Down the Rabbit Hole

The day hadn't gone quite as expected. Her bicycle had been stolen. She’d got wet walking to work. Sitting down at her desk she'd received a severe telling off from her manager. The coffee she’d spilt over her keyboard at the same time she was being reprimanded hadn't helped the situation.

Looking out at the rain as it cascaded down made her feel even more depressed that, couple with her cancelled holiday (because an air traffic controllers strike), her best friend was getting married. She didn’t even have a partner lurking anywhere in the wings.

The previous evening her childhood friend had thrust her hand and 'the ring' at her and it had somehow made everything more hopeless. Usually, she was quite an upbeat person. What she needed, she decided, was a magic ring or a magic potion that she could drink like Alice. She might be able to reverse time to take her back to when she was a child wearing her favourite red puffy jacket and able to look at the world with awe. It was a time when she still believed in the tooth Fairy, Easter bunny and Father Christmas. Then, she had imagined that earth and the universe were glittering and wonderful and she was a star-bright person.

A message pinged onto her screen. It contained one word "Doughnut". She turned her head and saw that on her desk someone (well, actually, it was her manager) had put a doughnut. She knew who it was, because another message flashed across her screen, "Sorry, I was ratty with your earlier. I know how conscientious you are. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Do you fancy going out for a half price cocktail after work?".

She had been so far into an alternative universe that she hadn't noticed the doughnut with its pink icing, shimmering fairy dust and sprinkled with hundreds of thousands. So, perhaps, there was magic out there if only you could conjure up an imaginary ring to rub, because a doughnut and a date were just what she needed to see her part of the planet in rose tinted hues once again.