Welcome Birthday Guest Kiernan Kelly aka Dakota Chase!

Unbirthday
by Dakota Chase (aka Kiernan Kelly)

“Is it time?”
“No. Not yet.”
“What about now? Is it time now?”
“No.”
“Surely it’s time now!”
“No. It’s not time.”
“I think perhaps you’re mistaken. It feels like it’s time.”
“Hatter, if anyone knows the time, it’s me, and I’m never wrong. It isn’t time.” The clock sniffed and turned its face away.
Hatter huffed. He removed his top hat, and then stuck his arm into it up to the elbow, rummaging around in its contents. His fingers closed on the object he sought, and he pulled it out. “Look here. My hourglass says it’s time.”
“Your hourglass has a crack in it and is leaking sand.”
Hatter frowned and held the hourglass up. Sure enough, a thin line of sand dribbled from it. “Damn, damn, and double damn.” He stuffed the hourglass back into his hat, and then tamped the hat back on his head. “Well, can’t you hurry it up?”
“Hurry time? Ridiculous. Time takes it’s, well, time. It simply won’t be hurried.”
“Sounds like its just being stubborn to me.”
Another minute ticked by. “Well, look at that. It’s time.” The clock chimed a rather dour tone. Then again, one couldn’t expect a clock to be enthusiastic about anything. When one spent one’s life counting seconds, minutes, and hours, it stood to reason one might be a tad bit glum.
Not that Hatter had any inclination to wasting even another minute on such thoughts. He hurried to the door of his bedroom, and flung it open.
There was no one on the other side.
Truly, he’d been expecting Henry to be waiting with presents and balloons, and a nice cake. Or perhaps a cherry tartlet. Hatter was most fond of cherry tartlets, more so than any other fruity baked goods.
“Henry?” Hatter stepped into the hall. He followed it to the kitchen, which to his dismay, was also empty. No presents. No balloons. No cake. No tartlet. And worse, no Henry.
“Curiouser and curiouser. Could he have forgotten?” Hatter tapped his chin. “No, he wouldn’t do that to me.”
Hatter went outside to the small garden in front of the house. There was a picnic table there, but it wasn’t decorated, and there was still no sign of Henry, presents, balloons, cake, tartlet, or anything else for that matter.
His lip jutted out in a pout, and he grumbled. “For his special day, I baked him a chocolate layer cake, and bought him a new chessboard. How could he forget mine? Doesn’t he love me anymore?”
He followed the path around the side of the house to the backyard, deep in a funk.
“Surprise! Happy Unbirthday, Hatter!”
Hatter screamed and jumped up in the air. Several small animals who’d been milling around the vegetable garden darted for cover, and a flock of flamingos honked and flew away, taking all the croquet balls with them.
There before him was a long table, and at it were his friends and family. Alice was there, with her husband and children. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were there, their chubby faces already covered in cream and sticky bits of candy. The Cheshire Cat floated above the table, disappearing and reappearing at will, leaving only it’s beaming smile behind.
The table was set with bowls of chocolates, platters of cakes, and every kind of tartlet one could imagine. There was one entire platter of cherry tartlets with a tiny sign proclaiming it to belong to Hatter alone.
Best of all, there was Henry, grinning at Hatter with love twinkling in his eyes.
Hatter rushed to him. “You didn’t forget!”
“Of course not. I love you. I’d never forget your Unbirthday.”
Hatter felt a blush heat his cheeks. To cover his discomfort, he asked, “Where’s my present?”
The kiss Henry gave him was worth every hoot and catcall from those watching, and more. It warmed Hatter right down to his toes and up to the roots of his hair.
“That’s not just for Unbirthdays, is it?” Hatter asked when they reluctantly broke the kiss.
Henry grinned at him and gave a devilish wink. “Oh, that’s not your entire present. There’s much more, but you can’t have the rest until tonight.”
Hatter was dismayed to find that, despite the wealth of presents, balloons, and cherry tartlets, time once again slowed to crawl.
“Is it time yet?”
“No, Hatter. Not yet.”
“How about now?”

This flash fiction is written in the Mad About the Hatter young adult universe I write as Dakota Chase. You can find Mad About the Hatter at

https://www.amazon.com/Mad-About-Hatter-Dakota-Chase/dp/1634761480

Blurb:

This isn’t his sister’s Wonderland.
Henry never believed his older sister, Alice’s, fantastic tales about the world down the rabbit hole. When he’s whisked away to the bizarre land, his best chance for escape is to ally himself with the person called the Mad Hatter. Hatter—an odd but strangely attractive fellow—just wants to avoid execution. If that means delivering “Boy Alice” to the Queen of Hearts at her Red Castle, Hatter will do what he has to do to stay alive. It doesn’t matter if Henry and Hatter find each other intolerable. They’re stuck with each other.

Along their journey, Henry and Hatter must confront what they’ve always accepted as truth. As dislike grows into tolerance and something like friendship, the young men see the chance for a closer relationship. But Wonderland is a dangerous place, and first they have to get away with their lives.