"Mickey Zucker Reichert - Who Killed Humpty Dumpty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichert Mickey Zucker)

Charlotte's favorite dinner is steak;
She won't settle for anything less.
She takes my arm when we walk the street.
It makes me feel strange, I confess.

Charlotte is sweet, with impeccable taste.
Her wardrobe is really quite pretty.
What I can't understand, in my human haste:
Why can't Char be a regular kitty?

The Queen of Hearts sprang from her throne again. "Why that has nothing to do with anything! Off
with his head."
To Alice the poem made as much sense as anything else in this place. But, before she could say as
much, guards started racing from all directions. The White Rabbit covered his eyes with his ears, as if this
might hide him. But, before the guards could carry out the Queen's awful decree, the Gryphon banged his
gavel so hard his wig slipped over his beak. He shoved it back into place too hard, and it flopped
backward onto one wing. Apparently, he did not notice this as he left it in place, shouting, "Order! I'll
have order in my court!"
Obediently, the guards ran about, slamming into each other repeatedly and knocking one another
down on a regular basis. Eventually, they separated themselves out and lined up numerically, from two to
ten. By that time, the other queens and kings had coaxed the Queen of Hearts back into her proper
position, her command quite forgotten.
"Very well now," said the Gryphon. He looked over at the White Rabbit, who still stood in place
with his eyes covered. "What our court announcer was trying to say is that we have all gathered to try this
girl AliceтАж" He waved a wing in her direction, which sent the wig flying. It landed on a pig, who cocked
his head this way and that trying to see. "тАж for the murder of Humpty Dumpty."
Well, Alice was more than a little frightened and surprised by this. "But I didn't kill anyone!"
"Contrariwise," said Dum, " 'anyone' wasn't murdered. Our father was."
"Silence in the court!" the Gryphon bellowed, so loudly he sent the lined-up cards toppling like
dominoes. Everyone obeyed, even the kings and queens, though they looked ruffled and unused to
having others order them about. "As the first witness, I would like to call the Hatter."
The Mad Hatter strode to the center of the floor, snatching back his paper from the White Rabbit
and replacing it in his hatband. The Rabbit had finally peeked from beneath one ear, the Hatter's sudden
movement startling him into hiding again. The Hatter cleared his throat, then looked directly at Alice.
"Do you know this girl?" the Gryphon asked.
"I know her pourly," said the Hatter. "We had tea. She poured. It was six o'clock." He shook his
watch, which had stopped years ago and, Alice remembered, only showed the day of the month
anymore.
"That watch doesn't tell him the time," Alice felt obliged to remark.
"No," the Hatter admitted sadly. "It doesn't tell me. I have to look at it."
 "Go on," the Gryphon encouraged.
"Well." The Hatter scratched at his head, only, since the hat got in the way, he scratched at it
instead. "She couldn't tell me how a raven is like a writing desk."
"But, it was a riddle," Alice said. "And I didn't know the right answer."
"See," said the Hatter. "Insults. She called me 'butt,' you heard. It seems to me that a girl who can't
tell a raven from a writing desk could prove very dangerous. Very dangerous indeed."
"I didn't insult anyone!" Alice defended. "I said 'but,' with only one't'."
"Yes," the Hatter acknowledged. "We had only one tea. More with a murderer would have been
the pity."
"I'm not a murderer. And the question wasn't about the differencesтАФ"