Samjulila
05-25-2010, 12:25 AM
The grass swayed lazily in the breeze as Zooey yawned over her math homework.
“God, my life sucks!” she complained to herself, standing up and leaving her schoolwork forgotten on the ground.
Zooey took violent steps, making her best attempt to smash every bright, sunny dandelion in her path, typical Zooey behavior. By the time she looked up from the grass, she was a good two houses down from her own. A construction crew had been rattling around all day, digging the basement for what was to be her new neighbor’s house. Zooey peered over the edge of the hole. Before she had even a second to consider the unusual deepness, she lost her balance and fell in face first. Zooey braced herself for impact, but it didn’t come.
She opened her eyes to no avail because everything around her was black. The only thing she could see was a tiny spot of light above her, shrinking fast. Zooey found herself only curious, a little annoyed, but not frightened at all. She was falling down a huge, deep, dark hole, with no idea where it ended, or how she had fallen, and with the light above her fading fast. All of these seemed perfectly good reasons to panic, but Zooey was startlingly calm. And then, before she knew it, her decent was over. She landed with a plop in the middle of a very colorful flower garden.
“Ow! That hurts!” squeaked a small, anxious voice.
“Who’s there?” Zooey barked. She didn’t have time for this, and she was, once again, worried that her ears were playing tricks on her.
“Excuse you, you are positively crushing me and my poor family. Have you no decency?!” yelped another voice, this one more pronounced and a lot less nervous.
Zooey jumped straight up in the air. Who could she be sitting on?
“Impossible…” she muttered.
She peeked down at the spot where she had landed, just to be sure. At first glance it looked like just a few mangled flowers were left in her path. But under careful, prolonged observation she could see those flowers straighten up, and brush themselves off. She blinked her eyes unbelievingly. But when she opened them the proof was before her eyes. The smushed flowers from just a moment ago were now standing purposefully, resolutely even, and glaring, yes, glaring at her.
A dream. Yes, this is a dream. Only a dream.” Zooey squeezed her eyes shut.
This was so outside her comfort zone. She liked hard facts and to be able to believe in what she was seeing.
“I’ll believe it when I see it…” (insert eye roll) was Zooey’s personal mantra.
But here she was seeing the unbelievable. The foundation of her belief system was crumbling beneath her feet.
“Heehee, haahaa. This isn’t a dream. If it was a dream you would wake up when I did… THIS.”
“Ow!” Zooey yelped out in pain.
“See, you’re still here.” The disembodied head of a purple striped cat floated just in front of Zooey’s face. It’s smile was so eerily huge, it was all Zooey could do not to shout out again.
“This is ridiculous.” She said, looking straight at the cat, and then, “I want to wake up, I want to wake up, I want to wake up…” She chanted quietly to herself, eyes closed.
Zooey knew she wasn’t awake because she felt the furry tip of a tail graze her lower lip. Her eyes snapped open.
“Personal space!” she shrieked.
“Heehee, haahaa. Someone’s on edge.” The strange cat chortled.
Zooey stormed in the opposite direction of the cat. This did no good. He only followed her.
“Who are you?” She finally screeched.
“Me? Why, I’m the Cheshire Cat. And you?”
“None of your business. Why don’t you go ruin someone else’s day. You’ve already done a pretty good job on mine.”
“Interesting, very interesting,” the strange feline mumbled, drifting in slow circles around Zooey. “You are very much different than the last one.”
“Who? What are you talking about?” Zooey questioned. But the Cheshire Cat had simply vanished.
Zooey stomped back to the flower garden. She thought maybe there was a way to get back. But when she looked up for the hole she had fallen from, she saw only blue sky.
“This is such a waste of my time.” She sighed, collapsing on the ground. All of this excitement was really tiring her out.
“What garden do you come from?” a small daisy questioned.
“Duh. I’m a girl. Girls don’t grow in gardens!” Was Zooey really arguing with a precious little daisy?
“Hm. She must be a wildflower.” Concluded a nearby rose.
“You are all idiots.” Declared Zooey, throwing her head back in distress. “I am surrounded by a bunch of idiotic flowers.”
“That is offensive!” Cried a pansy. “We are a well established flower patch! Hmph!”
“The last wildflower girl who came here was much kinder and gentler than you are.” Sighed a bleeding heart.
“Oh whatever.” Zooey rolled her eyes. “Who was this girl anyways?”
“Her name was Alice.” A high pitched voice came from right behind Zooey.
Zooey spun around to find a very peculiar looking little man staring right at her. He had extremely frizzy hair sticking out in all directions from a beat up top hat.
“Gah! I can’t even keep up any more!” Zooey whined.
“Well that’s not quite the greeting I was hoping for.” He stammered, tilting his head to one side. “Hello. I am The Hatter. Some say I’m mad. I say I’m fabulous.” He extended his hand.
Zooey however, kept her hands firmly in her pockets.
“I’m Zooey. What’s up?”
The Hatter seemed to consider this question very carefully.
“Well, I suppose, the sky, and the birds, and those little puffy white clouds. You can just tilt your head back any time, and see for yourself!” He flashed Zooey an encouraging smile.
Zooey ignored this. “Why are you here?” She asked.
“I live here. At least I’m pretty sure…”He scratched his head. “Yes, it seems to me that I live here. And what about you? What brings you to Wonderland?”
“Wait… did you just say this place was called Wonderland?” Zooey asked mockingly.
“Yes of course! What else would it be?”
“I can’t surround myself with all this craziness. I’ll go nuts.” Zooey started to walk away.
“Well you’re out of luck. We’re all crazy here. I’m crazy, you’re crazy. There is no escaping craziness in Wonderland.”
“What makes you think I’m crazy?” Zooey crossed her arms.
“Well, you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. Come with me…. You have a lot to learn.” The Hatter grabbed Zooey by the hand and started pulling her along behind him at a brisk pace.
“Me, learn from him? I think not.” Zooey muttered to herself.
The Hatter spun around, and tapped his ear. “I can hear a bird sneeze a mile away.” He raised his eyebrows, and then continued on his way.
They arrived at their destination in no time at all, a small clearing in the middle of the woods. Right in the center was a long table filled with mismatching tea cups, plates, and several teapots.
“Welcome to my home.” The Hatter spun in a complete circle, hands outstretched. “We have a guest!” he hollered to what seemed to be no one in particular, but then a little dormouse skittered from under the table.
“Oh, good sir!” he squeaked. “It’s been years since we had a visitor. I’ll call all of our friends.”
“We don’t have any friends…” The Hatter whispered to Zooey placing a finger to his lips.
The dormouse pulled a megaphone out from under the table.
“Tea time!” he squealed. “We have very special guest today!”
It seemed to Zooey that the Mad Hatter must have been mistaken because animals started showing up at all edges of the clearing. There was a fox in a suit coat, a little brown owl in a base ball cap, a bunny rabbit who seemed to be carrying a stopwatch in his hand accompanied by a lizard with a nametag that read Bill, and a possum with a thick, but seemingly ineffective pair of glasses and cane he was using to feel his way across the ground.
“This is impossible.” Zooey rubbed her eyes.
“Quite the opposite… it’s impossibility is impossible, because the possibilities are right before your eyes.” He put his hands on his hips. “Now come sit and have some tea with your new friends.”
Zooey sat down with The Hatter to her left and the very stressed looking rabbit on her right.
“Hello. Who are you? And why are you here?” The rabbit asked very buisness like.
“My name is Zooey. I really have no idea why I’m here, and furthermore, I can’t believe I am talking to a rabbit.”
“Well why? Do you have something against rabbits?” He was offended.
“Oh, no. Just… never mind.” Zooey sighed. What a curious day this was turning out to be.
“What’s wrong?” the owl asked. “You seem rather distracted.”
“Well, in my world animals don’t talk. And this is all quite unbelievable to me.” Zooey admitted.
Bill the lizard spoke up. “How do you not believe what is right in front of you?”
“I guess I just don’t have much faith lately. Everything seems too good to be true, and I’m worried if I get too comfortable it will be snatched right out from under me. My world isn’t as innocent as yours. People don’t always have eachother's best interests in mind”
“You should come see something.” The possum beckoned. “Follow me.”
Zooey had a kind of a soft spot for the blind possum, so she got up and followed him into the woods.
“Look at these beautiful wildflowers. They are my favorite thing in the forest. I may not be able to see them. But I know they are there. I smell them every time I walk past and I imagine their vibrant colors.” He leaned down and smelled a violet. “For me believing doesn’t necessarily mean seeing.”
Zooey looked at him, softening. He was blind and still he recognized the beauty in the world. Lately she had lost her ability to notice and appreciate the little things.
“Thank’s for bringing me back here. The flowers really are beautiful.” She patted the possum on top of the head.
Suddenly Zooey heard scampering feet behind them. It was the rabbit, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.
“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye. I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” He sang as he ran past.
The possum chuckled. “He’s always in a hurry to get somewhere. Never takes time to stop and smell the roses.”
Zooey realized she was becoming like the rabbit. Not enjoying her life at all. Just rushing from one thing to the next not taking pleasure in anything.
“Lets go back to tea.” She said. “I don’t want The Hatter to get worried about me!”
Mostly she didn’t want The Hatter to forget all about her and leave her behind. That seemed something he would be likely to do.
But when they arrived back at tea it was like they had never left. No one had even filled their cups.
“What are you waiting for?” Zooey asked.
“You of course!” The fox exclaimed. “We couldn’t start tea without our guest of honor.”
“Well how sweet of you!” Zooey hadn’t been in this great of a mood for a long time. “Even if this is all a dream, I’m sure glad I imagined it.” She sighed.
“Well it certainly isn’t imaginary to me.” The Hatter asserted.
“How do you know for sure?” Zooey asked.
“Well because, If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would.” The Mad Hatter reasoned. “Everything here makes perfect sense. So it couldn’t be MY imaginary world. You see?”
Zooey saw no point in trying to argue with that, and strangely, she quite liked the nonsense of it all.
“I wish I could stay here forever.” She announced. “Do you think I can?” She asked the table.
“Certainly not.” Said the owl. “An ordinary girl like you would be out of place living in Wonderland.”
“Your parents would miss you dearly!” The possum exclaimed.
“You would soon tire of this nonsense…” reasoned Bill the lizard.
“But I’ll miss you all if I go home!”
“Maybe you’ll visit in your dreams.” The Hatter smiled. “Our mission has been accomplished. Now I must get you home.”
What do you mean your mission? I thought I came here by accident.”
“Nothing in life is truly an accident.” The Hatter smirked. “Come with me..”
“You know how to get me home? You’ve known ths whole time?” Zooey asked, not annoyed, just curious.
“I suppose I did, but it wasn’t until just now that I remembered what I had known all along.” The Hatter answered.
He walked Zooey back to the garden she had landed in, tapped her on each shoulder, spun her in a circle, and then suddenly stopped what he was doing.
“I almost forgot.” He laughed. “Take this to remember me.” He placed his top hat on her head. “And one last thing. Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?”
Zooey woke with a start still in her front yard, her head in her math book. What a magical dream. She stood up and stretched her arms in the air. Suddenly, she noticed something hanging from a tree branch above her head. It was a top hat. The Hatter’s top hat. Maybe it wasn't a dream afterall... It didn't matter. Wonderland was a place she would never forget. She placed the hat on her head, and looked up at the sky. The clouds were light and fluffy, just like The Hatter had described them. Now, the burning question was, why WAS a raven like a writing desk? Life is full of questions.
“God, my life sucks!” she complained to herself, standing up and leaving her schoolwork forgotten on the ground.
Zooey took violent steps, making her best attempt to smash every bright, sunny dandelion in her path, typical Zooey behavior. By the time she looked up from the grass, she was a good two houses down from her own. A construction crew had been rattling around all day, digging the basement for what was to be her new neighbor’s house. Zooey peered over the edge of the hole. Before she had even a second to consider the unusual deepness, she lost her balance and fell in face first. Zooey braced herself for impact, but it didn’t come.
She opened her eyes to no avail because everything around her was black. The only thing she could see was a tiny spot of light above her, shrinking fast. Zooey found herself only curious, a little annoyed, but not frightened at all. She was falling down a huge, deep, dark hole, with no idea where it ended, or how she had fallen, and with the light above her fading fast. All of these seemed perfectly good reasons to panic, but Zooey was startlingly calm. And then, before she knew it, her decent was over. She landed with a plop in the middle of a very colorful flower garden.
“Ow! That hurts!” squeaked a small, anxious voice.
“Who’s there?” Zooey barked. She didn’t have time for this, and she was, once again, worried that her ears were playing tricks on her.
“Excuse you, you are positively crushing me and my poor family. Have you no decency?!” yelped another voice, this one more pronounced and a lot less nervous.
Zooey jumped straight up in the air. Who could she be sitting on?
“Impossible…” she muttered.
She peeked down at the spot where she had landed, just to be sure. At first glance it looked like just a few mangled flowers were left in her path. But under careful, prolonged observation she could see those flowers straighten up, and brush themselves off. She blinked her eyes unbelievingly. But when she opened them the proof was before her eyes. The smushed flowers from just a moment ago were now standing purposefully, resolutely even, and glaring, yes, glaring at her.
A dream. Yes, this is a dream. Only a dream.” Zooey squeezed her eyes shut.
This was so outside her comfort zone. She liked hard facts and to be able to believe in what she was seeing.
“I’ll believe it when I see it…” (insert eye roll) was Zooey’s personal mantra.
But here she was seeing the unbelievable. The foundation of her belief system was crumbling beneath her feet.
“Heehee, haahaa. This isn’t a dream. If it was a dream you would wake up when I did… THIS.”
“Ow!” Zooey yelped out in pain.
“See, you’re still here.” The disembodied head of a purple striped cat floated just in front of Zooey’s face. It’s smile was so eerily huge, it was all Zooey could do not to shout out again.
“This is ridiculous.” She said, looking straight at the cat, and then, “I want to wake up, I want to wake up, I want to wake up…” She chanted quietly to herself, eyes closed.
Zooey knew she wasn’t awake because she felt the furry tip of a tail graze her lower lip. Her eyes snapped open.
“Personal space!” she shrieked.
“Heehee, haahaa. Someone’s on edge.” The strange cat chortled.
Zooey stormed in the opposite direction of the cat. This did no good. He only followed her.
“Who are you?” She finally screeched.
“Me? Why, I’m the Cheshire Cat. And you?”
“None of your business. Why don’t you go ruin someone else’s day. You’ve already done a pretty good job on mine.”
“Interesting, very interesting,” the strange feline mumbled, drifting in slow circles around Zooey. “You are very much different than the last one.”
“Who? What are you talking about?” Zooey questioned. But the Cheshire Cat had simply vanished.
Zooey stomped back to the flower garden. She thought maybe there was a way to get back. But when she looked up for the hole she had fallen from, she saw only blue sky.
“This is such a waste of my time.” She sighed, collapsing on the ground. All of this excitement was really tiring her out.
“What garden do you come from?” a small daisy questioned.
“Duh. I’m a girl. Girls don’t grow in gardens!” Was Zooey really arguing with a precious little daisy?
“Hm. She must be a wildflower.” Concluded a nearby rose.
“You are all idiots.” Declared Zooey, throwing her head back in distress. “I am surrounded by a bunch of idiotic flowers.”
“That is offensive!” Cried a pansy. “We are a well established flower patch! Hmph!”
“The last wildflower girl who came here was much kinder and gentler than you are.” Sighed a bleeding heart.
“Oh whatever.” Zooey rolled her eyes. “Who was this girl anyways?”
“Her name was Alice.” A high pitched voice came from right behind Zooey.
Zooey spun around to find a very peculiar looking little man staring right at her. He had extremely frizzy hair sticking out in all directions from a beat up top hat.
“Gah! I can’t even keep up any more!” Zooey whined.
“Well that’s not quite the greeting I was hoping for.” He stammered, tilting his head to one side. “Hello. I am The Hatter. Some say I’m mad. I say I’m fabulous.” He extended his hand.
Zooey however, kept her hands firmly in her pockets.
“I’m Zooey. What’s up?”
The Hatter seemed to consider this question very carefully.
“Well, I suppose, the sky, and the birds, and those little puffy white clouds. You can just tilt your head back any time, and see for yourself!” He flashed Zooey an encouraging smile.
Zooey ignored this. “Why are you here?” She asked.
“I live here. At least I’m pretty sure…”He scratched his head. “Yes, it seems to me that I live here. And what about you? What brings you to Wonderland?”
“Wait… did you just say this place was called Wonderland?” Zooey asked mockingly.
“Yes of course! What else would it be?”
“I can’t surround myself with all this craziness. I’ll go nuts.” Zooey started to walk away.
“Well you’re out of luck. We’re all crazy here. I’m crazy, you’re crazy. There is no escaping craziness in Wonderland.”
“What makes you think I’m crazy?” Zooey crossed her arms.
“Well, you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. Come with me…. You have a lot to learn.” The Hatter grabbed Zooey by the hand and started pulling her along behind him at a brisk pace.
“Me, learn from him? I think not.” Zooey muttered to herself.
The Hatter spun around, and tapped his ear. “I can hear a bird sneeze a mile away.” He raised his eyebrows, and then continued on his way.
They arrived at their destination in no time at all, a small clearing in the middle of the woods. Right in the center was a long table filled with mismatching tea cups, plates, and several teapots.
“Welcome to my home.” The Hatter spun in a complete circle, hands outstretched. “We have a guest!” he hollered to what seemed to be no one in particular, but then a little dormouse skittered from under the table.
“Oh, good sir!” he squeaked. “It’s been years since we had a visitor. I’ll call all of our friends.”
“We don’t have any friends…” The Hatter whispered to Zooey placing a finger to his lips.
The dormouse pulled a megaphone out from under the table.
“Tea time!” he squealed. “We have very special guest today!”
It seemed to Zooey that the Mad Hatter must have been mistaken because animals started showing up at all edges of the clearing. There was a fox in a suit coat, a little brown owl in a base ball cap, a bunny rabbit who seemed to be carrying a stopwatch in his hand accompanied by a lizard with a nametag that read Bill, and a possum with a thick, but seemingly ineffective pair of glasses and cane he was using to feel his way across the ground.
“This is impossible.” Zooey rubbed her eyes.
“Quite the opposite… it’s impossibility is impossible, because the possibilities are right before your eyes.” He put his hands on his hips. “Now come sit and have some tea with your new friends.”
Zooey sat down with The Hatter to her left and the very stressed looking rabbit on her right.
“Hello. Who are you? And why are you here?” The rabbit asked very buisness like.
“My name is Zooey. I really have no idea why I’m here, and furthermore, I can’t believe I am talking to a rabbit.”
“Well why? Do you have something against rabbits?” He was offended.
“Oh, no. Just… never mind.” Zooey sighed. What a curious day this was turning out to be.
“What’s wrong?” the owl asked. “You seem rather distracted.”
“Well, in my world animals don’t talk. And this is all quite unbelievable to me.” Zooey admitted.
Bill the lizard spoke up. “How do you not believe what is right in front of you?”
“I guess I just don’t have much faith lately. Everything seems too good to be true, and I’m worried if I get too comfortable it will be snatched right out from under me. My world isn’t as innocent as yours. People don’t always have eachother's best interests in mind”
“You should come see something.” The possum beckoned. “Follow me.”
Zooey had a kind of a soft spot for the blind possum, so she got up and followed him into the woods.
“Look at these beautiful wildflowers. They are my favorite thing in the forest. I may not be able to see them. But I know they are there. I smell them every time I walk past and I imagine their vibrant colors.” He leaned down and smelled a violet. “For me believing doesn’t necessarily mean seeing.”
Zooey looked at him, softening. He was blind and still he recognized the beauty in the world. Lately she had lost her ability to notice and appreciate the little things.
“Thank’s for bringing me back here. The flowers really are beautiful.” She patted the possum on top of the head.
Suddenly Zooey heard scampering feet behind them. It was the rabbit, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.
“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye. I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” He sang as he ran past.
The possum chuckled. “He’s always in a hurry to get somewhere. Never takes time to stop and smell the roses.”
Zooey realized she was becoming like the rabbit. Not enjoying her life at all. Just rushing from one thing to the next not taking pleasure in anything.
“Lets go back to tea.” She said. “I don’t want The Hatter to get worried about me!”
Mostly she didn’t want The Hatter to forget all about her and leave her behind. That seemed something he would be likely to do.
But when they arrived back at tea it was like they had never left. No one had even filled their cups.
“What are you waiting for?” Zooey asked.
“You of course!” The fox exclaimed. “We couldn’t start tea without our guest of honor.”
“Well how sweet of you!” Zooey hadn’t been in this great of a mood for a long time. “Even if this is all a dream, I’m sure glad I imagined it.” She sighed.
“Well it certainly isn’t imaginary to me.” The Hatter asserted.
“How do you know for sure?” Zooey asked.
“Well because, If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would.” The Mad Hatter reasoned. “Everything here makes perfect sense. So it couldn’t be MY imaginary world. You see?”
Zooey saw no point in trying to argue with that, and strangely, she quite liked the nonsense of it all.
“I wish I could stay here forever.” She announced. “Do you think I can?” She asked the table.
“Certainly not.” Said the owl. “An ordinary girl like you would be out of place living in Wonderland.”
“Your parents would miss you dearly!” The possum exclaimed.
“You would soon tire of this nonsense…” reasoned Bill the lizard.
“But I’ll miss you all if I go home!”
“Maybe you’ll visit in your dreams.” The Hatter smiled. “Our mission has been accomplished. Now I must get you home.”
What do you mean your mission? I thought I came here by accident.”
“Nothing in life is truly an accident.” The Hatter smirked. “Come with me..”
“You know how to get me home? You’ve known ths whole time?” Zooey asked, not annoyed, just curious.
“I suppose I did, but it wasn’t until just now that I remembered what I had known all along.” The Hatter answered.
He walked Zooey back to the garden she had landed in, tapped her on each shoulder, spun her in a circle, and then suddenly stopped what he was doing.
“I almost forgot.” He laughed. “Take this to remember me.” He placed his top hat on her head. “And one last thing. Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?”
Zooey woke with a start still in her front yard, her head in her math book. What a magical dream. She stood up and stretched her arms in the air. Suddenly, she noticed something hanging from a tree branch above her head. It was a top hat. The Hatter’s top hat. Maybe it wasn't a dream afterall... It didn't matter. Wonderland was a place she would never forget. She placed the hat on her head, and looked up at the sky. The clouds were light and fluffy, just like The Hatter had described them. Now, the burning question was, why WAS a raven like a writing desk? Life is full of questions.