hand to lift the teapot and pour some more.
His hand steadied, it was unwavering, and he continuously poured the tea into the cup.
It ran and it ran and it ran.
It soaked the lacy napkins.
It ran and it ran.
Over the table and onto the wretched floor.
He never looked up, but a spiteful smile crept across his face.
And your watch broke.
“Alice, I believe it is time for you to go have tea with the hare. I’m sure it will be splendid, considering you know who he is.”
A caterpillar hovers over you as you walk through the topiary garden. His twelve appendages were leathery and purple, his body was striped with teal and blue, and his eyes were yellow like a cat’s.
“I am going to have tea with the hare. I am already late for this affair, however. Please do not hinder me as the previous man has.”
The caterpillar chuckled to himself. “Miss Alice, you must certainly be joking. The others would not in the least bit try to hinder you from a meeting with the hare.”
“Why is it that you and all the others know my name?”
“What a silly young lady you are. Now how would the others and I know your name?”
He pulled out a hookah and slithered away.
The door is too small to walk through, but you can crawl through, can’t you?
The mansion looked all too familiar with its marble halls, glass pillars, and golden floors.
“Hello there Alice, right on time.”
“On time? Oh hare, your clock is one hour behind. I am terribly late. Please accept my sincerest apology.”
“Did you tamper with my watch? Was it you? I would never want to have tea with a girl like you. I will take my leave now.”
“As do I?”
“Stay, if you wish, but traverse my abode with caution. Do not blindly seek what shall tempt. Good day, Alice.”
And what has tempted you, miss Alice?
That vile, indigo liquid must certainly not be the item to hypnotize you.
Alas, the mixture is your destiny.
And you shall drink to your destiny until the clocks are repaired, and the cat’s question is answered, and the hatter smiles genuinely, and the caterpillar discovers Nicotine patches.
Drink, Alice, drink.
