BUCKINGHAM PALACE, LONDON
A s he was getting ready to enter the meeting hall after a small break for coffee and cakes, Dr. Tom Truckle still couldn’t believe he was standing among those important people from all over the world.
None of them were presidents or prime ministers, but they were close, mostly friends of presidents and prime ministers.
What was the Queen planning to do with them? And how come they’d all lived in Wonderland once?
Tom avoided any prolonged conversations, so he wouldn’t blow his cover. After all, he hadn’t been truly invited. He was just an imposter in this party, the same way the Queen of Hearts was, posing as if she were the real Queen of England.
How did she even do this? And what did she do to the poor Queen of England?
The idea that Britain was now ruled by a queen from Wonderland drove him crazy. This was the kind of stuff his patients said in the asylum. The kind of stuff he sent them to the Mush Room for.
Tom heard them announce the end of the break. It was time to get back in and listen to the Queen’s final words. Time to listen to her telling them what this meeting was really for.
As he strolled back, he reminded himself that each person on the invitation list had been, at least once, convicted of madness.