"Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I'm sure it's got, oh! such beautiful things in it!"
--Alice, Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carrol
"Bored. It's boring around here. I'm bored." Of course, talking to the ceiling cracks, was a sure sign of boredom. Either that or insanity. And of the both, Marie was not entirely sure which was more accurate. She considered her options.
Firstly, to continue talking to the ceiling cracks. Secondly, to simply stare at the ceiling cracks. Thirdly, to count the ceiling cracks.
Oh! The variety that came to one during the holidays! She settled for talking.
"It's two more hours to Slam Dunk reruns." She announced loudly, trying to make it seem as though it were a mere 120 minutes, 7200 seconds more. Which it actually was, but that was not the point. She'd sort of lost the point anyway, that was what tended to happen when she got bored.
Frankly, even the reruns had become boring. She could memorise the whole script! Plus she'd already played them a million times in her head, which sort of got kind of boringish too.
"It would, be fun to read fanfiction, I guess, in a boring sort of way. Only they always pair 'em up with each other, or with some other chick. I'm sure I'd make a better girlfriend. Don't you agree?"
The ceiling cracks could look awfully sympathetic when they wanted to.
"I'm going to enter the world of Slam Dunk. And do whatever I want. I shall be queen of the boys hearts, steal all of 'em and whatnot, because my beauty shall outshine everyone. But I'll refuse them because I love only one."
The ceiling cracks nodded in silent agreement
"But kindly, of course." she added as an afterthought.
Marie could be determined if she wanted to. But only if she wanted to, and that was not too often, on account of her being a wimp.
//---------------ยป
Haruko stood in front of a copy of Slam Dunk manga no 1. (She'd have gone with the TV show, only it was on in an hour's time) Then she moved a bit, and you could see that Haruko was really Marie dressed up like Haruko. She'd smudged her makeup, and that meant she didn't look like Haruko any longer.
She hoped books were easy to fool. But they should be. On account of them being books and all, they came from trees, right? And trees came from seeds which sometimes came from bird-crap, according to her Science teacher. She wasn't too clear on that point, since her science teacher wasn't too clear herself anyway.
Should she click her heels three times or something? She wasn't too clear on that either.
"Excuse me," She asked, in what she hoped was a Harukoey voice
"I'm sort of lost, but maybe you could bring me back in? I got thrown out by mistake."
Nothing happened
"Please?"
Nothing happened.
"Or I'll rip you up and let the dog chew on you."
Nothing happened. She looked up to the ceiling cracks for comfort. They seemed to be getting larger. And larger. And then smaller, and oh so far away... or was she getting smaller...
"I hope I don't miss the show."
And then she was in Slam Dunk.