ALICE WONDER'S HOUSE, 7 FOLLY BRIDGE, OXFORD
The girl at the door had tears in her eyes. She faced Alice's mother, unable to utter the words coherently.
"What happened?" Alice's mother shook her, almost predicting what the girl was about to say.
"I'm sorry, but your daughter, Alice Wonder, died yesterday," the girl announced. Alice's mother sank to her knees, holding on to the girl's hands as if she had always feared her daughter would die this young.
"How did she die?" asked Edith, Alice's older sister. Her tone was inquisitive and disbelieving. She stood a few steps shy of the threshold, unimpressed by her mother's sentiments.
"She was present at the Drury Lane Theatre when the audience died of pepper poisoning."
"There is no such thing as 'pepper poisoning,'" Lorina, Alice's other sister, grunted, smoothening her fingernails behind Edith. Her sister's death seemed unimportant to her. She wanted to know, though. "The audience was poisoned with something that looked like pepper."
"It's not like that." Edith tapped her sister's hand so she would stop smoothening her fingernails. The sound of it made her go crazy. "They died from sneezing."
"You can't die from sneezing, Edith." Lorina rolled her eyes. "That's like saying a person could die from too much makeup."
"If you can die from hiccupping and laughing, you can die from sneezing," Edith said, not taking her eyes off the stranger girl at the door.
"Shut up!" their mother yelled. "Your sister is dead."
"Hallelujah!" Lorina rolled her eyes again.
"We're not sure, Lorina. Don't go on celebrating yet," Edith said. "Why wasn't Alice in the asylum? Did she escape?" she asked the girl at the door.
"And where to? Theatre?" Lorina felt the urge to roll her eyes for the third time.
"Unless she was the crazy cook who sneezed the audience to death." Edith snickered and high-fived Lorina.
"She wasn't the cook," the young girl at the door said politely. "She is dead. I'm sorry."
"Are you here to send us a death certificate?" Edith asked.
"No, I'm afraid that is something you will have to do yourself after you confirm her death at the morgue."
"I'm not going to any morgue," Lorina said. "I just had my hair done."
"I have an appointment to...get my hair done," Edith said.
"I will go." The mother stood up feebly.
"But I'm not here for that, madam," the girl at the door said. "I'm here to collect a photo of Alice Wonder for the obituary, which the Theatre Royal will take care of."
"I will get you one," the mother offered.
"I'd prefer to fetch one myself if you don't mind," the girl said. The two sisters threw her a long, suspicious look. "There is a hefty compensation for you if I pick an appropriate photo that lives up to the standards of our theatre," the girl added.
"Oh," Edith said, neglecting the absurdness of the girl's request. "Why didn't you say so? Please come in. Do you happen to know how much the theatre will pay us?"