"Alice, why must you be so difficult?" An older woman dressed in a worn-out blue garb sighed out in exasperation to a young child around six years old. "I must be cause I can, and I can because I must," The blonde haired girl states in a childish tone. "Why should I wear a dress, when Alec isn't?" The maid tightens her pale thin lips in anger, causing the wrinkles around the edges to deepen. "You are a female, a lady in the making. While young Alec is a male, a soon to be gentleman. He does not wear intricate dress, pretty shoes, and beautiful jewels."

Alice furrows her delicate eyebrows in confusion, biting the inside of her rosy cheek. "But why must that be so? If Alec wishes to, can he not wear dresses, and if I want to, why can I not wear shirts and tro-trousers?" The maid breaths in deeply, counting to ten inside her head, as she narrows her dull brown eyes. "No, for it is not proper or accepted. I will not have a child under my watch become some ruffian, such a thing would ruin my reputation." Just as Alice was about to retort, her face a deep red in embarrassment and anger, a gruff voice echoed up the staircase.

"Charmaine, is Alice ready? We must leave soon if we wish to get to the market while the best products are still available." The maid quickly forced Alice into a beautifully intricate yellow dress embroidered with white flowers from the end of the gown up the hips. Alice, still protesting, is then shooed own the stairs, Charmaine grabbing a matching pair of shoes as she leaves. "I said I don't want to! Daddy, why must I wear a stupid dress?" A man, around fifty years old looks up at her call, his green eyes taking in the situation.

"My little rabbit, we've gone through this many times before. Little girls wear dresses, and ladies do as well." The male leans forward, bending down to her height of forty inches, his calloused and rough hand softly petting her silky hair "Little one, please do not use such terms, if you continue to do so. One day you will slip and insult someone, humans are much more fragile than objects." Alice blushes in shame, nodding her head as she looks to the side, only to brighten up as she notices two figures entering the room.

"Mommy! Alec!" The woman smiles, while the little boy grins as he breaks out in a run. "Alice, mommy was telling me about how diff-fiffucult it is to learn another language. Wouldn't it be fun to speak something other than, than," The blonde male paused in confusion turning towards their mother. "Mommy, what language do we speak?" The woman laughs, her hazel eyes shining in amusement. "We speak English my little mouse." Alec nods before turning back to Alice. "English, wouldn't you like to learn something other than that?"

Alice giggles, shaking her head. "No, English is hard enough for me." Alec stutters in horror, shaking his head in confusion. "How can you say such a thing? Just think about all the people you could meet, the places you could see, and don't forget the food you could eat!" Alice tilts her head in consideration, her bright blue eyes gazing into Alec's. "That does sound rather, fun." Alec grins in happiness, before turning to his father. "Daddy, we want to learn another language!" At his proclamation, Alice loudly protests from behind the excited child "When did I say that!" The father throws his head back, causing his silver-black hair to shift, as he laughs in delight and amusement.

"Perhaps little Alice would like to learn something else?" Alec pouts, crossing his fair arms. "But, what will I do then? I don't want to learn a language by myself, that doesn't seem any fun at all!" At this, their mother speaks up, her pale blonde hair in the process of being tucked behind her ear by a delicate fair hand. "We could learn on together, I've been meaning to polish up my French a bit." Alec grins happily at his mother, running to her and hugging her in his excitement. "Would you really, I can't wait, won't this be fun, what's French, wait is that France, why do you speak Franc-French, what does "polish up" mean, wh-"

The father laughs, interrupting the constant stream of questions. "Little mouse, we'll have time for questions later. We should be heading out now, you do want to get some new books don't you? Alice, don't you wish to get a few more rocks and gems?" The twins beam in joy, jumping in excitement. "Yes! We would," They both run outside, bolting down the stone pathway to the black carriage tethered to a beautiful gypsy horse whose coat was an stunning copper-red.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" The two yelled, climbing into the carriage to sit in the plush black seats. "Well Dahlia, are you ready to go?" The woman smiles gently, taking the offered arm. "Of course Nicholas, we'd better hurry before the children get impatient." The couple turns towards Charmaine, who was in the doorway during the interaction between the family. "Thank you dear, I know Alice can be a bit difficult to deal with." Dahlia says, smiling with amusement. "As always, you are impeccable with your duties, we will be back at around twelve in the afternoon, giving us five hours of shopping." The maid nods, a smile upon her weary face. "Thank you Nicholas, Dalia. Alice might be a bit of a handful, yet i'm delighted to care for her. I will have a snack and some tea ready for when you return. I hope your trip goes well."

The couple smile before exiting the household, walking contently down the pathway towards the impatient children. As they reach the carriage the two happily greet the young red-headed coachman before climbing inside, immediately bombarded with questions from the ever curious Alec. "Mother, how do you make books? How old is the oldest book? Who wrote the first book?" Dahlia laughs in surprise, before raising her hand to cup her cheek. "Well, to make a book you need to first write it, which is a whole different ordeal, then print it out. If you want to, I can explain to you how the printing machines work before bed. The oldest known book is around twenty-four hundred years old, as for who wrote it, I just don't know."

Alec settles back into the seat content with the new information he just gathered, quieting down as he begins to think about it. As he does so Alice takes out her sketchbook, a green moleskin journal with silver flowers. Opening it to a new page, she takes a pencil and begins to draw, as time goes on, a grinning cheshire cat begins to appear on the paper. Nicholas and Dahlia smile gently before turning leaning into each other and beginning to plan a surprise for the two.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading!

Requests

If you find any spelling and/or punctuation errors please inform me.

Further Information

A few of the spiritual meanings for the animal Rabbit is gentleness, and cleverness.

A few of the spiritual meanings for the animal Mouse is Attention to details, and modesty.

Unfamiliar Words

Ruffian - a violent person, especially one involved in crime.

If you see any other unfamiliar or unusual words please comment.