In Case of Alice, Break Glass
Let’s start with the questions because that’s the point here. Or rather, a moment of background, if you’ll indulge me, then a question, and then the teaser. Alice would appreciate it because, well, because she wants to live.
Back some 10ish years ago, I gave a thought to rewriting Alice in Wonderland, following every chapter’s events, chapter-by-chapter, but retelling the story. As always, I had no idea where I was going with the thing. I just started writing and let it happen. And that’s worked well for me for the most part, but this whole novel that I ended up writing feels like it’s missing something. I think that something is a soul, if you know what I mean. The teaser has a hint of that soul, but the rest of the book veers off and loses that soul, that voice. So, I need to figure out what this novel is so I can bring it back to life and give it to you properly.
The questions, yes, I haven’t forgotten.
So, based on that background and what you’re about to read, what can you tell me about this story? What’s its vibe? Should it be edgy, funny, dark paranormal? Do you like Trinity’s voice? And thinking ahead, what do you think is going on with Alice and what will she do, feel, experience in this new kind of Wonderland?
The best and worst thing about Alice was that she was a bitch. She was a straight loner most of the time, more often than not the hottest thing I saw in any given day, and generally the most frustrating woman I’d ever met; but that’s what I loved about her, and that’s what made just about everyone else want to punch her in the face.
She and I — Mr. Trinity White at your service — were tight, or we would have been if she wasn’t always off in her own world all the time, that telltale scowl on her face, that flicker of disdain in her eyes. I was pretty sure she hated everyone, everyone that is except the baddest, blackest bouncer on the East Side, the man who kept the strippers’ asses out of trouble at the Sow, the man who scared off the Chinga Tu Madre that tried to make a show at the club now and again, the man who watched Alice’s back, and her pert little bottom, whenever she was at the club. I was also the only person at the club who had her number, although when she needed a night out, she always turned to the gay guys — Trinity got no play.
Anyway, as I was saying, nothing would have made a lot of people, especially the girls here, happier than to punch that scorching hot little Alice in the face — not once, mind you, but over and over again until she hit the floor, maybe even lost a tooth or two. They just wanted her knocked down a few pegs, like twenty, down to their level. And okay, sometimes, sometimes when she seemed like she was even more over the top tripping than usual and being a lone wolf and snarling at everyone, I wanted to pop her, too — knock some sense into her, but that’s not the kind of thing Mr. Burton expects of his bouncers, especially when it came to Alice. And let me tell you, that Alice — she was a cunt to him, too, sometimes, but he had a perpetual hard-on for her, so he just grinned and took it. She was god-damned aces at the club, the perky blonde money maker here, and they came from miles around to see her honey little twat and throw down the duckies, so he let her do whatever the fuck she wanted most of the time. Alice was money, and Mr. Burton liked the money.
But I knew what Mr. Burton and the girls didn’t know; they had her all wrong. I’d only been at the club going on eight months, and Alice had been here going on two years, but we’d hit it off from the start — not “hit it” as in we were fucking. No, we’d hit it off as in we’d gotten to be friends, or as friendly as you could be with Alice, a girl who would kick you in the balls as soon as look at you. We clicked somehow some way — I never tried to figure it out, and I never asked her about it. I just went with it because underneath that frosty veneer that she applied every night before she arrived at work, she was pretty cool. I understood her attitude, the front she put up, her pretty ice princess act, and I would play my part, too — just a friend and confidant, the only person here she could talk to. As a guy, it would have to do. I knew better than to try and get in those tight drawers, especially with her being like royalty here at the Plowed Sow, and me being just the bouncer. Yeah, you heard me right, the “Plowed Sow” as in, well, you get it. I didn’t make up that shit; place used to be called World of Wonders or Land of Wonder, or some silly shit like that long ago, but Mr. Burton, well, he liked to go a little hog wild, if you know what I mean, and this was just another one of those times. He bought the place; he changed the sign, and there you have it. You own it; you make the rules.
Anyways. Where was I? Oh yeah. Alice — a prima donna, a scalding hot dancer whose icy glares withered the souls of wanna-be dollar bill waiving players, the girl that every other dancer at the Sow hated beyond even Reality TV hate, everyone, that is, but me and the customers. We hoped she’d never leave, and for a long time I was sure our wish would come true. But one day she did just that. She up and walked, and no one knew why, or I would have never known why until I found out something that no one else knew, until she herself let me in on the 411 one night after all the bullshit with the newest owner went down and she’d walked off the stage in the middle of a Prince song. Once the ruckus was over, I went back to her dressing room, and she was all tears and woe is me and whiny shit, except she was fine as hell even like that and I can’t say I didn’t want to make a move on her right then and maybe get a lil taste, a lil sumin-sumin’, if you know what I mean. But, strangely enough, my heart got in the way of my dick, and I just held that little white girl until she stopped crying, until in her barely understandable blubbering she told me something that I was sure wasn’t even possible: Alice was dead, and she’d been dead for three days. And that was the night she left for good.
That happened three nights ago, and this is how it went down.
Appreciate the read, and honestly, any and all comments are welcome. Say two words or drop me a paragraph. It’s all good.
