October 2024 Flash Lit 1:1 - Curled Up in a Ball

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed. Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 8

 

 

“You behave!”

 

“Yes, Mother,” said Lynette, straightening her long, graceful neck and her very pink dress at once.

 

“Yes, Mother,” mumbled Aaron, attempting to curl into a ball to be less, less, just less.

 

“Your hair!” his mother said.  “It’s standing up again!  You look feral!”  Her hand, heavy with rings, tried to press it into smoothness.  “Too late!” she hissed.

 

The guest of honor had arrived in a cloud of functionaries.  Aaron took advantage of the hubbub as someone presented her with a bouquet of white roses to sidle off the too-perfect lawn into the garden.  Once out of sight, he put his head down and ran past the groomed flowers, through the kitchen garden, and into the trees.  Only in their shade did he uncurl, running a hand over his hair to rumple it the way he liked it.