Chapter 4

Trust me. I was in such shock that I almost ruined the perfectness of the situation. I was about to call out to Alice, like she was an old friend. Well, she is an old friend, but it’s kind of a one sided friendship. I know her, but she doesn’t know me. Which is okay, I guess.

Wouldn’t that be cool if Alice was like my BFF?

That would be so cool.

We could talk about books, and share stories about our cats. She would love Tylee. 

For about a minute, I imagined all the things that Alice and I could do together...and then I remembered that she was a child, about 9 years old, and it would be weird for an 18 year old to be besties with a 9 year old. So I stayed quiet.

I watched silently, like a leopard watching its prey. I was basically stalking her, and her sister. I was waiting for the White Rabbit in a waistcoat to spring up out of the emerald grass, and take Alice down the Rabbit Hole, and onto her adventure.

So I waited.

And waited. 

Looked around. 

And waited. 

The Rabbit wasn’t coming. That’s when I knew that there was seriously something wrong with the whole situation. Like, seriously wrong. Wasn't he supposed to be here by now? 

I was with Alice and Dinah in the field where the entire Alice franchise started. Nothing was happening. There was no wistful thinking on Alice’s part.

She just sat there. Completely contempt with watching the clouds roll on by, every once in a while making a comment about what the clouds resemble.

“Cat,” she would sigh. Every so often her sister would look up from her spot under the tree and look at Alice with both awe and sadness.

“Alice!” I decided to break my silence. I was getting frustrated with the whole situation. I was finally in a book! I wanted to meet Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, tiptoe through the tulips, and get called a weed. Okay, I didn’t want to be called a weed, but you get the picture.

 She didn’t respond.

“ALICE!” I tried again, this time louder. The only thing that moved was the grass in the wind. Now I was curious.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” I quoted, walking towards Alice and Dinah.

As I stood over them, I noticed something.

I didn’t have a shadow. For a moment I panicked.

How could I not have a shadow? I was standing in the direct sunlight, looking over Alice, and there was not a thing that alerted her to that undisputable fact.  So I nudged her with my foot. Surely physical contact would be the best way to alert her that something was wrong. That she needed to go looking for the thing that nudged her.

Again, nothing.

“Well, isn’t that weird,” I know that I tapped her leg with my shoe. I know because I watched myself do it. I willed myself to take my TOMS-clad shoe and nudge her stocking-d leg. I watched her leg move.

Or did it? Now I wasn’t so sure of my own sanity, or my own lack of strength. I totally nudged her. Totally.

Maybe.