“You’re not much. You’ve lost your muchness.” So said the Mad Hatter to Alice in Tim Burton’s production of Alice In Wonderland. I love the line. I admit I don’t know exactly what the muchness is that I have lost, but it feels important. I have lost plenty of other things over the years; muchness has to be one of them. But maybe not!
As best I could tell from the context Alice had lost of little bit of what made Alice, Alice. Not so much her physical being, but that was part of it. She was exceptional large at this point in the story. The Hatter had seen her small enough to stuff in a teapot (he even made a little dress for her), and like a giant — how she appeared at this point. What seems to have changed for the moment was a degree of confidence, or boldness, or confidence in who she was.
Muchness seems to be flying out the window today as word finally began to spread that our Maintenance man and his wife the manager are leaving. Gail and I decided to say nothing. Of the women in the other building who knew one is gone for the weekend and the other is with family. That only leaves Chas. Gail and I were making little side bets on when he would let the news fly. When his muchness would leave.
Frankly, we both lost. There was a gathering of about 20 folks for a special dinner last night and neither of us could believe we would get through the night without the gossip flying around the room. We were both prepared to be shocked. What? They’re leaving? When? Did they get fired? Did they quite? Well, I have been expecting it for some time. We all knew they weren’t happy. I will be sorry to see them go. I like them a lot. Low and behold, the room was silent on the subject.
I was away for the day for the birthday of granddaughter #2. I could here voices as I returned. The loudest was of Maria and Chas. They were rather animated. I had a suspicion the cat was out of the bag. It may have only escaped a bit. They were actually playing dominos. I wandered over to the puzzle table. Gail wasn’t playing so she joined me. I mouthed the words, “Do they know?” She nodded her head yes.
Chas left shortly after I arrived. A few minutes later, Maria came over to report that the couple was leaving. She said she got it from Chas. Can you believe everything he says? No, but I’m sure this is true. I asked no more questions. I wanted to wait for the big news tomorrow. The gathering at coffee break will be large. Word will seep though door and phone lines tonight and many more will want all the details. If the letter is at our door when we wake, there will be lots of speculation. If word is not out yet there will be still be lots of speculation — without any knowledge.
You gotta love it. I live for days like this. It will be better than any soap opera. The tension will build. Anxiety, joy, jubilation, depression, anger. It will all be there. The ending will be open. It really doesn’t matter. This drama will have no ending and the plot will thicken and take many a screwball turn. You can’t write this stuff. It would not be believable. To make a good movie just add murder, the police and maybe a few drugs. The plot is here. Who knows? This might become a good book. I would have to lie a bit, but as far as you know, I’m doing that now. NOT!
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