Alice Chapter Two

Alice

Chapter Two

The Golden Meadow

Alice stepped through the door at the rabbit’s beckoning, and looked out. The rabbit’s door was set into a bank of soft earth, and below it spread a wide valley, completely drowned in buttercups. A trail lead down into the field of flowers, and Alice started down it. It was much warmer out in the open than it had been in the hole. There wasn’t a sole in sight, but Alice still felt self conscious walking naked through the fields. It took her a while to realize she had no idea where she was – there were certainly no fields like this anywhere near her house, and by the feel of it, this was the height of summer and when she’d fallen down that hole, it had been late spring.
After walking for perhaps ten minutes, Alice saw a movement in the flowers. She knelt down to peer between the stalks, and spotted sitting there a magpie, its black and white plumage starkly contrasting with the green and gold.
“Hello little bird,” said Alice, “What are you doing there?” The bird did not reply which ought to have been no surprise, but after the talking rabbit, anything seemed possible.
“Are you hurt, little friend?” she asked. The magpie chirped a little chirp, and then flew away in a gentle explosion of yellow petals. Alice watched in fly away, and then shrugged and kept walking. After a half hour Alice had reached a little river. It gurgled quietly and unfussed, brilliant and clear. She sat for a little while, watching the water with her arms wrapped round her legs. It might have been twenty minutes later, or perhaps a little longer, time being the contrary thing it is, when a voice came strolling through Alice’s little reverie.
“I say, hello there. Are you lost?” The voice was a friendly one. Alice looked up to see a elderly woman standing on the opposite bank. She wore a wide smile, and white hair that escaped her hat in every direction it could. She herself was dressed in green, and carried on her back a sack of sticks.
“I think so,” said Alice, “I think I am lost, and I think I have lost far too many things of late.”
“I see. Well, that’s no use to anyone is it?”
“I suppose not, but my supposes to date have proven to be somewhat misleading.”
“I think you could do with a big bowl of soup, young lady.”
“I think that would be very good indeed!”
“Well, come across the river, and I’ll take you down to my little house, and we’ll see about getting you some food, and sending you on your way to wherever you want to go.” Alice looked at the water, and decided that this seemed like the best option, given the sparse alternatives, and unbuckled her little white shoes. She dangled them from one finger as she stood up, and gingerly stepped into the water. It was cold, but not so cold as to hurt, and she waded through. The water managed to rise up past the tops of her stockings at its deepest, but soon enough she was out on the other side, and standing by the old lady in the green dress.
“Come on, then, it’s just down the road a little way!” She beamed, and they set off, after, of course, Alice had put her shoes back on.
“What’s your name, then, girl?”
“Alice.”
“That’s a good name to have. Everyone calls me Mad Old Dot.”
“That’s very rude.”
“Not to my face, mind you, not to my face, oh no, to my face it’s Mistress Gale then, or Marm, which I don’t much like neither. They think I don’t know what they calls me, but you don’t get to be my age without learning a few things.”
“I would imagine so.”
“Yes. Well. You look like you’ve had a busy day, my dear.”
“I can’t recall a busier day. I went for a walk, and fell in a hole. I met a talking rabbit, and, well.” Mad Old Dot paused and looked Alice up and down.
“Talking rabbit? Tall for a rabbit, white?”
“Yes.” Mad Old Dot looked her up and down again.
“He’s a strange one, that rabbit. Did he hurt you, poppet?” Alice looked away as she tried to decide what to say.
“Frightfully randy bugger, too, did he get himself carried away?” Alice nodded. Mad Old Dot sighed, and they both carried on walking down.
“He likes the pretty ones he does. He’s got in trouble for it before, you know.” Alice shrugged.
“The trouble is he’s connected, they say he’s untouchable. The Queen will never deal with him properly. I reckon he’s her spy, I do. Gets away with it, hurting young girls, it’s a terrible thing.”
“Who is this Queen? The rabbit spoke of her a few times.”
“Who’s the Queen?! Who’s the Queen?! My, my, you really are lost. The Queen of Hearts, of course, the absolute ruler of this domain.” They reached Dot’s little cottage, which sat by the banks of the river. It was a run down building, made from wattle and daub.