Mad as Rabbits

"Hatter, I refuse. I will not take part in another one of your wild stunts. You can not keep meddling in other peoples affairs. Keep your skinny fingers to yourself and leave the girl alone," the Red Queen ranted. Her pale face slowly changed to match her title. Blood flushed to her cheeks and down her graceful neck. She stopped for a moment to take a few deep breaths and a drink of her tea. Her face contorted and she spit the liquid back into her glass. "What in God's name did you put in that?" she demanded.

Hatter raised an innocent eyebrow and remarked, "Just the usual bat wing and spider flower extract. It's said to be good for the constitution, don't you know?"

The Red Queen let out an undignified snort in response and dumped her tea into the grass. She placed her cup back delicately on the table and said, "Well, you've asked me my opinion and I've given it. If you actually heed it remains to be seen. You are a contrary man and I don't pretend to understand your backward way of thinking."

"Backward men lead to forward thinking," Hatter responded with a delicate shrug of his shoulders.

"See that's what I mean!" The Queen exclaimed. "You will do exactly as you like with no regard to my feelings or anyone else's. Do you think this girl will appreciate your interference? She's not of this world and outsiders do not do well here."

"What about, Alice?" Hatter asked with a hint of defiance.

The Red Queen picked her empty tea cup back up from the table and hurled it at Hatter's head. He easily dodged her poorly aimed missile and she looked tempted to reach for another piece of china. She probably would if the butler O'Hare had not spoken up.

"My Lady," he said gently," I do not presume to speak for my master, but I fear at this moment he cannot speak for himself. Please excuse his mention of a certain person that my lady does not wish to speak about. "

"O'Hare, I have not lost control of my tongue," Hatter protested.

"No, but you have inserted your foot quite firmly in your mouth," O'Hare hissed with a not so gentle jab to Hatter's shoulder.

Hatter was tempted to roll his eyes at his over dramatic butler, but O'Hare didn't know the Queen like he did. The woman was vain and temperamental, but she hadn't beheaded anyone in a hundred years. She didn't like to be defied or reminded of people who successfully thwarted her, but Hatter knew she wouldn't do more than make a bit of a mess.

Being the perverse creature that he was Hatter enjoyed the occasional sloppy situation. He was not a cookie cutter personality and he was attracted to the outcasts and the nonconformists. He had seen exactly that sort of person at his most recent show in Boston, Massachusetts.

She was standing near the front row with her hands raised up and a big silly grin on her face. Of course she hadn't been smiling at the Hatter. He went by a different name in her universe.

Hatter was struck by her freedom and her joy. She sang every word that he sang. Not just the choruses or the songs on the radio.

Hatter found himself wanting to know the delightfully strange girl with the purple fohawk and lip piercings. He hadn't felt that kind of interest in someone since, Alice. His perfect little golden girl.

She'd been gone for at least one hundred and twenty years, but her blue eyes still haunted him. He'd begged her to stay with him in Wonderland. She wouldn't have to age or grow old. They could be together forever.

She had said the word no so sweetly, but it still stabbed him right in the chest. She wanted a real life. She wanted to marry and have children.

"I love you, Hatter, but you're just a dream and I want to wake up," Alice told him as she started to fall asleep.

He knew she was leaving then and she wasn't coming back. Hatter kissed her cheek and let her slip back into reality. He screamed at himself for believing that someone would actually want to spend eternity in madness.

Maybe the key was finding someone who was already a little crazy?