by Wol-vriey
Alice interrupted her. “If I may make a suggestion, your majesty?”
“Please do, Alice.”
“You don’t have to end up with fifty-one states afterwards.”
“How do you mean?”
“If after splitting Kansas into North and South Kansas, you combine North and South Carolina into simply Carolina, you’ll be left with just fifty states, and your father’s dream for the future United States of America will remain intact.”
Mech-Anna’s face went blank at this, as if her furnaces were running low on coal. When she burst out laughing, her mechanical body shook with such force that the rabbit engineers commenced panicking once again.
“Yes . . . yes that’s IT!” she boomed, her regal voice echoing throughout the massive chamber. “Alice Sin, you’re a genius!”
***
As Alice prepared to depart, saying goodbye to her companions and following Big Jane Wayne to the edge of the platform, Mech-Anna summoned her back once again.
Alice returned. “Yes, your majesty?” she inquired politely.
“Before you return to New York, do you have anything else you wish to ask me? Anything at all you’d like to know about Texas?”
Alice thought a moment.
“I do have one question,” she said finally.
“Please, ask it then.”
“Why aren’t there any Cheshire Cats in Texas?”
It occurred to her that she hadn’t seen a single teleporting feline since arriving in the Lone Star Queendom.
The Clockwork Goddess laughed.
“The answer to that is very simple,” she said – “Curiosity!”
The End