After Alice: A Novel by Gregory Maguire

Author:Gregory Maguire [Maguire, Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-10-27T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

The woods began to thin. The sound of hastening footsteps in the fog took on sloshy echo. They were running through marsh grass now, wetlands. Their feet were soaked. Perhaps we are at the side of the ocean, thought Ada. “The salt air will do you no good,” she panted to the Tin Ballerina and the Tin Bear. “You will come down with a pox.”

“I adore salt,” huffed Humpty Dumpty. “Salt completes me.”

“We mustn’t plunge into the sea or we would have to consider drowning,” said the Tin Bear. “And I’m not sure I’m capable of that. I’d be an utter failure.”

The noise of their pursuer only intensified. They heard a hunger in that racket, or some other ambition. The Jabberwock, if such it was, must be lost in the fog, too. They cringed at the creak and clang of its limbs, which seemed in the thickening air to be all around them.

“We are but poor players a-wandering in the muck and the mire,” said the Tin Ballerina. “It’s time we relied upon a higher power. We must put ourselves in the hands of loftier management.”

“All right,” said the Tin Bear. He unfolded from his valise a baker’s dozen of brightly colored kites, in patterns of red and black and white. Each had a string attached to one corner. The Tin Bear tied the other ends of the strings to various limbs of the traveling troupe.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any extras,” said the Tin Ballerina to Ada. “But you may hold my hand for comfort and guidance, if you like. Perhaps you will be lifted up by our society.”

“There does not seem to be much uplift in my day today,” said Ada, “but I’m willing to try.”

“Good. You run ahead. When the wind catches the kite, launch it,” said the Tin Ballerina.

“How do you do this when you’re all alone?” she asked.

“Privately,” said the Tin Ballerina. “Run!”

Ada ran. When the string stretched taut and a wind came up, she tossed the kite up into the fog. Before it rose and disappeared into the mist, it turned once or twice. The kite was made of a playing card.

“That was a Three of Diamonds,” she shouted to the troupe of players.

“The sky is improved by additional diamonds,” said Humpty Dumpty. “Next kite, hurry! That creature is getting closer.”

It took only a few moments before all thirteen kites were launched. They disappeared into the low cloud cover. Ada now saw that the creatures had been transformed into marionettes. The tin cutouts and Humpty Dumpty were each suspended a few feet in the air by four kite-card strings. Humpty clenched the string to the Ace between his teeth, perhaps because he was top-heavy.

“We are now in fine hands,” said the Tin Ballerina, glancing skyward.

“My hand is finer than yours,” mumbled Humpty Dumpty. “I have a royal flush.”

“Oh,” said the Tin Bear to Ada, “I forgot; we do have one final kite. We rarely use it, but you are welcome to it if you like.

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