Alli moved through the room with ease, and other than a furtive glance from someone at the far table, no one took notice of her. It was quiet in the way that libraries are quiet – with a hint of echoes bouncing off the high vaulted ceilings. You could almost hear the books breathing. The quiet was offset by the rushing of the wind and the pelting of the hard-driven rains on the tall windows above the shelves in the reference room. The lights dimmed ever so slightly as lightning flashed across the darkened skies. The room was lit by the low lights on the tables, giving the room a closed-in cozy feeling. It was a perfect day to be indoors, and Alli was glad to be here.

The reference room is a special place for Alli. It is a haven that draws her whenever she’s feeling restless. And today is no different – today she’s looking for information on powerful women figures in history. She moved her wheelchair as close to the computer console as she could, and then tapped in her library card number, followed by her pin code. Then she tapped in the 8-digit code for the series on Historic Women Power Figures, and waited as the processor crunched her request.

The silver-white glow of the monitor screen blinked as the internal processor completed a dozen steps in a matter of milli-seconds. She knew where the musty tomes of this series were kept on the fourth floor, but with the installation of computer terminals, she could now peruse to her heart’s content at the console – much easier than traversing the narrow aisleways on the upper floors of library main.

Today, though, Alli wanted only to look through the Table of Contents volume, and then she would visit the fourth floor and actually turn the pages of the book – there’s something satisfying about touching and turning actual pages rather than tapping keys. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, tapping out the necessary instructions. She found a likely section in the third chapter of Volume VI under the title, “Royal Women and Decision-Making: Heavy Hangs the Feminine Crown.” Alli noted that this section covered some 60 pages in a chapter of 73 pages total. “Hmmm,” she thought to herself, as she moved over to the elevator. She pulled the old metal door open, and swung the sliding grate aside, and rolled herself into the small cubicle.

The grate slid shut behind her. She maneuvered her chair around in the tight space, pushed the button for the fourth floor, and waited. There was a momentary pause as the old motor above whirred into action, and the elevator lurched upward amid the old building’s creaks and groans. Alli leaned back, her eyes watching the floor numbers as they alternately lit up and turned off as the elevator approached and passed each floor. The elevator jerked slightly as it approached the fourth floor, and the floor number blinked on and off several times, and then went off altogether.

Alli registered this somewhere in the back of her mind, but didn’t think much about it at the time. She pulled on the sliding grate, but it stuck. She pulled harder, and it jerked free and banged loudly against the grate frame. She pushed the door open, and started out of the elevator. When the elevator came to a stop, it had come to rest slightly above its normal position, leaving a drop from the elevator to the floor outside. As Alli rolled out of the elevator, the front wheels of her wheelchair dropped down some six inches, pitching her forward. Alli landed hard on her knees and upper torso, as her arms came up to protect herself. Her head hit the floor hard, and pain blurred her vision. Then everything went black.

Alli could hear low murmuring, and heard her name being spoken. When she opened her eyes, everything was still black, and her head throbbed. She tried to sit up, and found herself in a dark place with a musty smell. The floor was damp and cold. She looked around for her wheelchair, and tried to locate the elevator door. It was dark, and although her eyes were still getting use to the low light, she could see that her wheelchair wasn’t anywhere in sight.

The elevator was gone, too, and she seemed to be in some dark dank cave. She called out to whomever was talking to come and help her, and the murmuring immediately stopped, and two heads popped from around the corner. Alli looked long and hard at the two heads – one was a large rabbit with long floppy ears and remarkable steel-grey eyes. The other head was of an equally large cat, with large banded stripes of orange and light grey across its face. It, too, had remarkable steel-grey eyes. Both grinned large smiles at Alli, and came around the corner and sat down beside her. “Hi,” said the cat, “My name is Chelsie, and I’m a cat.” “Hello,” said the rabbit, “You can call me Latte,” and he smiled broadly.

Alli was at a loss for words, and the two creatures chuckled at her puzzlement. She was upset that they were laughing at her, and hadn’t offered to help. She asked them to help her to sit up, and then to find her wheelchair. The two creatures continued to laugh, and made a joke, and laughed some more. Then, the rabbit said, “You know, you can come with us the way you are.” Alli looked up at him and said no, she couldn’t, “Not without my wheels.” The cat smiled, and said, “Oh, yes you can,” and turned to leave. The rabbit chimed in, “Of course you can; of course you did.” Alli looked at them both, and with a frown furrowing her forehead, asked them to stop teasing her. The rabbit’s eyes glowed, and he spoke in a quiet yet deliberate tone: “Of course you have; of course you were.” He smiled broadly and grasped Alli’s arm, and nodded to the cat, who came around to the other side and grasped Alli’s other arm, and together they struggled and eventually lifted her to her feet. She wobbled, and grabbed tightly to their arms – actually, to their forepaws.

Then the two let Alli’s arms go, and stepped back. Alli’s eyes grew large, and she gasped and put her arms out to catch her fall, but she didn’t fall as she’d expected. She could feel the muscles of her feet and legs and upper body tighten just so, responding to latent memory traces, and while a bit wobbly, she remained standing. She looked into the rabbit’s eyes, then the cat’s, and opened her mouth to speak. “Here you are you, nothing more, nothing less,” said the rabbit with a gleam in his eyes. The cat grinned widely, and nodded. Alli took several steps, still a bit wobbly, but steps nevertheless. She smiled, and grabbed and hugged the two furry creatures, whose eyes bugged a bit from being squeezed.

Suddenly, there came a loud commotion from outside the cave, with a lot of yelling. They rushed to the cave entrance, though it took Alli a bit longer to get there than the other two. Outside in a clearing near the cave entrance, stood a crocodile with fierce yellow eyes, and an angry-looking hyena, both yelling at the top of their lungs. Alli couldn’t understand what they were saying, but they seemed quite angry.

The rabbit whispered to Alli that this was Ti-Ehn, the Crocodile from the lower Nile, and his nasty compatriot, the one with the terrible taste in clothes, Jaibee, the Hyena. “Why are they so angry?” asked Alli. “Oh, they’re just being critical. They criticize all the time, and everything and everyone,” said Latte. “And they don’t seem to be able to help it, poor things!” chimed in Chelsie. “What do they criticize?” asked Alli. “As we said, everyone and everything.”

At the sound of their voices, Ti-Ehn stopped his screaming, and, pointing a gnarled finger at the three at the mouth of the cave, screamed, “You have done wrong! You have committed a grave error! The Queen cannot save you!” Alli pulled back into the shadows of the cave, and whispered. “What does he mean?” “Oh, he makes that all up – don’t you worry,” replied Chelsie. “He’s as crazy as that fool with the top hat, so don’t worry your pretty little head!” “And, he’s just a meanie,” added Latte. “The Queen will take care of him.”

Latte called out to Ti-Ehn and Jaibee, “Be off with you – on the Queen’s orders!” Ti-Ehn snarled, and snapped his jaws in Latte’s direction. Jaibee, too, snarled and snuffled, but more at the air than anything else; he seemed to be lost in another world. Latte recoiled, and mumbled under his breath. “Be off, I say! The Queen will not be happy,” jabbered the rabbit. “No, no! She will not,” Chelsie grinned, and nodded agreement.

Suddenly, there was another commotion in the midst, and Jaibee yelled to Ti-Ehn that the Queen was coming. Ti-Ehn froze, and his yellow eyes narrowed, and he looked over his shoulder in the direction of the path to the river. Soldiers in armor were running along the pathway, and there was much yelling and calling out of orders, and men on horseback rode furiously through the rushing madness. There was chaos and confusion, and dust flew everywhere.

Then all was silent, as the soldiers formed a circle around the cornered crocodile and his chuckling cohort. Ti-Ehn slapped Jaibee across the snout. He stopped laughing, and snarled and snuffled. Ti-Ehn looked the Captain of the Guard in the eye, spat, and laughed out loud. “Off with their heads!” came a thundering cry from the direction of the river. “Off with their heads!” Out of the clouds of dust that still swirled around the gathered group, strode a formidable figure dressed in regal finery, the crest of a red heart emblazoned across her breast. Her hair was flowing, the color of gold, and on her head, the bejeweled crown of the Queen. “Off with their heads,” she bellowed again, eyeing the two inside the ring of soldiers, and a shudder ran down Jaibee’s spine, and a trickle down his leg. Ti-Ehn roared, and snapped in the direction of the Queen, but this was an empty gesture, and he seemed to know it.

The Queen held Ti-Ehn’s gaze, and froze him in his place. Ti-Ehn blinked, and caught his breath. Then, without batting an eyelid, the Queen pointed in the direction of the river, and the Captain of the Guard moved to Ti-Ehn’s side, and grasping his arm, shoved him in the direction of the silently flowing waters. Alli watched in rapt attention. Slowly, the Crocodile moved along the pathway, followed by a whimpering Jaibee. The Captain of the Guard followed next, a lance with a gleaming razor-sharp tip prodding the two meanies. “Off with their heads!” bellowed the Queen, as she followed this procession. Then, she chuckled, almost to herself.

“What will they do with them?” asked Alli. “Will they hurt them?” “Oh, no,” said Latte, “The Queen is really not a meanie herself.” “She says that all the time, but only because it sounds frightening,” said Chelsie. “She doesn’t really mean it.” “What will happen to them?” asked Alli. “Oh, dear,” said Latte excitedly, “It’s past the time! It’s past the time!” “The time for what?” asked Alli, “What’s wrong?”

Chelsie grinned, “Latte was supposed to be to a party yesterday, and he can’t get there until tomorrow, now.” “Did my coming make him late?” asked Alli. “Oh, no,” said Chelsie. “He’s never on time to anything, anyway. Besides, here in the Queen’s realm, there is never a time that is right, and one is never on time, for anything. But, then, one is never late for anything, either.” The rabbit smiled, “No, you didn’t make me late.” Suddenly, the walls of the cave shimmered, and the ground moved. Everything swirled round and around, and the light in the cave dimmed, and then everything went black. Silence.

Alli lifted her head. It hurt. She opened her eyes, and found herself looking up into the face of a woman with incredible steel-grey eyes. “Are you all right?” she asked Alli. “I heard you take a tumble, and found you here in front of the elevator. You have a nasty bump on your head. The paramedics are on their way.” Alli pulled herself up to sitting, and her hand brushed the frame of her wheelchair. She tried to get up, but her legs wouldn’t move.

The woman put a hand on Alli’s shoulder, and suggested that she wait until the paramedics came before trying to get up. Alli nodded, and leaned back against her wheelchair. The woman handed Alli a handkerchief she’d moistened from the water fountain, and suggested she hold it against the bump on her head. Then the woman left. Alli looked down at the handkerchief – it had an embroidered emblem in one corner, a red heart…