I do not own Syfy's Alice.
Should though. It's my story. Partially anyway.
Not So Mad
The Sage Rodent Specialist
"Hey, kid, get away from that pier! You'll fall in!"
I jerked in surprise at the sudden intrusion, nearly falling in anyway.
He shambled over and pulled me off from the edge.
He was slimy and foul. With long stringy hair curtaining a stubbly, unshaven face. He stank of rats. His grip was pinching and awkward. I pushed him away roughly, swiping at the tears on me bruised face with the back of a dirty hand.
"You stink," I replied harshly, trying to cover for the fact that I'd been crying. Again.
He did stink. Always has. Always will. It's the cost of being the Ratman.
He was younger then than he is now. But then again, so was I.
But still greasy. Still smelly. Still the longhaired, grimy Ratman.
"And you've been sitting alone crying like a baby," he countered, not really unkindly.
I glared at him defiantly and said the most intelligent, argumentative statement I could muster.
"Nuh-uh!"
He raised a knowing eyebrow, holding my gaze stubbornly.
"Then what have you been doing?"
I couldn't think of a single thing.
He nodded, moved around me, and knelt down to check his traps.
I watched him, pretending I wasn't curious.
Finally I couldn't resist.
"Why do you do that?"
He glanced back at me over one raincoated shoulder.
"What?"
I pointed.
"That. Catch rats. Don't you know it makes you smell bad?"
He stuffed the last of his captured booty into the bag and stood up slowly. Turning, he squared his shoulders and in that moment I saw more natural dignity in him than any other individual I had ever and would ever encounter in all of Wonderland before Alice.
"We all gotta job. We all gotta take care of ourselves and our families, boy."
I stood there and stared at him, completely stunned.
He shrugged nonchanltly.
"If this keeps food in my family's mouths, then I'll smell like rats and not complain, make no mistake."
His statement hit me full in the face. Me brain short-circuited and me eyes watered up all over again.
I resisted the urge to hug him. To ask him to let me be part of his family. To tell him he was a good man.
Instead, I childishly returned to the most important topic of all: me.
"Me mum don't take care of me like that," I complained pitifully. "She's got the Tea."
He stared me dead in the eye.
"Then you'll have to grow up, stop whimpering, and take care of her," he answered with finality.
Me fragile composure broke. I couldn't help it.
"But I don't want to! It's not fair!"
He shrugged again, undisturbed by me petulant outburst.
"Life ain't fair. Don't excuse you from your responsibilities. You still gotta be there when they pass the hat."
He reached out and lightly slapped the brim of me hat. I glared at him, readjusting it slightly, hoping it wouldn't stink of rat forever.
But I couldn't let it go just yet. I simply couldn't.
"What if I don't want to?" I challenged obstinately.
This didn't faze him either.
"Ain't 'want'. Just 'do'. That's what it is to be a good person. Like you and me."
I resumed me glaring though it was becoming a tiresome exercise.
"How do you know I'm a good person? You don't know me, Ratty!"
I tried to make it sound like an insult but he smiled anyway. I could see his rotted teeth. They were grey. And worn. And thin.
"Rats ain't the only thing I know, boy. I can see in you right down to your guts. You're a good person. You just have to act like it."
I didn't know what to do with the Ratman. Nobody had really shown any belief in me at all other than what I could do for them. He simply believed I was good because I was me.
It was a big thought that I stubbornly let fly right over me little hatted head.
"I don't have to act like anything, Ratty!" I shot back.
Then I stomped away and didn't look back.
But I thought about it later.
I thought about it plenty.
And eventually decided I wanted to be like the Ratman.
Only not so ugly.
Or smelly.
Or ratty.
And here you smugly thought you knew everything there was to know about ole' Ratty, eh? Well, then you were wrong then, weren't you? There's always more underneath the skin. No matter how smelly that skin might be.
Sounds like the Hatter, Joellen818? Well a'course it would! I am the Hatter! Who else would I be? *pause* You're not on the Tea, are ya?
That bein' said, thanks for readin' it all in one swoop and bein' so encouragin', love.
