THE GREAT HALL, CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
T ime stops, and I have no idea what to do. I can't seem to utter words until the police officer speaks again. "Except that that Alice's last name was Pleasance, and she's in an asylum."
"Yeah, I always get that." My smile is plastic, but he doesn't notice. Now I know why the Pillar changed my name. Although trivial, it makes me someone else. Did the policeman really fall for that, or do I smell something wrong?
"You look perfectly sane to me," the officer says. I notice he tries to act serious, but he looks funny. He has a peculiar mustache, thin like a mouse's whiskers. "Have a good day."
"Thank you." I take the card back and take a couple of steps up into the building.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire," the Pillar chirps in my ear.
"That wasn't funny."
"It wasn't supposed to be. Anyways, what you're entering now is the prestigious Great Hall."
The Pillar's words ring in my head as I enter this enchanting place. Long dining tables are stacked on both sides. They are filled with all kinds of dining instruments, bowls, forks, and placemats. Gold and brown are the most common colors in this yellowish, dimly lit place. The walls are unusually high, and majestic in ways I can't describe. Portraits are hung behind the table on both sides. Exquisite oil-painted portraits of people I don't know.
"A unique place, isn't it?" the Pillar says.
"Unbelievable." I am enamored.
"The Great Hall is where they filmed movies like Harry Potter. All that abracadabra wizard nonsense couldn't have used portraits if the Great Hall didn't exist," the Pillar says. "Also, movies like The Golden Compass , with its hodgepodge of white bears, were filmed here. The Great Hall is where every great story wants to take place."
"Really? I never knew that. Why do I sense resentment toward these movies in your voice?" I can't help but take the chance and ask him. The Pillar doesn't open up. Hearing him personally irritated at something gives me a small window into his mind.
"Why do I resent them?" the Pillar asks. "Alice. Go ask any tourist about the Great Hall, and they always mention this Harry Potter, but never Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland . Harry Potter isn't even real. Lewis and Alice are."
"I assume by 'Alice,' you mean me?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You will know everything in time."
I walk further into the hall. "So why am I not in class, and here walking around the Great Hall?"
"Pull out the map from the book. What do you see?"
I do as asked and stare at the Cheshire Cat's map. It doesn't take a genius to see this is the circled spot on the map.
"Make sense now?" the Pillar says.
"It does." I fidget in my place. The magnificent place turns into a scary castle in my eyes. What if the Cheshire Cat is watching me now? What if this is a trap, and I will be dead next?