Chapter 9-Painting the Roses Red
Later that afternoon, that same group went to their art class to work on some paintings; art allowed some personal therapy and entertainment for the patients. It was an outlet for them to express some creativity. Alice always enjoyed doing arts and crafts at home. It occupied her for hours even though she had a tendency to get pretty messy.
"Alright, now today, I will be handing out long, thick sheets of paper out to all of you with different drawings on them. It is your job to paint or finger paint the object or objects, but remember to stay within the lines." Elizabeth tells the patients before she hands them each a sheet of paper. The Mad Hatter received a playing card that was the ace of hearts while Alice received a picture of a rose bush. Instantly, Alice reached for the red paint and dipped her whole hand in the wet substance. Her fingers brushed against half of the roses, smearing them in red, but she left some roses untouched where they were just plain, blank white.
The Mad Hatter grabbed a paintbrush and began painting the card red. Going against Elizabeth's instructions, he painted a face on the card along with arms and legs. In the card's right hand, he painted a red spear with the tip as an upside down heart.
Elizabeth walked around, examining everyone's artwork-in-progress. One boy painted a crown, a lady painted a flamingo, and another patient painted a little animal curled in a ball. "Good, good, good..." she grew silent when she stood in front of The Mad Hatter's painting, "Mr. Rummage--"
"The Mad Hatter," he corrected.
"The Mad Hatter," she corrected herself hesitantly without becoming flustered, "I told you to not add anything to the picture."
"Well, what's the point in that?" He asked with a smile, "This is to enhance our creativity and imagination, am I right?"
"Why yes, but--"
"So why can't I put my personal twist on your picture? It's what makes this painting unique because if I just left it the way it was, it wouldn't have been original." The Mad Hatter explains goofily but it really showed some depth in his words.
Elizabeth paused a moment to gather her thoughts together, "I guess, this time I'll let it slide, but try next time to follow instructions, okay?" With that, she went to see Alice's painting, "Good work, Miss Alice, keep painting those roses."
"Oh, no, I'm finished."
"But you've painted only half of the roses. Aren't you going to continue? You don't want to leave them colorless, do you?" Elizabeth asked her with a warm smile as she crouched down to Alice's level.
"Well, I just based it off of an image that was in my head from Wonderland..."
"And what was that?"
"After I fell down a rabbit hole, I went on all kinds of adventures. Including a time when I met the Queen of Hearts... her roses were white but she needed them to be red or she would cut off someone's head. So all of her soldiers went and painted all of the roses red, so I thought I could leave half of them white. Almost like the soldiers are still trying to paint them in order to make her satisfied," Alice explained with her eyes focused on her painting but occasionally glancing over at The Mad Hatter's artwork.
"Wow, sounds like quite an adventure there, Miss Alice." Elizabeth replied, going along with Alice, but knowing that what the child spoke about Wonderland was a symptom of her schizophrenia.
"Oh, it was! It's a place filled with wondrous nonsense. A place where rabbits wear trench coats. A place where there is a Cheshire Cat and Twins named Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. A place where there are talking flowers and bread-n-butterflies. A place where drinks and cookies make you shrink even though some parts can give you a real fright."
Elizabeth gave Alice a small smile, but inside, she felt pity for the little girl. Alice seemed quite fond of Wonderland--her make-believe world--and seeing her eyes light up when speaking about it showed the employee how fascinated yet curious the little girl really was about Wonderland. "Well, Miss Alice, you can tell me more about that later in the day. Anyways, since you've already finished would you like another?"
"Sure!"
Once Elizabeth handed her a picture of a heart to paint, Alice continued to dip her fingers in paint and reminisce in all of her experiences in Wonderland. Even though she was somewhat fearful of it, she was curious and attached to it.
Wonderland was almost like a part of Alice.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
The Mad Alice
फैनफिक्शन"Doctor, I'm afraid that my daughter has gone rather mad. It's as if she isn't connected to reality. Instead, Alice is stuck in place she calls 'Wonderland'. She'll go through these spells where she tends to babble on and on about her wondrous exper...
