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Confused, frazzled and discombobulated, Alice continued strolling through Wonderland in hopes of finding someone to ask questions. With her WonderPhone, she could now open the door and ate the anonymous food that allowed her to fit through it.
Alice still didn’t know where she was, and who was there with her. She had just received her WonderPhone and knew she had to keep it private, so she carried on with it in her pocket, hidden, as she was told.
Down a long, narrow path that was dimly lit, Alice walked through Wonderland and saw what looked to be smoke coming from around the corner where two walls met.
At first, she thought it was a fire. That surely meant people were near, right? Alice followed the smoke and turned the corner only to see a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom, smoking a pipe.
“Whoooo arrreee youuuu?” asked the Caterpillar with each letter coming out in a puff of smoke. Alice stopped for a moment, taken back that the Caterpillar was speaking. “I’m... Uhm, well, I’m Alice.”
The Caterpillar rolled his eyes and looked irritated. “What are you doing here? Why are you here? What are you wearing? Did you come alone?”
The Caterpillar spoke slowly but was spitballing rapid-fire questions, which Alice did not know to which to respond. Alice was still so shaken up by falling down the rabbit hole that she hadn’t even been sure she wasn’t dreaming. Alice tried to answer the Caterpillar, but her delay in answering clearly made him mad.
“I’m sorry, I’m a little confused right now,” said Alice. “I fell down a hole, and now I’m here, and I can’t go anywhere else because I’m too big to fit through the tiny door down the hall.”
The Caterpillar looked at her disapprovingly and continued to smoke his hookah, glaring at her.
Alice tried to talk to the Caterpillar, but all she had gotten from the conversation was that his name was Absolem and he kept himself secluded. Alice wondered why he had no friends in Wonderland, and then remembered how rude he was to her within the first few seconds of their encounter. Alice decided to dig in to see what she could find out about Absolem.
“So… Where are your friends?” asked Alice, hoping that she’d also gain some insight into the other animals in Wonderland with him.
Before the Caterpillar could move the hookah out of his mouth, she heard someone speak. She turned around to see a goofy-looking man dressed in green with a top hat a hundred feet away.
“Oh my gosh! Another person! What’s your name?” yelled Alice, excitedly.
The man shouted, “I am the Mad Hatter, and any friend of the Caterpillar is not a friend of mine.” Absolem rolled his eyes, clearly unbothered by this statement.
Alice went to speak with the Mad Hatter, as he seemed much more friendly than Absolem. Alice quickly learned that Absolem had a terrible reputation in Wonderland and everyone in Wonderland is not fond of him. Alice’s internally jumps for joy as she knows she can help Absolem regain likability with a little PR help.
“Interesting,” Alice told Mad Hatter. “Nice talking to you, but it looks like I have some work to do!”
Alice ran back over to Absolem, giddy with excitement. He is clearly not pleased. Alice sat and explained to Absolem that she can help him get some friends and not be so lonely all the time. Absolem kept up his disinterested posture, though he did actually want to hear what she had to say. Alice continued to share all kinds of tips about how to regain a positive reputation.
She advised Absolem to apologize to those he wronged and to own up to his mistakes and she gave him a few tips on how to effectively communicate with those around him. To Alice’s surprise, Absolem took out a WonderPhone from the ledge and began to type some messages to people he wronged. After a couple minutes, he received replies that some of his enemies forgave him.
“Wow… It’s that easy?” said Absolem.
Alice replied, “Sometimes being in the wrong is tough, but the truth is always the answer, and it will always set you free.”
Absolem had clearly never owned up to his mistakes, and the thought of having friends again made him extremely happy. Absolem thanked Alice by giving her mushrooms that when eaten caused creatures to shrink to under fifteen inches and fit through the door to Wonderland any time she pleased.
Author's Note
In the original story, Alice comes across a hostile Caterpillar that wants to know who Alice is. Shaken up from her tumble down the rabbit hole, Alice is having an identity crisis and can’t answer the Caterpillar’s questions. Clearly frustrated, the Caterpillar is not very nice to Alice without reason. Alice is irritated with the Caterpillar, but eventually explains that she has a size-issue because she is too big to enter the 15-inch door to Wonderland. The Caterpillar gives Alice mushrooms that alter her size both big and small, causing Alice to become giant sometimes and tiny other times and has no intention of helping her during her confusion. Alice is somewhat annoyed because the Caterpillar did not warn her of the effects of the mushrooms, which make her big or small. In my recreation of this story, I wanted the Caterpillar to have the same personality, but instead have a reason for him acting that way. My version stresses how the Caterpillar’s bad reputation in Wonderland has made him the way he is, and Alice offers PR help to him so that he no longer secludes himself. In return for her help, the Caterpillar gives Alice only the shrinking mushrooms so that she can use them to enter the tiny door. I also included the Mad Hatter in this story to add another Alice in Wonderland character, and to add credibility that Wonderland characters did not originally like the Caterpillar.
Bibliography
“Advice from a Caterpillar.” Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll, 1865.
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