Wise Words from Alice’s Older Sister
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwdL_Zn5nCE
Dear Alice,
Sit tight a moment, before you go chasing after that rabbit and your meeting with the Hatter. There is something you need to know.
The hole you're thinking of crawling down? It's a trick. No one is late to anything, because there is nothing to be late for.
The tea party is a dream.
But the Queen, she's very much real.
The beheadings? Real, too.
And they aren't at the bottom of that warren you're so desperate to explore.
They're right here, on this side of the looking glass.
Besides, you know what else is found in rabbit dens?
Snakes. They sleep together in knotted bundles at the bottom, and the rabbits avoid the whole thing like the plague, if they have any sense about them. Any hare that would go running into there is the mad one, hat or no. You have sense about you, girl. If it feels wrong, it is wrong.
That hole is all wrong.
Choose a different adventure, Alice. Find a new garden to explore, this one is overgrown and toothy; burs and briars and grasping vines are hungry for you.
But most of all, just know that there is nothing there other than a hole in the earth where you throw your hopes. They get swallowed up and eaten by shadows; that corner you'll be crawling towards, that bend in the warren, it just leads to a drop-off where the snakes sleep. There, it is nothing but rabbit bones and rattlers dreaming of sweet little girls stumbling and bumbling.
But you won't take my word for it, girl. I know you won't.
By the time you realize that I was right, you'll be swimming in tears at the bottom of that hole, feeling too small to matter.
Just remember that snakes can swim, girl, and they eat little girls and doormice, too.
Let that rabbit be, Alice. Just sit with me here on this bank, and let's enjoy what is.
Don't go chasing that dreamy nightmare.
With Pragmatic Love,
Your Sister