Present: Mother Bird’s abandoned bar, London
C arter Pillar stood naked in front of the bar. Mother Bird was nowhere to be found. The streets all around were a mess, so much that no one notices a naked man standing nearby.
After his fight with the Cheshire, he couldn't find clothes to wear, but help was coming. In fact, it had just arrived.
The Pillar's limousine driven by his favorite mousy Chauffeur slowed down in front of him.
"About time," the Pillar said and pulled the door open.
"Sorry for the delay," the Chauffeur said. "The world has gone mad."
"You just noticed?" the Pillar asked, sitting in the back and putting on the pants of his favorite blue tuxedo with the golden stripes. "It's always been mad. We've put it under a magnifying glass."
"Your hat is next to you, sir," the Chauffeur said. "Also the gloves."
"I don't care about the gloves anymore," the Pillar said. "Look at my skin."
The Chauffeur checked it out by twisting his neck and looking toward the backseat. "It's getting worse."
"Yeah, it's time."
"It is?" the Chauffeur showed no emotion.
"I've been sick for so long. I'm going to die pretty soon."
"I thought you would transform, like a pillar into a cocoon then into a butterfly."
"I will die," the Pillar said. "I'm not worried. My mission is accomplished. I'm also fed up with the human race. I'd like to see where I'm going to go next."
"You sound like the Cheshire, sir."
"Well, his hatred has a point. I just don't like him. Otherwise, we could have been friends," the Pillar finished dressing. "Where is Alice?"
"With the March Hare."
"Does she know?"
"He should be telling her at any moment," the Chauffeur said. "Not that I know what he is going to tell her."
"Neither do I," the Pillar said. "At least not everything. I just know the part about the Jabberwocky."
"You think she can kill him, sir?"
"She is a tough cookie. She can."
"If so, why haven't you told her from the beginning? I'm sorry to ask, but you could have just told her and said she has to fight a ruthless monster to save the children of the world from a terrible madness."
The Pillar fancied a moment of silence. His face showed little expression, but the subtle twist to his lips gave away an untold mystery. "The same reason why we don't tell an infant to go get a job, get married, make a family and be useful to society."
The Chauffeur scratched his three little hairs on the top of his head. "Pardon me, Sir?"
"A child needs to learn to speak, to walk, to enjoy life, to love and then while growing up he has to learn to lose it…"
"And?"
"That's when a child grows up to be a boy or a girl," the Pillar said. "It's the moment in life when you have experienced the fun, irresponsible side of life and then realize that it has all been taken away from you. That's when you've grown enough to fight."
"You mean she needed the journey to be able to kill the Jabberwocky, Sir?"
"She needed to grow up and accept the madness as an adult to fight darkness and save the children, Mousy. I could have made Fabiola give her the Vorpal sword from day one. She wouldn't have used it probably. Now she has been scared enough to stand up to the Jabberwocky."
"May I say something, sir?"
"Please, but drive us to Alice as you do."
"If I may say, Sir, you don't sound anything like when you were in Wonderland. I mean I've seen you grow yourself, Sir, into someone different. Wiser, if I may say."
The Pillar smiled and peered out the window, "I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then."