0 comments

Contemporary Crime Fantasy

“Sorry, you are too late.” That strange cat replied when I showed up with some biscuits.

“I was told to be here promptly at nine for the tea party.” I protested.

“Yes, but the girl was in a rush, beg your pardon.” The Mad Hatter told me with a friendly wink.

“It’s always the case, eh?” The cat smiled and vanished leaving behind just a wicked smile. 

“These tea parties on the lawn are becoming more and more bothersome.” I crossed my arms across my chest.

“Well, if truth be known, it wasn’t much of a party.” Absalom waved one of his hundred arms.  

“It seems that Lewis Carol was also supposed to attend this affair.” The Mad Hatter seemed agitated, but then this seemed to be his constant mood and frame of mind. “Our tea parties are held on a regular basis. The guests are chosen based upon merit. Are they not?”

Absalom nodded his head as he puffed on his water pipe that filled his head with colorful visions. These tea parties on the lawn were necessary in keeping the social strata vital in an otherwise drab social order.


There was that annoying high pitch whine again. Maybe if I lie really still it will stop. It is giving me a headache. Tea helps calm my nerves. But I must find that little girl in the blue dress and the buckle shoes. You know, She had a blue ribbon in her chestnut brown hair that bobbed in curls around her shoulders. The ribbon matched the color of her dress.  


"Mr. Babcock, what did you think of our tea party?" The Mad Hatter asked. 

"Very nice. " I drank the rest of the tea in my cup, "But where is that sweet girl?" 

"Who? Alice?" The Cheshire Cat purred.

"I think you know better than any of us." Absalom puffed on his pipe and coughed.

"Surely you know." A well dressed White rabbit with a pocket watch in his hand appeared at the long table with the rest of the party.

"I would not ask if I knew, now would I?" My headache was getting worse. The white rabbit glared at me with an expression of total derision on his face.


This won't hurt a bit. Just breathe normally and count backward from one hundred. So I did and that's how I got to the tea party on the lawn. I had been here before, so I had no trouble finding it. Just fall down the rabbit hole…


"You, Royce Babcock, are accused of a heinous crime." The owl perched on a sturdy branch of an oak tree that shaded the tea party. 

"What are you talking about?" I found it hard to breathe. I gasped for air, feeling as if a noose had been placed around my neck.

"The reason you did this horrendous crime was done purely out of lust and a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Such a combination is lethal.


Lethal? 


 I have spent half my life in a psychiatric hospital. Bristol Psychiatric Hospital where they employ cutting edge treatment options. I've spent most of my life in this somatic semi-animated state where I shuffle from one room to the next with no motivation or recall of why or how I got there. Someone wipes the river of drool from the corner of my mouth.


There is that whine again. It is giving me a headache. can't anybody hear it? Someone stop it! Stop that noise!



But these tea parties on the lawn are the best options I know and when I come home, I am always in a good mood.   

"Who are you, owl?" I ask, blinking as the noise continues to bother me even as I sip on another cup of tea.

"Seriously?" The owl shook his head, "We've known each other for almost twenty years. I'm Dr. Hearst."

Absalom laughed. The Mad Hatter shrugged.  

"Who invited him?" I asked. My throat suddenly became so dry, I could not swallow.

"I don't need an invitation." The owl laughed. God, I hated that laugh as if he was the only one privy to the joke. He would conduct process groups and make the patients feel inferior through tactless and derogatory comments. After attending a few of these groups, I learned to keep my mouth shut so I would not draw his attention. "I came to this tea party on my own volition. You are a danger to yourself and others." 

I was angry at him for saying that about me. This is what they say when they don't want to discharge us from the hospital. When they want to retain us longer and keep us locked up. We have no say in the matter.

"It was a long time ago." I turn away from his yellow eyes that probe and interrogate as if I am no more than a common criminal.

"It took them four weeks to find her body, you know." He continued.

"Like I said it was a long time ago." I put my head in my hands and ran my fingers through my hair, but my headache only got worse. The stress was unremitting.

"A zebra does not change his stripes." He chirped.

"He does have a point." The Mad Hatter quipped.

"It does seem in light of previous events, he has a point." Absalom agreed as he puffed on his pipe. At this juncture, Absalom was totally high and seeing colors erupting everywhere around the table.


The decision was made to follow the recommendation of Dr. Hearst by the rest of the treatment team. Due to his difficult diagnosis, Royce Babcock would require a frontal lobotomy. While this was considered a radical treatment option in his case, there seemed to be no other alternative. The operation would take place one month from when the agreement document was signed by the team. Dr. Hearst stood at the podium and declared, "Once we have removed his frontal lobe, Royce will be easier to control his Out of control Lobito and we will not have any more of his behavioral provocations." The rest of the members nodded their heads in agreement.


I don't understand what the problem is with my behavior. I know I sometimes lose my cool, but doesn't everyone lose their cool at one time or another. It's no big deal.  

"Patient Babcock." Nurse Astor calls over the intercom.

I shuffle over to her station where she hands me my pills. I take them without protest. I have been known to protest since I have made it known that I feel I am overmedicated.  

"How are ya doing, Roy?" She asks as I swallow the handful of pills.


Absalom puffs on his pipe. I suspect the Mad Hatter is on morphine at times, because his grasp on reality is very tenuous at times. He speaks in tongues which really plays with my mind. The Cheshire Cat does psychedelic substances which is why he is able to vanish leaving nothing behind but his smile. Whenever Lewis Carol drops by, he brings his magic pills. He tells me that they are a lot like mine, but you know you can't trust someone who uses a pseudo-name. 

"So, is Alice going to show?" I ask.

"I doubt it." The Mad Batter shakes his head.

"Sure would be good to see her again." I finish another cup of tea.

"What do you want with her?" The White Rabbit asks checking his watch.


The authorities found the body of the missing girl in a dumpster. Just like the others, she was strangled. There was little doubt who had done this. The only question was how did Royce Babcock do this. He has been in Bristol Psychiatric Hospital for almost twenty years ever since he murdered his eleven year old sister when he was just fourteen. She was found wearing a blue dress with a matching blue ribbon in her hair. He was diagnosed with a personality disorder and at the time of his hospitalization, was highly delusional. During his processing, he spoke of attending a tea party in Wonderland. 


There is that whine again. Delusional? There is nothing delusional about that noise.  


"We will miss you." Absalom patted me on the shoulder with a couple of his legs.

"Where am I going?" I ask him.

"They are taking you away." Absalom puffed.

"Who is taking me away?" I shake my head, unable to believe what I am hearing.  

"The Owl." Absalom answered.

I was shocked. Why would they do that?

"They are angry with you." The Rabbit pointed an accusatory paw at me.

"Why?" I ask annoyed outside influences were trying to steal the only release I had from the prison they had built in my own mind.

"It's what you do to Alice." The Rabbit sighed.

"I look at it as if I'm rescuing her." I defended myself.

"How do you figure it out?" Absalom asked as a serious expression crossed his opulent face.

"There are things that are too beautiful for this world." I said looking at my hands folded on the table, "If they are left, someone will spoil them. Defile them. Make them ugly, because beauty was not meant to be put here. This world corrupts all that is beautiful...like my sister. She was so beautiful. So sweet, but my uncle saw she was sweet and innocent and he defiled her. She was ruined. She told me everything and I felt it was up to me to make it right." 

"So, you murdered her." The Owl concluded.

"What else was I to do? All that, ruined. Ruined. When that which is beautiful is ruined, It must be destroyed." I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, "It was on me. It was up to me to return the defiled beauty back to where it came from. Back to God."

"Lewis doesn't take stock in God." The cat smiled.

"He feels religion is the cause of a great number of our problems, you know." The Mad Hatter ruefully removed his hat revealing his balding head.

"The Queen of Heart has outlawed religion." The Rabbit informed me.

"I've never give much stock in her edicts. Most of them are filled with Blah, Blah, Blah." Absalom laughed.

 "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The cat added.

"Cliché? Really?" The Mad Hatter Rolled his eyes.

The whining noise ceased.

Sitting at the table under the spreading oak tree seated with a few close friends, I felt the peace I had sought. Sharing tea and surrendering to a late spring day that was full of sunshine and promise. There are moments in our life where that is perfection and this was one of them.  

I knew that this moment was framed in my mind and the perfection was manufactured in my deep subconscious. 

The scenery became blurry, The faces of the guests began to fade until the world became foggy and unclear.

"So long, Royce." Absalom waved his thousand hands as he became a distorted shape that no longer had a defining profile. Rabbit and Mad Hatter vanished in a cloud.


Beauty is only pristine in its natural state. Any defilement. Any ruination. Any imperfection must be destroyed. Beauty is a rare thing in a world that is filled with imperfection and repugnancy. My life is work of both beauty and ugliness.


"How did the operation go?" Nurse Astor asked when Dr. Hearst passed by.

"It went as well as could be expected. The surgeon said that it's a tricky procedure and we shall have to wait for his post-op recovery, but I'm sure he will be fine. There were no complications. He will be gentle as a lamb." He nodded.

"Glad to hear it. " She nodded.


"So let me get this straight." The judge rubbed his eyes after removing his glasses, "You murdered Judy Baxter to save her?"

"Yes, your honor." I avowed, "She was like Alice, beautiful and innocent, but I could see it."

"What could you see, Mr. Babcock?" The judge leaned over toward me. I could tell by his expression, he was not pleased with me. I had seen it, that expression of disapproval as Mrs. Baxter wept openly as she was being comforted by her boyfriend or whatever he was. I knew what he was. I was the only one who could see his desire for Judy. He wanted her, but I was going to make sure he'd never lay one grubby finger on her.  

After I relieved Judy Baxter from her earthly burden, she attended the tea party on the lawn where she had a Splendid time. The end of the tea party is always bittersweet as Lewis takes the child by the hand and leads to the bright light. There is this door that suddenly appears. He bows to the child and they vanish into the blinding light before the door is closed. I know Alice, I mean Judy is now safe.

"Your honor, Mr. Babcock has confessed to the murder of Judy Baxter. I see no reason to proceed any further in this hearing." The barn owl shakes his feathers, casting a vile look at me as if I was a common field mouse. 

*Mr. Babcock Is obviously delusional." The owl who had been sitting to me at the defense table interjects. "In such a state, the law is very clear that he was not responsible for his actions. What must be done is to provide treatment where this will never happen again."

"But by his own admission, Mr. Babcock has admitted to over forty instances of homicide and will continue without remorse." The owl was becoming ravenous. His sharp beak wished to tear me to shreds before consuming me completely. I swallow, but it is suddenly difficult. "Clearly Mr. Babcock is a menace to society."

From my isolation cell, I read what the newspapers had to say about my trial. Not one of them had anything good to say about me. Not one of them understood what my motive was, the good and justice I was bringing to them before their mortal corruption ruined them. I had seen them. I had seen what they become if I don't intervene. They walk the dark streets and get into cars with strangers. One day they wind up in the morgue, throats cut like an extra smile to be laid to rest in a potter's grave without anyone to mourn for them. I used to go and mourn for them before I was sent to Bristol.  


I am the Angel of Mercy! I save them before their lives are ruined! Can't you see the good I am doing. I started with my sister Clarissa. she told me Clarence, mom's new boyfriend had done bad things to her, violated her. It was a word I would learn later.

"Would you like to go to a tea party where he won't be able to do those things again?"

She nodded her head. So too her there to meet them and Lewis was there and he took her through the door.

Mom found her body. I put Clarissa In her bed, folded her hands as if she was asleep.

The police came and took me to Bristol where I have been ever since except when I have earned a pass to go out into the community. That's when I find my Alices. There are so many of them.


"Are you awake?" It is Nurse Astor's voice coming from a foggy distance. I cannot open my eyes. My head feels like my brains are swimming in my skull.  

"How are you feeling, Royce?" It is now Dr. Hearst speaking.

I cannot speak either.

"The operation went well. Better than I expected." He sounded smug about something.

Still I am unable to speak.

Where is Alice? Where are those who were at the tea party?

"I am hoping this will control the Lobito. You know they found three more victims?" His voice is light, almost jovial. "I think we have seen the last of these murders."

"Hard to believe inside him is this monster." Nurse Astor sounds distraught. "He always seemed like a good guy."

"Well he's not. The police called. They expect to recover over thirty bodies. Mr. Babcock has been a very busy man." Dr. Hearst coughs.

"Such a monster, he was. Hard to believe." Nurse Astor walks out of the room. I can hear the heavy rubber soles of her shoes strike the tiled floor.

Monster, who's a monster? I am saving these girls, these Alices from a world of exploitation and degradation. can't they see that? My head hurts. Why does my head hurt? What has that butcher done to me?


"More tea?." The Mad Batter asks as he pours from an odd colored pot.

"Sure. You know I really did not want to come to this party." I admit, "Due to circumstances."

"We are glad you changed your mind." Absalom laughed as the smoke circled his head.

"Where is Alice?" The White Rabbit asks, peeking at his watch, "She is running late, now isn't she?"

"Frightfully late." Absalom notes as he takes a puff of his pipe.

"She will be along shortly." I sip my hot tea. 

"It is good to know. It wouldn't quite be a tea party without her, now would it?" The Cheshire Cat smiles as he vanishes.  










January 11, 2022 21:11

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

0 comments

RBE | We made a writing app for you (photo) | 2023-02

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.