Mad as a Hatter

"That boy is mad, I tell you. Mad as a hatter." Whenever Lady Bonnington came to visit, she always seemed to repeat that phrase. Charles knew they were talking about him, of course; Lady Bonnington's own son, Tam, was only spoken of with the highest of praise. He often pretended not to have heard Lady Bonnington's comment, but he often wondered if he actually was mad. Was there a sign, or did people just notice? Earlier in his years, he had often foolishly checked his forehead in the mirror to see if there was any mark that may have indicated madness. However, on this particular occasion, he had not actually overheard Lady Bonnington's terse remark. He had much more important things to attend to. Finally having reached the glorious age of ten, he had been invited by a few boys that lived down the block to catch frogs with them down by the lily pond. He left just after lunch, with a basket he had taken from the kitchen cupboard hanging off his arm. He met the boys (all of which were quite a bit bigger and older than he) at the lily pond. "Ready to catch some frogs, Charles?" they asked. "I'm game if you are." he replied. They spent a good portion of the afternoon chasing after the slippery creatures. As Charles crouched in wait for another frog to appear, he saw a magnificent, smooth green frog with intelligent eyes. It glistened tantalizingly in the sunlight, skin the same color as the dollops of lime cream that his mother often put of key lime pie. He reached out for the creature, and ran after it as it hopped into the bush. He followed it for a little while, until he cornered it near the stump of an old tree. He lunged for the creature, and his fingers briefly brushed the frog's smooth, slimy skin, before the ground gave way and he tumbled into darkness.

He found himself tumbling through the queerest hole he had ever seen. Furniture poked from the walls at odd angles. He avoided smashing into a thick chest of drawers as he tumbled through the air. With a resounding CRASH, he broke through a tiled ceiling and dropped unceremoniously onto a plaster floor. He looked around at the odd place he'd ended up in. The light was coming from an odd chandelier, that was just like a chandelier at home, but upside down. He looked up to the ceiling, and saw a table upside down there. "Oh, that's odd." he said, about 10 seconds before he plunged from the floor (which, he found later, was actually the ceiling) and landed on the ceiling (which was actually the floor) He got up and brushed himself off. He looked at the spindly little table, and found three things sitting upon it; a little cake (like those little teacakes with the cream icing that his mother often saved for special occasions), a bottle of amber liquid that looked quite a lot like the ale his father sometimes had with supper, and a dingy skeleton key. He put the cake and the bottle in his pocket for later. He then looked around for a door to use the key in. To his chagrin, there were several doors, covering the walls. He tried the key in each, and it wouldn't fit in any of them. He brushed back a dingy velvet curtain to find a small door he figured he could squeeze through if he tried. he tried the key in it, and it fit and turned. The door opened, and a small amount of bright sunlight poured in. He tried to fit through the door, but he couldn't fit, no matter how hard he tried. Frustrated, he sat back on his heels and took a sip of the ale. It burned the back of his throat, and he coughed, and as he coughed, he began to shrink. He shrunk from his clothes and became small enough to fit through the door. He tied his shirt around himself and knotted the bottle and cake in one sleeve. He walked out into a strange and wonderful world. There were enormous toadstools of all colors and shapes creating almost a forest around him. he walked slowly into this wondrous place, marveling at the things he saw. He walked slowly down a little dirt path as birds of brilliant colors and fabulous plumage flew above him. He looked down at his bare feet and wiggled his toes in the soft, squishy earth, giggling.