Alice audiobook
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EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Alice had just turned 26 the restaurant staff where she worked the Mad Hatter bar and restaurant located on Ho Bohemia's Washington Street. The tiny town's main drag through a small surprise birthday party for her that night after closing 26. Yet somehow stuck, waiting tables deep in debt, tired as ****. Still single, all alone and now pregnant. This isn't where she saw herself eight years ago when she left high school. It wasn't the plan she or her parents had envisioned for her adulthood at all. Well, so much for plans. She figured people planned and God laughed up her sleeve from afar at the pathetic planners as she watched their pitiable plans crumble and fail. Alice's parents had instilled a strong sense of that good old fashioned protestant work ethic embedded snugly within her psyche for as long as a girl could remember. At 14, they encouraged her to get a part time job after school, so she'd have her own pocket money. People told her work hard, save some of what she earned and everything would turn out just fine. Only it wasn't fine. After over a year of the COVID-19 lockdown, a year where it was no longer possible for a person to eke out their living by working gigs in the then universally shuttered food and beverage industry that provided employment for anyone willing to toil harder than most for minimum wage plus tips. Her credit card debt had mounted as the months dragged by now, the total amount of interest charged each statement period on our accrued bills nearly exceeded the required minimum payment requested. She fell deeper down the rabbit hole, a place easily to fall into once a person had gotten snared in those 19 to 26% apr interest fees, the principles and fees seemingly compounded uncontrollably every month on each of Alice's Visa, Master American Express and discover credit cards. The Mad Hatter's late night tea party, which had included a single round of drinks, compliments of the night manager and a birthday cake with a solitary solemn candle that is obliged by tradition. She blew out minutes before the event had broken up perhaps because it was her birthday, her night manager who usually could be a bit of a testy jabber had not only treated everyone to a free drink. He'd also surprised her with a birthday present, an extra work shift tomorrow. So instead of staying to party with her colleagues, Alice unplugged the Segway E S Two electric scooter, she kept in the back charging up while working to make the tedious trip from Ho Bohemia to the studio apartment. She could barely afford in Brooklyn. And because the Jays gift of an added shift entailed coming in to open the eatery tomorrow morning in order to work a double throughout the day and into the end of the night, during daylight hours, the magic of light, in addition to various experiments with hair, eyes and tints could make the long hair she kept tied behind her while working appear as a fiery shade of deep, tight and red. Then at other times, especially during dusk, it seemed to be somewhat flaxen and more strawberry blonde. This was not unlike her eyes which looked to be either green or hazel color depending upon the time of day. The hair was a crowning glory. No pun intended. In fact, when not at the restaurant, Alice got gigs as a dancer in various music videos and worked using a stage name Gingy. She loved listening and dancing to afro fusion music styles ranging from coupe to and do to Guara Guara and was the go to girl where many of the New York City production companies required dancers who possess that rare look and unique talent. After collecting it tightly beneath the helmet of the protective headgear she normally adorned for these scooter rides. Alice picked up her share of the day's pool tips prior to setting off into the warm early summer darkness before leaving the Mad Hatter bar and restaurant, which sometimes felt like her own personal purgatory. She stole one last glance at the bright white face of the gothic style clock hanging on the wall behind the bar, making a casual mental note that it was 3 15 AM. Oddly as she turned away from the timepiece, Alice could have almost sworn that the hands of the tired ticker had begun to move precariously backward. Now, that couldn't have been explained by the one drink she'd had due to her newly confirmed and unplanned pregnancy, she'd only imbibed a single cup of cranberry juice and any addition of alcohol instead of a usual glass of Domina M red wine. Well, maybe it was just, oh, well, never mind the ride home on the, her name for the scooter, which in English meant the red dancer always began down Washington Street and was at first unproblematic as it was Alice's one as well as the fact that the two wheelers maximum velocity was limited to about 16 MPH. Even with a strong tail wind, she drove cautiously below the legal speed limit through the sparse nighttime vehicular traffic. That was until the front wheel of the segway E S two sank down deep into one of the many potholes that plagued pedestrians and drivers alike on ho bohemian streets and sidewalks frightfully. This caused her to swerve slightly toward the direction of a van parked roadside. And yet again, another odd optical illusion had occurred that evening. Alice saw the scooter's lone headlight as well as the image of herself upon it being reflected back before she crashed straight into the park carrier for you see, attached along its sides were unframed sheets of glass and mirrors. Then the last thing Alice remembered as she flew up and over the handlebar was going headlong and helmet first into and through the looking glass. Well, at least this time it was a visual phenomenon that was easily naturally and rationally explained.