Chapter 4: Settling in
Hatter was in his fabric room making Alice some shoes, while Cheshire was in their shared bedroom creating a surprise for Alice. While those two were hard at work doing their things, March got Alice a small paint brush, and some different colored paints. He told her to paint whatever she thought best represented her and after several minutes of thinking about it Alice decided to draw a yellow flower.
Shortly after Alice finished painting her flower on the door Cheshire appeared behind her and March and said, "Your surprise is ready." Then he disappeared again. Alice opened the door to their shared room and she and March walked in together. The room was almost exactly the same now except there were only two beds at the end of it instead of three.
For a moment Alice and March thought this was some sort of prank Cheshire was setting them up for when they turned their heads to the left of the room for the first time. And they saw poles sticking out of the ground reaching almost all the way up to the ceiling. The poles had rods on the top of them that linked them together and went all around in a rectangular fashion
There was velvet drapes hung on all sides of the poles with a bed in the center. "This cottage has many, many rooms but only one bedroom that we must all share." Cheshire said. "Since you're going to be living here with us you're also going to be stuck sharing the same room. And because you're the only girl I felt as if you would want your privacy. It isn't your own room but it should do the trick."
Alice turned around and hugged Cheshire. "Thank you" She said. Cheshire's body disappeared and Alice's arms that were wrapped around him suddenly fell, causing her to stumble forward a couple steps. Cheshire's head remained though and floated in front of her. He smiled at her before disappearing all together; for the first time Alice has ever seen though this smile was pleasant and not mischievous.
Alice went to her bed and closed all the curtains around it. She had about four feet of room from her bed to the curtains which was enough. It would take her some time to adjust too all of this but part of her enjoyed it. Her old life was so dull and unexciting, even her games with her brother were gradually becoming more boring. Things here in wonderland were different though, she hadn't been here long but already she was beginning to love the place, and the people.
Her thoughts went to Hatter, as she imagined what he would be like in her world. Then she began imagining other things about him and her cheeks reddened. She quickly pushed those sorts of thoughts out of her head for now and left the room to visit hatter and see how her shoes were coming along.
When she got into the fabric room and went to Hatters work desk that was only about twenty steps into the room he was nowhere to be found. A pair of black slip on shoes sat on his work desk. Alice picked up the shoes and started putting them on to see if they fit when Hatter returned.
He came up from the opposite end of the desk that leads deeper into the fabric room holding a couple stacks of white and grey threads. "Ahh, perfect timing," He said. "I just finished your shoes and shortly realized you do not have any socks do you?"
Alice looked down at her bare feet; she only had her slippers when she came to wonderland. And she put them away when Hatter told her he would make her some shoes. "Yeah I guess socks would be just as helpful as shoes wouldn't they?"
Hatter smiled at her, took a seat and quickly went to work on turning the fabric piles he brought into pairs of socks for Alice. Alice stood amazed at how quickly eh worked, his hands were like magic cutting, sewing and measuring everything together until it took the form of what he wanted. She wasn't really paying attention when he made her dress, which she was still wearing; but now her eyes were fixed on his craftsmanship.
Within mere minutes Hatter had converted the stacks of fabric into five pairs of white and grey socks for Alice. He then handed them to her so she could try them on. She did and they fit rather well, the socks went halfway up to her calves and felt very smooth. Next she tried on her shoes which were a little loose but had buckles on the top so she could tighten them to her comfort.
When Alice finished putting on her shoes she walked around in them a bit and they worked great. She could walk easily in them could probably even run around and they were easy to put on or take off. "Hatter this is amazing. How can you do this, and so fast? Make shoes, clothes, well all of it, did you have like some sort of mentor?"
Hatter laughed lightly and said, "No this is something I discovered not only I had a talent for but was something I really enjoyed doing. I've made several mistakes before some unrecoverable, but over the years I just got better and faster. I can't explain it but this is just a natural talent I have, wonderland is probably filled with people like me who can do things that to them may seem like nothing but to everyone else it's incredible.
Take March for example, his green room in this cottage. He grows acres and acres of plants, fruits, and foods in there and too him it's like breathing. Cheshire and I took over the place for a week each splitting the work in half and by the time March had returned over half his crops were dead. Needless to say he never let us tend to his agriculture again and whenever we need something from out of the cottage me or Cheshire will go out and get it."
Alice was in tears laughing at Hatters story; it wasn't a mean laugh just a playful one. Soon enough she had Hatter laughing with her. March came in to both of them laughing and stood at the door for a moment confused. When they finally calmed down March approached them.
"Not to be rude or blunt but Alice my dear you could really use a bath." March said.
Alice sniffed herself a bit and realized he was right. March told her that the cottage actually had no bathrooms so they had to do all their business outside somewhere and they had to take their baths in a nearby lake. The walk to the lake was about an hour away from the cottage.
When they arrived there March placed down a towel and a small jar that had some anti germ gel inside of it that they used to help kill off whatever germs got on them. It worked just like soap and shampoo back on earth. She could use it in her hair and on her skin, and it smelled like fresh spring flowers.
Alice started getting undressed when she turned to march and said, "Hey I could use my privacy here."
March nodded and said, "Ill be nearby holler if you need me." Then he hopped away.
Alice made a face at him as he hopped away then got fully undressed and stepped into the lake. As soon as her foot was inside she pulled it back and shrieked loudly. March came running back looking prepared for war seconds later. Alice covered her privates with her hands, when March said, "Alice what's wrong!"
"The water is freezing!" She said.
March calmed down a bit and chuckled. Then he said, "Well the river does flow from the mountains, but don't worry as long as you don't stay in there too long you won't catch a cold." Then March hopped away again leaving Alice alone, but now she knew he wasn't too far away.
After several minutes of standing in the freezing water that was up to her neck Alice finally stopped shivering and started to enjoy the cool water. She started rubbing the gel on her skin form her feet and up; it worked perfectly fine underwater which was nice she wouldn't have to remerge to clean herself constantly. Then Alice dunked her head in the water and started to clean her hair.
When Alice finished cleaning herself up she stepped out of the lake and started drying herself off with the towel March had brought. When she finished doing that she looked around for some spare clothes then realized she didn't have any, and the only clothes she did have were dirty. So Alice covered herself up with the towel and called March over and explained her problem to him.
"Oh my." He said. "I'm going to have to run back and have Hatter make you some more new clothes. He should already be working on some more dresses for you but I forgot to tell him to make you underwear. He's going to have to use these for proper measurements." Then March gestured to Alice's underwear.
"He can't touch my underwear!" Alice protested as her entire face turned red.
"Sorry dear but you have nothing else and you need fresh clothes. Besides he is the same age as yourself you know."
And before Alice could continue arguing with him; March was already racing off carrying her dirty dress with her underwear bundled inside it leaving her alone at the lake. She was furious for a while but eventually Alice cooled down. Then about twenty minutes after March ran off with her clothes, Cheshire appeared.
"Hello Alice, March says you need company while he gets you new clothes." Cheshire said.
"It couldn't hurt, hey wait how did March get back so fast? It took us like an hour to walk here."
"Yes but he was running remember and rabbits are very fast when they want to be."
"Then if he just got back to the cottage how did you get here so fast Cheshire?"
Cheshire only smiled mischievously at her as his body disappeared and his head rolled around going upside, then back up in circles around her.
"You are just like your character in the book." Alice said.
"Cheshire's smile disappeared and he stopped spinning circles around her. Then his whole body reappeared and he asked, "Character from a book?"
"Nothing" Alice said quickly.
Cheshire's smile returned as he asked, "would you like to hear some stories about the various places I have been?"
Alice thought it over for a moment. Was it another prank of some kind she thought to herself. Then she decided that Cheshire may mischievous but he wasn't as bad as she kept leading him out to be. She only thought he would keep pulling pranks on her because of what March told her about him. And it wasn't fair to judge some one on another's opinion of them; so Alice listened intently to Cheshire's stories.
Cheshire's stories fascinated Alice; she wondered what it would be like to visit some of the places he described to her. Before she even knew it March was back with a light blue colored dress similar to her old one, and some pink underwear. Cheshire disappeared and March turned around as Alice got dressed.
When she finished she told March Cheshire was telling her stories about all these amazing places he'd been to. "I hope you don't believe in all of those stories." March said. "Cheshire is not exactly known for his honesty."
Cheshire reappeared and said, "Now, now March just because I always lie to you does not mean I would ever lie to our dear Alice." Cheshire's eyes were big and black now like he was pouting.
March did not believe in any of it. "Your lying to me right now cretin."
"Cheshire is any of what you told me true?" Alice asked suspiciously.
"All of it is Alice." Cheshire said sincerely. "Except for the stories that were not true, those were just fun to tell." Then Cheshire laughed a little and disappeared.
When Alice and March returned to the cottage, Hatter and Cheshire were sitting outside at the table drinking tea and laughing with one another. "Were home" Alice called out. Hatter got up and told Alice that he had a whole wardrobe finished and laid out for her on her bed. March went inside to start everyone their dinner.
He returned just under an hour later, making several trips in and out of the cottage carrying trays with, meats, fruits, and desserts on them. The last trip March takes inside is to grab several jugs of water and a few tea pots. Then when March settles in his spot at the table everyone starts eating. Hatter and Cheshire eat the most out of all of them and they mostly eat the meats.
When they all finished eating Cheshire had taken all of the dishes inside to start washing them. The sky was dark now and the moon was almost full. It was a warm cloudless night filled with stars. After enjoying the night sky for a while the rest of them retired to their bedroom. March told Alice that they would deal with her designated chores tomorrow morning.
When Alice got to her bed she found her new clothes all neatly folded onto her bed along with her pajamas wish were now clean. She put her clothes in the corner of the room by her bed, closed her curtains and changed into her pajamas. Then she wished Hatter, and March a good night and crawled under her blanks.
Her bed was even softer than the one she had a home and very cozy. Alice starred at the beautiful ceiling painting which like March told her was glowing a blue luminescence even the stars glowed. She thought about how fun today was, and wondered what tomorrow would bring. Then she fell asleep and dreamed of her brother Aaron and her parents.