Everyday Canvas

Alice – The Interview

Prompt: Alice in Wonderland
“Fun Fact twist for Friday...” http://www.thefactsite.com/2012/04/fun-facts-about-alices-in-wonderland.html
“Pick something that appeals to your creative muse and write a story, a poem or discuss some of the points that you did not know. Maybe Dinah will inspire you as she did Carroll or aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.”

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I was worried she wouldn’t show up. You never knew with Alice, I was told; however, my manager said she was already in the limo heading our way. They had had a slight delay due to traffic.

While waiting for her, I reviewed inside my head the interview techniques I had studied, which were rooted in the infamous lie-detector tests. I recalled our first class in the police academy and the first thing we had learned. Our teacher, a tall, burly man with red nose and cheeks--possibly due to being soaked up with Guinness—had asked: “What do you think is more important, verbal or nonverbal behavior?” Someone took a guess. “Nonverbal?” The teacher nodded. “Yeah! That’s the whole ballgame right there.” Then he had told us to never mind what the subjects say but to record how they say it. “As to the questions,” he had let out a hearty laugh here, “If you have an oddball person in front of you, feel free to ask oddball questions.”


Before I could ponder over the remaining points for a good interview, Alice walked into the studio jiggling her hips and twisting right and left her head of curly brown hair. I noticed she wasn’t the young girl I was expecting but a rather mature woman in her late forties in a pink dress with white-cuffed short sleeves, and she wore a name-tag on her chest. Where had I seen someone looking like this before? I decided to sweep this internal question aside for the moment.

With a quick complimentary smile and a nod, Alice took the seat in front of me, and after the initial small talk, I signaled to the cameras to start rolling.

“Hello Alice, and welcome to Writing.com’s not-so-official interview room,” I said, trying to look professional.

“Oh, yes, of course,” she said, “Hello, Writing.com!” Her voice was very friendly but she talked as if she wasn’t all there, stroking the back of her hand, then turning it around and tracing her palm with her finger.

“Is something wrong with your hand, Alice?”

“When I fell down the Rabbit hole, I hit it, although no one noticed it.” She looked right into my eyes, twisting her face. “Beware of the hurrying, selfish White Rabbit wearing a waistcoat, muttering ‘oh dear, oh dear I shall be too late,’ and yanking on the chain of their pocket watch to check the time.”

“I’ve met men like that,” I answered. “The wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kind.”

“Exactly!” She bobbed her head up and down. “I was a child, then. What did I know! I think I got something from him that led to my neurological condition.” She sighed. “It affects my perception, you see. Although many people grow out of it, I wasn’t one of the lucky ones.”

Obviously, she was talking about the Alice-in-Wonderland Syndrome, a.k.a Todd's syndrome. “You must be referring to your shrinking and/or growing to gigantic proportions disorder. Did you know that the individuals in the staff here in Writing.com are annoyed with the interactives about shrinking and growing bigger?”

“Who can blame them?” she said meekly, pulling on her skirt and wiggling in the chair. “Such an interactive must be as annoying as a squeakily piercing call of a whistle. Although, I must say, by following the white rabbit, I met quite a few interesting characters.”

“Who was the one character that left the most lasting impression on you?”

Alice frowned, tightening her lips; then she put her forefinger on them and squinted. Her thinking pose. “I have to say the Cheshire Puss, but not because of his mischievous grin or the duchess who owned the cat. I rather disliked the Duchess, anyway.”

“What was so special about the Cheshire Cat that left such an impression on you?”

“That cat told me the truth.” Alice leaned forward as if divulging a secret. “He said ‘we’re all mad here.’ Now, ain’t that the truth! Don’t things get curiouser and curiouser, for you, too?”

I nodded in agreement but didn’t directly answer her. The focus of the conversation had to stay on Alice. “Your adventures in Wonderland must have helped you mature faster for your later life, wouldn’t you say?”

“Hmmff!” She twisted her lips. “I’m leading a rather duller life, now. But the one thing Wonderland gave me is a very long life. Much longer than yours will ever be, but as the Rabbit said even forever is just one second.”

“The outfit you are wearing,” I said, ignoring the mortality hint. “I think I have seen it before, but I can’t exactly pinpoint it where.” I leaned back in my seat and stared at her.

Alice giggled. “I knew, you’d catch it. Guess!”

I shook my head. “I’m stumped…really. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Mel’s Diner, Silly!”

I was caught off guard by her answer. “The Alice in Mel’s diner is the same Alice in Wonderland? How can you explain that?”

“I'm afraid I can't explain myself, Dear. Because I am not myself, you see… Just use the imagination trick, the only war against reality.”

I understood what she meant and I genuinely wanted to search for more details, but at that specific instant, I didn’t know how to go about asking her more probing questions.

Noticing my momentary silence, Alice continued. “I can easily say this: People love me so much that they’ll put me anywhere and make me shine.”

How nice that she felt so loved...

“Anywhere?” I asked, taking the hint from her words.

“Yes, so long as I get somewhere, and as the Cheshire cat said, if I walk long enough.”

I had so much more to ask Alice, but our time was up and she had an appointment with another movie studio…again.


Who had Alice grown up into? An artistic woman who sewed frilly curtains and painted earthenware plates spun on her kiln while she worked as a waitress or an attention-seeker who kept jumping up from one life into another just to appear on our screens? Then I thought this latter social endeavor was probably forced on her. She was, from what I had observed, classless and never boasted, while always focusing her attention to things outside of herself.

Looking back, I now realize she has to be this way because she perceives things to be either too big or too small. She is suffering from that specific condition after all. Like the rest of us.