Fly on the Wall
Alice sat on the couch, flipping through a book while a CD she'd just burned played in the background.
"You like Bowie?"
She turned her head to see Hatter walking out of the Steam Beast room (as he insisted on calling it), toweling his messy hair. He looked odd without the hat, but Alice was more caught up on what he said. "You know Bowie?"
He plopped down next to her, "I know him personally; He's my uncle."
Alice's jaw hit the ground, "David Bowie is from Wonderland?"
Hatter laughed and ruffled her hair, "Could someone so spectacularly out there come from your world, little Oyster?"
She bristled a little, but smiled in spite of herself, "Lady Gaga? She's very odd."
"Also from Wonderland; she was Jack's sister. Her real name is Serendipity Heart."
"Ok, how bout Madonna?"
"Duchess' biological mother."
For a brief moment, she wondered if there was anything else he wanted to shock her with. "Prince?"
He paused, thinking, then nodded, "Him too. Essentially any musical artist in your world from the 80's, as you put it, came from Wonderland."
"Right. Spectacular out there-ness, I get it." Hatter grinned, and pulled her closer to him. Then she realized something. "Is that why you told my mom your name was David?"
"You caught me."
Carol
I've had two moments in my life all but burned into my memory; the day Robert left us, seemingly without reason, and then the moment I realized something had gone wrong with Alice. The latter turned into the longest hour of my life, until I received a call from the hospital, telling me that a construction worker had brought her in. I would've ran to the hospital, but I knew that a taxi was the smarter and quicker way to get there. When I arrived, the construction worker was sitting in her room, nervously toying with the brim of a tan hat. He looked very disheveled, but more worried, I thought, than a man who just found a woman he didn't know ought to look. My relief that she was ok over powered everything else, though, and I told him that he could come see her once she was home.
I was a little shocked when Alice began packing away her tracking material, but glad that she had finally come to terms with the fact that he wasn't coming back to us. It hurt me to know that, but that's the way it was. I was absorbed in my thoughts when the door buzzed, and I remembered that the charming construction worker was coming today. I expected their meeting to be a tad awkward, but Alice would be gracious and kind, nonetheless. I certainly hadn't expected to see her run at him as if he was an old friend, and I was nearly floored by shock when they kissed. He left a couple of hours later, and I sighed as she shut the door. My daughter was looking a little guilty, absentmindedly rubbing her right forearm where she had a funny shaped bruise. "Alice… who was he?"
She smiled wistfully and chuckled, "The man I owe my life to."