Nonny kept swimming until he came across a house.
"Hmm. Could this be the house of the Mad Hatter?" Nonny wonders. He was able to hear very faint singing coming from the backyard.
"Wait a minute...I think I recognize those voices," Nonny said.
To confirm his thoughts, he swam closer and looked in the backyard. The first thing he noticed was a long table with dozens of teacups and a teapot in the middle of it.
"A tea party? Um...ok," Nonny says.
As he swam closer and closer, he was able to see who was sitting at the edge of the table. It was Deema and Gil. Deema was wearing a white shirt, a reddish pink scarf wrapped loosely around her neck, and an orange dressy jacket. On her head, she also wore a green top hat that for some reason had a white piece of paper on in that read "10/6". Gil was wearing a dark blue shirt, a purple scarf wrapped around his neck, and a dark red dressy jacket. On his head were a pair of brown bunny ears in which the right ear stood upright but the left ear was bent forward a little bit. They started to sing, so Nonny stood silently and politely listened.
"A very merry unbirthday to you," Gil sang.
"To who?" Deema asked.
"To me," Gil said while pointing to himself.
"Oh you," Deema said while winking at Gil.
"No, no. A merry unbirthday to you," Gil said playfully while handing Deema a cup of tea.
"You sure?" Deema asks.
"It's both of our unbirthdays," Gil says.
Deema turned away from Gil and looked toward the corner of the backyard.
"Hey, you. Come over here," Deema says.
Coming toward the table was Goby, who for some reason was wearing gray mouse ears and a gray t-shirt.
"Come in the middle," Deema said.
Goby now stood in between Gil and Deema. They each raised a teacup into the air.
"A very merry unbirthday to us," Deema and Gil sang as the three friends clinked their cups together in a toast. Nonny felt it would be a good time to intervene.
"Hello," Nonny greets. The first reaction he gets isn't quite what he expected.
"I'm going back to bed," Goby says as he tries to leave the table.
"Hey, you know better than that!" Deema said as she grabbed him to prevent him from leaving.
"Hello there, child," Deema says to Nonny.
"Hello, Deema, Goby, and Gil," Nonny greets. The trio looks at each other and back at Nonny.
"Who," Gil asked, clearly confused.
"Don't tell me you guys don't know your own names," Nonny says.
"Of course we know our own names. I'm the Mad Hatter," Deema says.
"I'm the March Hare," Gil says.
"And I'm the Door Mouse," Goby says.
Nonny decided to play along with this so-called charade.
"Ok. My name is Nonny," Nonny says.
"Well, Nonny. Welcome to our unbirthday party," the Mad Hatter says.
"Unbirthday? What's that?" Nonny asks. The March Hare gives Nonny a blank stare.
"You don't know what an unbirthday is?" the March Hare says.
"Nope, can't say that I do," Nonny admits.
"I'll explain," the Mad Hatter says, "unbirthdays are any days that are not your birthday."
"Oh, I get it now," Nonny says.
"Oh, by the way, why is a raven like a writing desk?" the Hatter asks Nonny. Nonny had no idea what the answer was.
"Hmm. Why is a raven like a writing desk? Hmm," Nonny mumbles.
" Aw, it doesn't matter. Here, have some tea," the March Hare said as he slid a teacup across the table to Nonny. Nonny took a sip.
"Wait a minute. This isn't tea, this is chocolate milk," Nonny pointed out.
"Of course it's chocolate milk. Do you really think little kids like us drink tea?" the Mad Hatter asks.
"If it's chocolate milk, then why did you call it tea?" Nonny wonders.
"To trick people," the Hatter said while smiling.
"Ok. Now, about unbirthdays...is today my unbirthday?" Nonny wonders.
"Depends...is today your real birthday?" the Hatter asks. Nonny thought long and hard about what the date was.
"No," Nonny says.
"Then a very merry unbirthday to you," the Hatter and the Hare merrily sung. Nonny grinned.
"Ooh, I'm late, I'm late," the White Rabbit said as she swam past the Hatter's house.
"Oona...er, White Rabbit!" Nonny called out.
"You've got a crush on her, don't you?" the Hare says. Nonny became very bashful.
"Oh, um, well...I, I'm, I don't, there's, well, you see..." Nonny stuttered.
"Well, Casanova, go after her," the Hatter said while smiling. Nonny bows his head and goes after the White Rabbit.
