Wonderland VIII: Conclusion

it feels good to escape with authors and poets and dream up new places with tales that are spun. but sometimes what's real and sometimes what isn't encroach on each other and read just as one. such are the worlds of rhyme but no reason that question the answers we thought we once had. and such are the worlds where nonsense is standard so all the sane people are deemed to be mad. Wonderland: Parts I - VIII: What Really Happened - Please Note: Major Spoilers! The hairdresser's husband (Alice's husband) went to The Tabard Inn to swap a bottle of whisky he kept at home in exchange for a small piece of gold belonging to his friend, the watchmaker who was out celebrating. Alice's husband - an ex jeweller - needed the gold to make a ring for his wife as a surprise. (The gold the watchmaker had in his possession had come from a pocket watch he had 'fixed'.) Alice’s husband knew that Alice would be at The Tabard as she helped out there so he had to be extra careful keeping himself out of sight from her and the innkeeper - who wouldn't have been too happy to see such a transaction taking place in his own inn. The gold / whisky swap went ahead at some time but no one's sure exactly when. Alice and her husband had a history of drinking excessively although Alice was undergoing rehabilitation and told people she was managing to keep off alcohol. On the evenings that she helped out at The Tabard she just drank water. On arriving at The Tabard, Alice's husband noticed her playing chess with the preacher. The preacher got up from his chair at the very same moment Alice's husband caught sight of them. Alice's husband deduced that the preacher's actions of getting up and leaving The Tabard just as he'd arrived was proof that the preacher was somehow guilty of having an affair with his wife. There were rumours circulating at the time. It hadn't helped that Alice's husband saw his wife smile at the preacher. Alice liked the preacher and he liked her. Alice had not noticed her husband at The Tabard and she only found out he'd been there later that night when he arrived home. It's unclear if the preacher - an animal lover - had noticed Alice’s husband and had actually got up from his chair because he was worried for the wellbeing of the Tabard's cat, Duchess who had been scared by the storm and had run outside. Duchess was a black stray cat but lived most of its time at The Tabard where she was fed by the chef. The innkeeper didn't mind as long as the chef kept working for him and besides, the innkeeper felt some guilt due to an affair he was having with the chef's wife. With the chef incapacitated, no one had been feeding Duchess. As the preacher ran out of the Tabard, he bumped into the sailor who was on his way in. The sailor had made plans to 'end it all' but was going to have several drinks first. Alice's husband ran after the preacher. He appeared livid. It was never going to end well. The hatter, drunk from a night at The Tabard and on his way home thinks he saw the preacher on a wall and 'what may have been a cat'. The preacher may have located Duchess on a high wall outside and climbed up it. Despite having a false leg he was very fit and strong. Perhaps Alice's husband climbed the wall after him? Perhaps the preacher was pushed off the wall by Alice's husband and fell to his death? Perhaps the preacher slipped and fell by accident or perhaps Duchess the cat pushed past him on the wall causing him to fall? It was a stormy night and we'll never know. The full details aren't clear but the powers that be deduced that the preacher had no reason whatsoever to commit suicide so jumping off the wall to end his own life was ruled out. Alice's husband was to meet his own demise later that night - stabbed by Alice who claimed she did it in self defence. Update: The immediate events that led up to the preacher's death are still a mystery. The hatter was considered to be an unreliable witness. He was confused. Inhaling chemical fumes at his work place over the years had come at a cost to his wellbeing. Physically his skin had turned orange and mentally he believed Alice was his daughter and that his wife left him for royalty. He didn't have any children and he had never married and, sadly, he became further confused on the night of the storm after sustaining a head injury following a fall down his stairs at home. Alice is now serving a jail sentence for the murder of her husband although she maintains that he hit her on a regular basis. As for me..well, I'm the nurse who was given the task of keeping an eye on the suicidal sailor's movements that night. I followed him everywhere as requested by the doctor and it was a good job I did. I was in the street as the sailor entered The Tabard. At that same moment I saw the preacher and then, seconds later, Alice's angry looking husband exit The Tabard. Have I mentioned yet that I pulled the sailor from the sea later that night as he tried to drown himself? The doctor's assessment of him had proved to be correct. I rang emergency services and then accompanied the sailor to the hospital in an ambulance and while he was being assessed I noticed The Tabard Inn's chef who was hanging around there for some reason. Slurring his words he told me that he'd quit working at The Tabard. (I knew that already; his now heavily pregnant ex-wife has moved in with the innkeeper and is in charge of the cooking there.) There’s more: walking home from the hospital that night I had to call the emergency services (yet again) for a guy who was lying unresponsive under a tree. I later found out he was the watchmaker! The coroner deduced he had fallen or tripped over something while drunk and hit his head. Duchess the cat was cowering next to an empty whisky bottle a short distance away. I took Duchess home and she lives with me now! ..Sheesh!..You couldn't make any of this up! :)