Alice in Wonderland on Top of the World by Gerrard Wllson
Chapter Sixteen
Goodnight, My Child.
Standing outside the front door of his house, with a theatrical wave of his paw, the White Rabbit asked, “Would you like to come in, Alice?”
“I would love to,” she replied, stepping through the entranceway, into the homely interior.
Dashing about, wanting to make Alice feel perfectly at home, now that she had finally found his neat little house, the Rabbit offered her a chair. Accepting his offer, Alice settled into the wonderfully comfortable armchair.
“We shall have tea in less than a jiff,” he mumbled as he disappeared into the tiny kitchen.
“Tea for two,” Alice giggled.
Despite banging and clattering about in the kitchen for more than ten minutes, the Rabbit failed to produce any tea.
“Do you need a hand?” Alice asked, getting up from her chair.
Poking his head around the door, the Rabbit insisted that she remain seated. “No, it’s all right; I will have the coffee ready in less than half a jiff.”
“Tea, it was tea that you promised,” said Alice.
Holding a jar of coffee in his paw, the Rabbit poked his head around the door for a second time, asking, “Tea?”
“Yes, it was tea that you offered – don’t you remember?”
“Remember, of course I remember,” he insisted, trying to hide the jar of coffee behind his back. “Now where was I?”
“The tea!” Alice laughed.
“Oh, yes, I‘ll have it ready in a tick,” he said, disappearing once again into the kitchen where the banging and clattering resumed with a vengeance.
Although the Rabbit was making an awful din, trying his best to secure the promised tea, Alice wondered if he might ever produce any, so closing her eyes, laying back into the wonderfully comfortable armchair, she relaxed and had soon fallen fast asleep.
In that wonderful and much needed sleep, Alice dreamed of a Cat and a Mouse, a king called Tut, plants that spoke to her, begging for fertilizer, a loveable old elf called Fle and a jolly old man going by the name of Father Christmas. It was a good dream, a wonderful dream – until the scary figure of Life and Death suddenly appeared.
Alice began screaming, she began shouting for it to go away; she shouted and shouted and shouted again. Then she heard a soft voice calling, calling ever so gently to her. It said, “Mummy, wake up, you’re having a bad dream.”
Opening her eyes, Alice struggled to remember where she was, who she was.
“Mummy,” the voice called out, “You fell asleep – and you never finished reading me that story...”
Then she saw her, Alice saw her daughter, Alison, in bed, her young head resting on her soft pillow, her eyes staring innocently up at her. Alice then knew who she was, where she was and what she was doing. She knew that was sitting in the armchair next to her daughter’s bed, reading her favourite bedtime story, also about a girl named Alice.
“It’s all right,” she said, leaning across to her daughter, kissing her on the forehead. “You’re right, Alison, it was just a dream – but it wasn’t all bad, in fact most of it was good, really and truly good.”
“Will you finish the story tomorrow?” Alison asked her mother hopefully.
“I will, I promise you,” Alice replied, smiling at her beloved daughter, the tears of happiness welling up in her eyes.
“Mummy, are you all right?”
“I am, Alison,” she replied. “In fact I have never felt happier.” Tucking her daughter in, kissing her goodnight, she said, “Go to sleep, my child, it’s Christmas tomorrow, and you don’t want to be awake when Santa – Father Christmas arrives, do you?”
As she pulled the door closed, Alice noticed something moving outside the window on the landing. Drawing the curtain back, she gazed out, onto the bleak winter’s night. It had begun snowing. “That’s nice,” she whispered. “Just like at the top of the world…” As she let go of the curtain, something flew past the window, ringing and jingling – like sleigh bells.
With fingers trembling, with heart pounding, Alice pulled back the curtain, and to her surprise, her great surprise, she saw, a few short feet away from the windowpane, nine reindeer and a sleigh glowing resplendent in a myriad of rainbow coloured particles. And in that sleigh there was a man, a very old but tremendously happy man, dressed in a green and white suit.
Waving, he sang out, “Ho ho ho, a Merry Christmas to you, Alice.” Then opening his jacket pocket, he withdrew a little Mouse for her inspection. Smiling tenderly at the Mouse, Alice received a smile in return.
After stroking the Mouse ever so caringly, Father Christmas returned it to the safety of his pocket, then pulling hard on the reins, he shouted, “Rarr, rarr, rarr.” And with that, the nine magical reindeer, clawing excitedly upon the cold night air, whisked the old man and his sleigh away and into the night, on its once-a-year journey of excellence.
THE END