Allie's adventure in the land of wonder.

Chapter 8
A little trip through a mirror

Chapter Description: The girls find out interesting things about a place called mirror land.

The sky was overcast. Two girls, one was 8 but mentally 9 and the other was 9 but mentally 8, played in the back yard at grandma’s house.

They swung on the swings and were able to spot the postal delivery van as it drove up and deposited mail for grandma’s house in grandma’s mailbox.

Excitedly, they ran up to the box and retrieved the mail, taking it inside for grandma.

Grandma, currently aged thirty instead of 72, thanked them and started looking through the stack of adverts and bills that had been delivered.

“Bill, occupant, occupant...” read grandma as she sorted the mail into stacks, “Oh! Allie, you have a letter! Isn’t that exciting?”

“A letter for me? Cool!” said Allie as she accepted it from grandma.

“Who’s it from?” asked Edie.

“It’s from Frau Hare! I think I told you about, um, her.”

“Yes, you did. What does she say?”

Allie opened up the letter. The envelope was made from fine stationery, the letter inside was written in elegant flowing script and had a small seal at the bottom of the page to show its authenticity.

“I can’t read it. The writing is all funny!” said Allie.

“Shall I try, dear? They taught us how to write script when I was in school.”

"That must have been a long time ago!" quipped Edie. Grandma ignored her.

Allie handed over the letter.

Grandma read:

    Dear Allie,

    Thank you for your visit to our land of wonder. We understand that you brought a mushroom     back with you and now have it and your very own caterpillar. We hope you’re using the     mushroom responsibly…

The letter went on for a few more paragraphs. Allie and Edie although excited to know what

Frau Hare had to say, soon grew bored with its long-windedness.

Grandma continued:

    So, in closing, we decided to send you a little gift to accompany your mushroom. Please     display it prominently in your living room.

    Sincerely,

    Frau Hare

“Well, a little gift! I wonder what it’ll…” said Grandma as the doorbell rang.

The three went to answer it and were greeted by a pair of deliverymen. At least, they looked like deliverymen but were actually boys.

They wore adult-size clothing on their small bodies. The shirts were baggy with their sleeves rolled up over skinny arms. Their large-size pants legs were rolled up and the pants were held up with belts that were cinched to the minimum hole to hold them on their childish frames.

They wore large baseball-like hats that flopped around on their too-small heads. A large thin package was carried between them and they brought it inside, unwrapped it, and put its contents on the wall next to the TV.

It was a large mirror as tall as grandma and as wide as four people. The frame of the mirror was old-world craftsmanship with its finely chiseled features of fauns and nymphs who danced around the frame and frolicked in its center. It was made of stained and sealed oak.

The two picked up the wrappings and one nearly tripped as he stepped out of his adult-size shoe. He picked it up, touched his hat in salute, and the two left the way they had come in.

“Well, isn’t that nice?” said grandma as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“It’s a dumb old mirror,” remarked Edie. She was hoping for something more special or magical.

“Well, I think it’s nice!” said Allie. She looked at herself in the mirror. The girl who stared back gave her a little wink, “Did you see that, granny? My reflection winked at me!”

“No, dear, but I imagine anything is possible with all the going’s on around here.”

“Well, I still think it’s dumb!” said Edie. Her reflection stuck its tongue out at her when she had her head turned. She didn’t catch it.

Grandma’s reflection imitated her curvy body perfectly. Whatever grandma did, her reflection mirrored perfectly. She noticed a small smudge on the mirror’s surface.

She retrieved a cleaning cloth and a bottle of Windex from the kitchen. Sprayed the surface of the mirror and the cleaning solution went straight through it to the other side.

“That’s odd,” she went to wipe the smudge with her cloth and it went through the mirror as well.

“Allie, I think this mirror is a portal,” she remarked.

“Really?” said Allie. She put her hand up on the glass and her counterpart grabbed it, pulling her in.

“Allie!” shouted grandma. She ran after her and entered the mirror without a second thought.

Edie’s reflection smiled at her with a malicious grin, then reached out and grabbed her. She pulled Edie into the mirror the same way that Allie’s reflection did.

Allie was already gone by the time that grandma had entered the mirror. She found herself in a room that mirrored her living room exactly.

Looking around the backward house on the other side, she looked for Allie in the other rooms of the house. When she entered her bedroom, her attention was momentarily drawn to an odd image in the mirror there.

Grandma looked at the reflection in the mirrored mirror. She saw herself not as a grownup, but as a little girl of 10.

“Not this again!” she said as she pulled back and patted down her body. She was still in her sexy thirties while the reflection was her at age 10. This was most odd.

She stepped back up to the mirror and put her finger on the glass. The little girl there grabbed her hand and came out of the mirror to stand next to her. As she left the mirror, the room that they were standing in was still there, but there was no reflection of grandma.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” remarked grandma. Her 10-year-old doppelganger smiled and introduced herself.

“Hello, Betty! My name is Ytteb. I’m your counterpart here in the mirror world. I welcome you!” she said as she made a polite curtsy.

Ytteb wore a light blue dress, black and white horizontally striped stockings, and a pair of sensible patent leather shoes.

“This is all very interesting, um, Yt-Yt…Ytteb, but I need to find my granddaughters Allie and Edie,” she began to step away from the small girl.

“Oh, don’t worry about them! They're safe for the moment and in the playroom with Eilla and Eide.”

“Could you take me to them?” asked grandma.

“Sure! But first, you have to adjust to mirror land. Come with me!”

she took grandma into the kitchen and pulled out a small white frosted cake with the words “Em Tae” written in brown letters on it.

“I know you’re worried, but won’t you have some tea and cake with me?” asked the little girl as she pulled out a plastic cake cutter, cut off two servings, and put them on the table with a set of small silver forks.

“Must I?” asked grandma with a pained look on her face. She had a pretty good idea where this was going.

“In order to adjust to mirror land, yes!” said the little girl. She pulled two cups of steaming tea out of the cupboard and placed them on the table.

“And what will happen to me if I don’t?”

“You will be expelled from the mirror back into your world, and never allowed to return!” said the little girl as she sat at the table, “It’s your choice!”

“F-i-i-i-ne!” said grandma. She sat down opposite the little girl, ate the cake and drank the tea. She finished it off quickly as Ytteb watched her intently.

“There! I’ve done as you asked, now would you take me to where Allie and Edie are?”

“Certainly!” said the little girl. She got up from the table leaving her cake and tea untouched.

Grandma patted herself. She was surprised to find that she was still thirty and a grownup. She had expected to be a child of 10 at least.

She followed Ytteb as she led her down several hallways and through several mirrors. Each time she exited a mirror, the room seemed to be bigger than the last. She checked herself several times and verified that she was still a grownup each time.

Ytteb remained unchanged as well.

“The girls are just through here,” said Ytteb as she reached up and was just barely able to grab a door handle and open the door.

They stepped into an all-ages nursery. In one corner, there were baby things, in the middle, there were childish things. On the other wall, there were teenager things and opposite it, adult things.

“Pick a corner,” advised Ytteb, “and that’s where they’ll be.”

Grandma went to the adult corner. Whips and chains adorned the walls along with several other instruments of torture. Adult toys were strewn about and some were downright kinky!

The girls weren’t there.

Ytteb smirked.

She went over to the baby corner, it had cribs and changing tables. No girls here!

She started to get worried and ran over to the teenager section. Phones and TV sets littered the messy zone. Teen magazines were evident and lay on beds. Nope!

She ran over to the children’s section. Stuffed animals, toy chests, and children’s furniture were here.

“Where are the girls? What have you done with them?” she demanded of the little girl.

The 10-year-old just gave her a wicked grin and stepped into a nearby mirror. There she stood, mimicking everything that grandma did but in reverse like any other mirror. The glass wouldn’t let grandma pass over to where she was.

Grandma went to leave the room. There wasn’t a door to do so.

She was trapped!

Turning around, she went back to the mirror. Her ten-year-old self stared back at her and continued to mimic her every move.

Grandma was furious! She cocked back her arm to smash the mirror and then realized that without any indication or sign, she had become her ten-year-old self and now wore the blue dress, sensible shoes, and black and white horizontally striped stockings.

She was a prisoner in a large room with entertainment and accommodations for all ages. Walking over to the children’s section, she sat down in a chair that was just her size, defeated.

=--=======---

Allie and Edie had also eaten cake, they didn’t drink the tea as it was too bitter. Eilla and Eide entertained them with some amusing stories about their school in mirror land. After a while, Edie grew bored.

More tea and cake were presented. This time, the tea tasted just right to Allie. She had several more cups and didn’t eat the cake as it was too sweet.

Allie continued her conversation with the two mirror girls about boys and fashion and boys and also boys. Edie didn’t want anything to do with icky boys and their cooties. She zoned the conversation out.

Allie got up to go “powder her nose” and Edie joined her. It was then that Edie realized that Allie was taller and looked more mature. She sported an hourglass figure and looked like a model straight from a fashion magazine.

The two did their toilette and returned to the table. Edie loved the cake and asked for more. She stuffed herself silly and got up looking for something that she could do as long conversations were for adults.

As she left the table, the three women who were left there conversed about fashion and vacations. They discussed fine wines and rich men.

She found a swing set to play on and swung on the swing by herself.

The evening rolled in and the mirror ladies offered to take Allie and Edie back to their world on the other side of the mirror. Allie graciously accepted and Edie couldn’t wait to get out of that boring place!

Allie and Edie exited the mirror to find Betty still dressed in her blue dress and sensible shoes. She was crying and looked grief-stricken.

“Why, whatever is the matter, Betty? You look as though you’ve lost something very dear!” remarked Allie.

“Yeah, something dear!” added Edie.

“They took you two and then turned me into a child when I went over there to look for you!”

Allie took the little girl into her arms, hugged her, and made shushing sounds. Betty's tears eventually dried up, but she was still very sad.

“It’s all right, we’re back and we have each other again. That’s all that matters!”

“Yeah, all that matters!” echoed Edie.

“But look what they’ve done to us!” sobbed Betty. “I’m 10, Edie looks to be 3, and you look like you’re a mature woman now!”

“Hey! I’m not 3!” protested Edie, “I’ll have you know that I’m 3 years and, um,” she counted on her fingers, ”six months!” She said proudly as she showed off her math skills.

“Well, it’s time for bed. I’ll take grandma’s room. Edie have you gone potty yet?”

“I don’t need to go to the bathroom!” said Edie as she scampered to her room and a little later called out for help getting dressed for bed.

“I’ll take care of her,” said Betty. She walked slowly back to where Edie was.

“Good night!” said Allie.

“Hey!” yelled Edie, “Aren’t you going to tuck me in and read me a bedtime story? Please?”

“Okay, I’ll be right there!” said Allie with a motherly grin.

As she entered the bedroom, Betty was trying to convince Edie to wear a pull-up and not having much luck.

“I don’t need no pull-up! Those are for babies that wet the bed! I’m a big girl!” Edie protested.