"She might have a point," yawned the mouse. "Perhaps change wouldn't be a bad thing."
"But it could unleash chaos," said the rabbit, pacing back and forth.
"What kind of chaos?" asked Alice.
The rabbit stopped and wrung his paws. "How should I know? Just CHAOS!"
"So you're saying that your afraid of the unknown, right?" asked Alice.
"No," said the rabbit, " of course not. Well, yes. Maybe."
"Not knowing what comes next can be exciting," she said. "Scary, sure, but not always. It doesn't have to be."
"What if everything falls apart?"
"Then you'll have something new to put back together," she said. "You don't have to do what the Tweedles tell you to do. You don't have to listen to the caterpillar either."
"But he's the smartest one in Wonderland," said the rabbit, shocked.
"Is he?" asked Alice. "How would you know if there was someone smarter, when you already believed he is the smartest? There wouldn't be any room for anyone else. No competition, so even the caterpillar wouldn't grow."
"What exactly are you saying?" asked the rabbit, sitting down.
"I'm saying you're all prisoners of you're unchanging beliefs."
The cat fell out of the tree and landed on the cake. He smiled and winked at Alice.
She straightened her hat. "I don't know how the Tweedles will turn out. They may just be bigger thugs than they already are, but they should at least have a chance to grow up."
The cat, still laying on the cake, rolled onto his back.
The Hatter arrived and took his place at the head of the table. "What's been happening," he asked, looking at Alice's hat.
The rabbit told him everything.
"Hatter," said Alice, "you could design jackets and gloves and evening wear and clothes to wear when you ride a bicycle. You could design interiors, or anything you like. You don't have to just design hats."
The hatter sat down and stared straight ahead. "I could do those things?"
"You could," said Alice. "And if you don't like doing something you could quit doing it and try something else."
The rabbit was washing his ears and humming softly to himself.
"How does this work where you come from," asked the mouse.
"Oh, it can be a nightmare at times, and it can be wonderful as well, but one thing for sure, it never is and that BORING."
The rabbit started chewing on his whiskers. Alice moved his paw away from his face and he nodded at her in thanks.
"You don't have to be afraid," she said. "It's just something to try."
"But once tried, it can never go back to what it was," said the rabbit.
"That's true," admitted Alice. "That's very, very true."
The cat got up from the cake, his fur sticking out every which way, coated with frosting. He walked over to Alice and head butted her arm. Then he started fading."
"Stay," she said. But he was already gone.
So, tomorrow the Tweedles," said the mouse.
"Yes, tomorrow the Tweedles, said Alice, wiping the frosting off her arm with a napkin. "One more thing."
Everyone looked at her.
"How about serving coffee and hot chocolate, as well as the tea."
The rabbit fell off his chair, the mouse ducked back into his tea pot and the Hatter was too lost in his new dreams, to do anything at all.
Photo: Haley Lawrence
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