Episode 2: Particularly perilous Transcript

Cheshire Narrator: “Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear —“

Mary-Ann (Narrating): It would be terribly untruthful of me to tell you Mock Turtle’s silly songs & poems don’t positively put me to sleep. 
However, this was a dull-day & decidedly, one unlike any other. 
Poor, pathetic Mock Turtle, I do love him so! Combination calf full of sadness & sorrow! Stuck in a shell! Sitting & serenading Gryphon & I until we snooze endlessly.
I do fear friends are all that keeps him here; for sharing sing-alongs is the most unctuous scrumptious treat for that almost-turtle!
Truthfully though, I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable with how dreadfully dismissive Gryphon is of my melancholy Mock Turtle. 'Not fact! Not fact!' Psh-pat! Turtle is sad! & it is perfectly proper to pamper a friend in times of trouble. Not that Wonderland is much maligned by what's proper, mostly to my misery. 
I implore you know I really do adore them, & it’s why I crumble with a humble sadness to admit I fell asleep during The Lobster Quadrille again.
I, there upon the feathers & fur of Gryphon's hindquarters felt a faint fluttering, as if falling from my fringes, the tethers at my fingers unraveling & then, stripped. Falling though I lay still. Falling. Flying through the trees, a breeze upon the sea, the earth, & me. I needn't move to know I've moved. I'm new, but to who? Not to me.
I felt the frills of a fancy fabric. Gryphon's feather's felt fine but I'd never fingered a lace this lush before. Startled immediately. I inclined in, incredulous & terrified to open my eyes, for what will I find? Oh my! The reply?

"Alice, are you alright?"

Alice is a name I've rarely regaled to hear or dared to be, myself, so I did not answer.

***

Millicent: "You're not Alice!"

Mary Ann: "I should think not! As far as I recall I have always been Mary Ann."

Millicent: "You were Alice! Just here! Just now! How could you change without moving?"

Mary Ann: "I can confirm that I most certainly was no such thing. Neither have I changed! I swear it! I have been Marry Ann this entire time. I can prove it. Have a look yourself! See?"

Millicent: "That's a freckle."

Mary Anne: "Indeed. My freckle. One that I can confirm this Alice does not have. Thereby, using a logical deduction, I am not Alice. I am Mary Ann."

Millicent: "But where is Alice? My sister, Alice, was laying as you are now, here & then something, the very faintest flicker of something..."

Mary Ann: "Like elastic."

Millicent: "What now?"

Mary Ann: "It felt as though everything had become elastic, from your bones to your brain to your breath, & then it snapped back perfectly in place. Rubber-band bones. Imagine that?“

Millicent: "Exactly! Everything exactly! Please, your pardon, where are my manners? I am wickedly worried for my sister, but it is a pleasure to meet you Mary Ann. I'm Millicent."

Mary Ann: "Your sister? I arrive & your sister disappears? This is terrible! I am truly sorry, Millicent. I vow any & all my assistance! Together we will weaponize deduction & find your sister!”

Millicent: "The power of logic!"

Mary Ann: “Yes! Oh, how I crave more rationale & predictability! It has a power I believe in!“

Millicent: "I like you, Mary Ann."

Mary Ann: "& I, you, Millie! I may call you Millie, might I?"

Millicent: "As my sister would!"

Mary Ann: "Let's let logic reunite you then!"

Millicent: "Only I fear reason to finally be unreasonable! The real world seems suspended, a stippling, a wrinkle in time..."

Mary Ann: "Then we shall straighten it! I've taken several ‘Reeling & Writhing’ courses with Mock Turtle so I'm ready for whatever ill we encounter!"

Millicent: "With who now? Oh! Oh no! Tea with Mother! We'll be late & oh, no, no, you've never had tea, have you? Dear me, Mother will have questions, so many questions indeed..."

***

Mary Ann (Narrating): I've had tea many times, though truthfully today I did doubt everything I thought I knew.

***

Thanks for listening to Phantomwise. Phantomwise stars Beth Crane, Beth Eyre, Jordan Adika, and Fiona Thraille. Dialogue editing and placement was done by Gabriel Alvarez, Score composed by Adam Raymonda. Phantomwise was written and produced by A.R. OLIVIERI and directed and executive produced by PJ Scott-Blankenship. Based on the work of Lewis Carroll. You can find out more at http://phantomwisepod.com or our twitter and instagram @phantomwisepod

If you enjoy our show, consider checking out our sister series, Hit the Bricks. A musical radio-play based on the Oz books starring Michelle Agresti. You can listen to Hit the Bricks on any podcatcher, or by going to http://hitthebricks.com Thanks again!