ALEX IN BLUNDERLAND: Episode 5

Tags

Fred, Lewis Carroll, Prima, Secunda, Tertia

Episode 5: Part 1 of “Up the Rabbit Path”

“and tied around the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words ‘Drink Me’ beautifully printed on it.”

L. Carroll     “Down the Rabbit Hole”

 

Every town in rural New York had a road named “Rabbit Path.”

Alex’s Rabbit Path was quite different than most.

You see, he spent the majority of his teens

(thirteen to nineteen to be exact)

and the minority of his twenties

(twenty and twenty-one minimally)

on Rabbit Path.

 

Alex’s Rabbit Path was a passage through (and to) oblivion.

On a more mundane note it was a bicycle path

that slowly rose from the valley up to

a mountain top.

 

Several dim and dark (not to mention enigmatic and murky)

occurrences were experienced by Alex.

These events left him confused,

befuddled and confounded.

 

It all started when he visited an establishment

named the “Cardinal Café.”

Alex thought it was

a misspelling of

“Carnal Café.”

 

However, in later years when he thought about it

he distinctly remembered the image of

a bright red neon bird that flashed

on and off over the portal

of the establishment.

 

I should hasten to add that it really did not start at

the Cardinal Café. It was only reinforced there.

It really started (even Alex did not realize it)

when he joined a friend for a spring night

of bullhead fishing.

 

They sat on the bank of the muddy Susquehanna

waiting for bullhead action. His friend reached

into his rucksack (back packs not yet invented)

pulled out a pint sized Mason jar.

On the lid was clearly written

in very skilled calligraphy

“Drink Me.”

 

You would know (if you lived back then) Mason jars were used

for pickling cucumbers. This Mason jar was full

of blended whiskey and was used for

pickling young minds.