Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Alice, Happy Birthday to you!

"Blow the candles out, dear! Make a wish come true!"

"Oh, I don't even know what to wish for, Dad!"

Alice contemplated a minute, then let a question slip through her lips,

"Hey, did you ever notice there is so much more to wish for when you're younger than when you're older?"

Brian, Alice's brother, chuckled, "Just because you're 22 now doesn't mean that you're old!" The room filled with laughter.

"I know, I just mean that kids wish for such fantastic things. Nonsensical things, but fantastic all the same."

Mrs. Liddell laughed, "Then perhaps you should wish for something you wanted as a child, but I'd wish something quick. Your father is eyeing that cake of yours something awful."

"I'm hungry!" Mr. Liddell protested.

Alice smiled at her family. "Okay. Just give me a few more seconds!"

Alice stared at the candles, each one slowly melting away, and she mulled over a few things in her head.

I can't believe I'm making such a fuss over something so trivial. This is ridiculous.

She watched the candles dance as her father's words echoed in her mind.

"Blow the candles out, dear! Make a wish come true!"

Why did that sound so vaguely familiar?

Wish… Wish wish wish! Oh! I know! How about… I wish something out of the ordinary would happen to make things interesting around here!

With that, Alice took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Her family clapped and nodded with satisfaction.

"Finally some cake!" Mr. Liddell proclaimed, soon followed by laughter and Mrs. Liddell's sigh of slight exasperation. "I told you I was hungry!"

"We know, Dad," Alice said, "You'll have your cake and eat it too."

"Darn straight!" Mr. Liddell quipped, and a slice of fudge cake was placed right in front of him.

"So, Alice," her sister, Lori, started, "What did you wish for?"

Brian leapt in, "Oh you know she can't answer that or else it won't come true!" He smirked at his sister, "Plus, she probably wished for, you know, a new boyfriend."

Alice's eyes widened, "Brian! I did NOT!"

Alice had only a few boyfriends before, but they hadn't been anything serious. Matter of fact, she became rather bored with male antics after a few months of dating. She knew she should start looking for a potential husband at her age, but she didn't worry about it. That was her parent's job.

"Oh, Honey," Mrs. Liddell sighed, "Remember the last boy you dated? He was so sweet, you know…"

"Yeah, Mom," Alice frowned, "but he was so timid and dull. At least some spontaneity would have been nice."

"Spontaneity is overrated, dear. Just look at your father,"

Mr. Liddell looked up, his mouth full of cake, "Hehhhhy! Wehll, she' kind uhf wight."

Alice and Brian chuckled. Their grandmother decided to change the subject, since she had been waiting to bring one up herself.

"Anyway, Henry, I'm still having that yard sale tomorrow. I was wondering if you, Lorina, and the kids wanted to stop by and go through some things."

Mrs. Liddell nodded, "Sure, Elizabeth! I'm not doing anything tomorrow, and neither are the kids, really. We'd be glad to help out."

"Oh thank you! I have so many things lying about. Even that old antique mirror you loved as a child, Alice. Remember it? I know it's somewhere…"

Alice looked puzzled, "A mirror?"

"Yes, dear," Lorina said, wiping her mouth with a napkin, "It used to be in your room. You used to tell us stories about going through it and having some lovely adventures. You were such an imaginative little girl! You don't remember?"

"I… did? It sounds familiar."

Lorina pointed a fork at her daughter, "Why yes! I can't believe you don't remember. You were so intent on it too. You didn't grow out of it for the longest time."

"Oh." Alice placed her cutlery down and stared at her plate, "I thought I had dreams like that or something."

"Possibly," said Brian, "You never know. Dreams can be really realistic."

"And sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. You definitely talked about it as a kid." Henry added, as he started shoveling more cake onto his plate, "Anyway, Mom, We'd love to help."

"Great!" the elder woman said. She clapped her hands together and clasped them tightly. "As for now, who says we bring out Alice's gifts?"

"Sounds good to me!" Alice chirped.

In the back of her mind, however, a certain uneasiness was developing. Why did those dreams about her mirror that she had as a child seem so foreign when obviously they had meant so much to her? Something didn't feel quite right about the way it had been mentioned. If they were just dreams, why did they feel so different to her when she tried to remember them?


Fingertips drummed on the table and the tea was passed around with little speech involved. This was a quiet day for the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and the Dormouse… Too quiet. Matter of fact, this wasn't normal for the Wonderland gang at all, but they had run out of silly things to talk about at the current moment in time. All three friends didn't like that.

"So… What are we gonna talk about?" The Hatter inquired to his friends.

Dormouse scrunched his tiny nose, "Uh… Jam flavors we wished would be made?"

Hare shook his head, "We talked about that yesterday…" he paused, "How about the most OUTRAGEOUS Wonderland celebrity battles?" The Hare stretched his arms out as if to suggest the size of such a battle.

Hatter wrinkled his nose to match Dormouse's, "No, we talked about that the day before yesterday while the Queen was here and she wins every time."

"Oh yeah." Hare sighed, and he shrank back down into his seat.

"How about," Hatter paused, unsure of himself, "How about our good ol' times when Alice came around?"

Hare and Dormouse gasped and both their mouths gaped in shock. They looked around to make sure nobody had heard. Dormouse retreated into his teapot and Hare leaned in towards Hatter.

"Hatter! You know we haven't talked about Alice for a looooooong time! The Queen said that maybe if we didn't talk about her, she'd come back."

The Dormouse reappeared, but hung his head slightly, "Well that hasn't done much, has it? I wouldn't ruin it though. You never know, the Queen could be right."

Hare nodded and pointed to their petite buddy, "You know, Hatter, Dormouse has a point. Let's not think about it. It's too sad to think about anyway."

"No it's not!" Hatter smiled, "It's fun to remember things! Don't you remember when she asked us about our Halloween picnic or… or when she came to your magic show? How about your hypnotist show?"

Hare squinted and crossed his arms, "No. Not at all."

Hatter continued, "How about when we did her hair, or we helped her write that story? Or all the times she laughed at our mad jokes?"

Hare shook his head forcefully, "Nope!"

Dormouse retreated to his teapot once more. He knew that once Hatter wanted to make a point… The Hatter stood up out of his chair.

"I remember, Hare! I remember when she sang songs, and helped me with the Queen's auction, and picked out some hat designs when I couldn't even pick one out myself, and I remember that she was with all our friends when you came to see how I was feeling after I had my tonsils taken out! I remember! Why can't you?"

"BECAUSE I KNOW THAT ALICE IS PROBABLY NEVER COMING BACK!"

Hare had shouted across the table. Hatter's jaw quivered and he slowly sat down. Hare covered his mouth, flabbergasted, and continued to slouch until he was face down on the table. Hatter stared off into space.

"You really think so, Hare?" he whispered.

Hare looked up. He was clearly ashamed.

"I don't know, Hatter. I just don't know."

The Hatter reached a gloved hand over the table and added honey to his tea before taking a large gulp.

"I really, really hope not, Hare."


Not so far away, The Queen of Hearts was at her throne, bored just as much as the Hare and Hatter were. She had taken up reading a book for the next hour when she was interrupted by a low throaty rumble. The Queen looked up from her reading.

"I can hear you, Cat. What is it that you want?"

The Cheshire Cat materialized fully in the air.

"Darrrrrnit. I thought purrrrhaps I could sneak up on you."

The Queen chuckled softly, "I've known you far too long for you to sneak up on me, Cheshire. Is there a reason for interrupting my story? It just got to the part where the beautiful beloved Queen is introduced."

Cheshire grinned his usual sneaky grin.

"Well, yes your Majesty, there is. You see, I was purrrracticing my amazing skills," he disappeared and left his eyes and smile behind to demonstrate, "over near the Hatterrrr's and you wouldn't believe what I hearrrrrd."

The Queen smiled and leaned forward, interested in the cat's gossip.

"Really, Cheshire. What did you hear? Was it about your Queen?"

The cat's body reappeared and its tail wagged slightly.

"No your Majesty. Rather, it was about Alice,"

The Queen's eyes widened "Go on."

"Well," the cat said, "Hatterrr started talking about how we should still talk about her, but the Hare refused to listen, saying that Alice would never be coming back anyway."

"Those chuckleheads," the Queen said loudly, "What else did they say?"

The cat started to disappear again.

"I don't really rememberrrr. You should ask them yourself."

The Queen pounded a fist on her throne, "That cat! He can be such a nuisance. RABBIT! RAAAAABBIT!"

The White Rabbit skated into the throne room as fast as he could from wherever he had been.

"Y-yes your Majesty!" he shouted, "What do you need?"

"I need the Hatter and the Hare here. Immediately."

"Yes, your Majesty," the Rabbit remarked, "but for what purpose?"

The Queen narrowed her eyes, "For the purpose of them being here NOW."

The Rabbit jumped, "Why, yes, your Majesty! Of course!"

With a quick turn, he went off to fetch the two tea-obsessed best friends.


Other than a few slurps and the quiet swallowing of biscuits, cakes, and crumpets, there had been nearly fifteen minutes of eerie almost-silence at the Hatter's tea table prior to the White Rabbit's arrival. The surrounding area was so quiet, in fact, that the White Rabbit bladed his way through Hatter's main gate half-thinking that the two friends were having their tea party inside for their own absurd reasons. Hatter swallowed a bite of a crumpet.

"Hey Rabbit!"

The White Rabbit jumped up and nearly lost his balance entirely.

"Oh! Oh my! Hatter, you scared me half to death! Why are you two so quiet? That's… abnormal for you."

Hare looked at Hatter, unsure of how to answer.

"Well," Hare began, "We, uh, ran out of things to talk about. That's all."

Rabbit raised a fluffy eyebrow, "Ah. In that case, the Queen wants to see you both as soon as possible, so you better come back with me."

"Why does she want to see us?" Hatter asked.

"To tell you the truth, Hatter, I'm really not sure, but she's quite adamant about it."

Hare stood up from the table, "Then I guess we'd better get going!"

Hatter put down his teacup and stood up, clapping his hands together. "Let's be off then!"

Rabbit and Hare nodded and the three left for the palace, hoping that the Queen was in one of her better moods.