Wonderland - Version 2024

D1 Contrariwise

D1. "Contrariwise" – Write a conversation between the most unlikely of companions. Think completely opposite ends of the spectrum and what they could possibly talk about. (<1000 words)


“Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? HELLO? HELLO! HELLO! HELL…”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut the heck up!”

“Hello??”

Jinks the cat came from under the couch, then jumped onto the dining room table. Soon she was near the cage.

“Here I am. Why do you yell all the time! You are so irritating, do you know that?”

“Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.” MaryKeet the gray parrot repeated.

“Really? You don’t know any other words? I thought you were supposed to be so smart. I mean, I heard that a gray parrot can think like a small child. You, now, come on. Are you a dunce?”

“Hello. Hello? Hello.”

Jinks grabbed the cage with her claws, rattled it a few times.

“Listen, you miserable bird brain. Stop with the hellos!”

MaryKeet took a step back on her perch. She ruffled her feathers.

“You’re going to learn a few new words. Time to go to school, little missy.”

Jinks settled herself on top of the table.

“I have to get some flashcards from Jimmy’s room. I’ll sit here a spell and think of a plan.”

“Hello? Hello! Hello.”

“Yep, we need a plan, and pronto.”

“Pronto. Hello? Pronto!”

Jinks jumped up. “You said a new word! Do you know what it means?”

The large gray bird hopped around, head bobbing. “Hello! Hello!”

“No, not hello. Pronto. It means quickly. Fast!”

“Pronto! Fast!”

“Yes, you need to learn more words. Pronto!” Jinks jumped off the table then zipped out of the room, up the stairs and out of sight.

“Fast! Quickly! Fast! Pronto! Hello!” MaryKeet hopped around. She looked for the cat. She looked in her mirror, behind her mirror. Her head tilted to the side for a few moments. Then the gray parrot said,

“Jinks, where are you? I miss you,” perfectly imitating the voice of Alice, the wife of James, the mother of Jimmy.

Jinks came running down the stairs. She jumped up on the table and slid to the cage, ruffling the tablecloth.

“What did you say?” Jinks had both paws on the cage. She rattled the cage so hard feathers and feed fell to the carpet.

“Jinks, I have no idea what just came out of my beak! I just had the impulse to speak my mind. I have so many ideas inside! I just had to start telling you. It all is coming to me now. I started as just a wee bit of a thing, a featherless little parrot, hand fed, nurtured by someone and taught to speak but then sent to a pet store and ignored and then I came here and forgotten all day and the people ignore me here too until you came around and started talking to me and then suddenly all at once it’s all coming back and I just have to talk and talk I have so much stored up…”

Jinks let go of the cage and sat on the dining room table for a time. She licked a furry paw, then laid down and closed her eyes. The sound of the parrot talking lulled her to sleep. She curled into a tight ball, head wrapped in her tail.

“…and then, you see, when the end was in sight, well I just talked my way out of it. And then I flew away. I was almost caught by some men hunting my kind, you see. They couldn’t find me, no way, because I’m a crafty sort. I can be quiet if I have to be…”

W/C 589

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