Tarrant and May Hightopp lived in a small cottage with their daughter, Mary. Mary is 10 years old and loves to play and have fun. Her most favorite thing to do is bake yummy things with her best friend Isabel.
One day, at Witzend, the home of the Hightopp Clan, Mary had just finished her work in the garden with her mother. She ran back to the cottage to find that Isabel was at her front door, waiting to be invited in.
"Isabel!" Mary said, with joy.
"Good evening, Mary," Isabel said.
And Mary invited Isabel in to begin their evening of baking. Mary took the eggs, milk, butter and sugar out, while Isabel got all of the bowls, pans and trays ready.
"Shall we make pies?" Mary asked.
"Yes, apple and cherry!" Isabel said.
Isabel and Mary began to prepare the apples and cherries in separate bowls, when suddenly, there was heard a sound from the sewing room. The girls heard shouting and screaming, and they ran in to see what was the matter.
Mary sighed, as she saw it was her father, running about the room, throwing ribbons and hats around. "Father, what are you doing?" Mary asked, quite annoyed.
The hatter had just gotten done throwing a chair down and kicking it across the room, when he looked up and saw his daughter standing there. "Oh..." he said, a bit ashamed now, that his daughter and her friend had come in in his bad state, "I'm fine," he said.
"Father!" Mary, scolded, and she through her hand on her hip. "No, no,no, you're not fine! Look at what you've done to you're beautiful new hat for Mother!"
Tarrant looked at the pink had, that now lay on the floor with a large slash through it. "Oh..." he sighed.
"Oh, Father," Mary said, as she picked up the hat, "it's ruined, and now Mother won't have a nice new hat to wear to the Queen's ball!"
"My, Dear Mary..." Tarrant fumbled a bit, but Mary looked at him with a look of concern and sternness.
"Father, you have to be more careful. I don't want you to end up like Grandfather Hatter," Mary told him.
"My Dear Mary...it's not all that bad..." Tarrant tried to say. "Just go about your baking. I'll be fine."
Mary gave him a challenging look. "Cross your heart?" she asked.
"Yes...you know I do anything for you," Tarrant said.
Mary picked up the bottle of mercury that sat on the table. "Then you'll have to promise me to be more careful with this," Mary demanded.
"I promise, My Dear. I promise," Tarrant said.
"Very well, Father," Mary said, as she set the bottle back down on the table, and she and Isabel walked back into the kitchen to continue baking.
Once the girls were alone, Isabel gave Mary a strange look. "What in the world is wrong with your father?" she asked, very frenzied.
Mary sighed. "He's not being careful with his chemicals. When he's not careful, he goes mad. I worry greatly about it, and I think he might turn out to be like my grandfather," she explained, still very upset by this.
"Well, does your mother know?"
"Yes, but she doesn't believe it's a problem. But how can she know? She's always out in the gardens or going to tea parties. Honestly, I feel like I'm the only one who concerns about Father."
"Oh, Dear. Do you have a close relationship with him?" Isabel asked.
"Well..." Mary pondered a bit, "not to a certain extant. He loves me, but I think sometimes he doesn't really know me very well."
"Maybe you should make it a point to spend time with him."
"I suppose," Mary said, as she began the dough making.
The girls talked on the subject for sometime, and made their pies. Mary realized that something in her life needed to change and she might have to be the one to do it.