I do not own the Alice in Wonderland characters. Though I may build a few extra castles, this is not my sand box.
Alice chewed on her nail nervously. She hated it when Grandmother came over for dinner. It was always "Sit up straighter Alice!" Or "Stop playing with the cat Alice!" There was just nothing that she could seem to do right! Even when playing piano, the one thing she COULD do, Grandmother always had something to correct her on. "Stop playing so quickly girl! Good grief, are you trying to ruin Mozart for me, or is it on accident?" And it wasn't as if anything anyone said made a difference to the old bag. "Alice! Elbows OFF the table." A sharp voice at the head of the table snapped Alice back to her surroundings. She had been day dreaming about being anywhere BUT here (here referring to sitting around a white clothed wooden table laid neatly for four).
Glancing across the table at her father, they made eye contact and he nodded firmly to her. Sighing, Alice slid her arms off of the table at pressed her back into the blue velvet lining of her chair. "Now as I was saying Deidra dear, blue flowers should not be placed to decorate a blue room; it's merely tacky! Perhaps daffodils, or some babies breathe would look lovely."
"Of course, Mother." Alice's mother said the last word as if it were difficult to refer to the creature sitting across from her as such. Her cheeks were flush with irritation at being told how to run her household. Alice's poor mother had to sit through the same miserable evening as her daughter, but she often said (when Alice's father wasn't around) that at least they had each other during those hellish hours. At that moment, Pino entered the room, carrying a silver platter of little cakes. Alice liked Pino very much. He was a slightly goofy old man, and always let Alice have desert, even if she didn't finish all of her vegetables.
He was making his way around the table when Grandmother shrieked, "Well don't give Alice any, old man. For goodness sake she hasn't even touched her brustle sprouts." Grimacing at the little round vegetables, Alice moved the sprouts around her plate with her fork. Eat them? Yeah, like THAT was gonna happen.
"You know, I would rather not eat vegetables. It isn't because I find them distasteful, but rather that they are thought of poorly by children." Alice piped up, looking around the table. Grandmother looked aghast, while her father revealed a small smile. "If now, they served desert first and vegetables last, then perhaps all of children's perspectives would change. Maybe they would want to eat vegetables, but not desert. Do you think that is possible?"
"My darling Alice, I think the question should not be aught it possible, but what is not possible?" Said her mother kindly. Alice grinned in appreciation, and her father sent her an affectionate look.
Grandmother, however, scoffed. "Of course it is impossible! Austen! How can you encourage such behavior?" She looked scandalized. "A proper young lady should not speak such a way. It's no wonder why that Henry fellow is taking such a long time proposing. He cannot decide if your head is on strait or not!"
The silence in the room was almost frightening. Alice's mother cleared her throat rather officially and removed the napkin from her collar. "Well firstly you see, mother, Alice will marry when the time is right, and I would not allow her to at such a young age anyway, even IF that 'Henry fellow' proposed. And secondly, we can raise our child as we see fit because Alice is and will always be OUR child. If you don't care for the way I bring her up, then I suggest you avert your eyes for the next few seconds." And with that, she took one of the cookies from her plate, leaned all of the way across the table, and dropped it onto Alice's. Warmth filled Alice's stomach at the sight of her mother performing such a noble deed.
"AUSTEN DO SOMETHING!" Jumping up, Grandmother threw her napkin onto the table and began yelling in a most unbecoming manner.
Grandmother was chastising Alice's father for marrying poorly, and Alice nibbled her cookie and watched, along with Pino, who had set down the try he was carrying to properly observe the argument. However, whilst their voices rose, no one looked at Alice's mother, who had grown terribly pail and clutched at her dress, right above her left breast.