AN: Um, yeah. Tried to get a British tone with this. Hopefully I didn't fail too spectacularly.
Disclaimer: Alice and the fun fun toys belong to Lewis Carroll and American McGee.
Alice
Simply put, the child gave her chills. She had been a nanny for most of her life and had never cared for a child like this one. Even after a month, she still didn't know what to do with the girl. The child seemed to take no delight in anything. Certainly, she never smiled. Even the nursery was grim. Rather than bright paper, white windows and colourful carpet, it was rather dark and bare-looking. There was only one window and Alice usually kept it mostly covered by a drape. The paper was a dark striped grey and the carpet was a lighter shade of the same.
Any time she tried to broach the issue with Alice's parents it was: Is something wrong with her? Then, what is the problem? And she could never express exactly what the problem was. Certainly the child was not ill-mannered. In fact she was very well behaved. When asked to do something she would obediently comply; and should a response be required she was polite, if remote.
But still, something was wrong and she was beginning to get very nervous around the child, dreading the hours she spent alone with her. She did her best to hide her thoughts, but she was half-convinced the child could read her soul.
At least, the girl had an unnatural ability with cards and dice that would put the most addicted blackguard to shame. Not just playing with the cards either. Alice had a devilish skill throwing them. She encouraged the girl to throw them only into her bonnet, but there were occasional … misses. More than once she'd had to remove cards embedded in dolls or pieces of fruit. The most peculiar thing about that was that the girl otherwise had infallible aim, leading her to believe they were not accidents.
Then, too, there were the jacks. The child was able to make the ball obey her in inexplicable ways. It seemed to bounce as little or as much as she wished, allowing her to win with ease. And while she would swear she never saw the girl do anything but play the proper game with them, she had, once or twice, found jacks piercing some fluffy toy or other.
It wasn't just jacks she was extraordinarily adept at. Despite her young age, the girl was masterful at chess and an accomplished croquet player. All of which encouraged her believe that the girl was just unnatural. But there didn't seem to be anything she could do.
Alice stood suddenly and walked over, carrying a box.
'Nanny, I have something I'd like to show you,' she said in her well-spoken, quiet manner.
'Yes, my dear?' Alice drew near and she saw that the box was a toy, a Jack. As she watched, Alice began turning the handle.
PLEASANCE HOUSE BURNED
This afternoon, the Pleasance house, located on Beech Top, was burned completely in a fire believed started in the nursery. Mr and Mrs Pleasance and their daughter, Alice, escaped from the house, but the remains of the nanny, Florence Wethers, aged 57, were found inside. The Pleasances declined to answer questions, begging emotional distress from the incident ….
Originally written 9 Aug. '05