asked Hilde after a while.
"On Saturday. I thought you knew that."
"But what time? Didn't you say he was changing planes in Copenhagen?"
"That's right.
Her mother took a bite of her sandwich.
"He gets to Copenhagen at about five. The plane to Kristiansand leaves at a quarter to eight. He'll probably land at Kjevik at half-past nine."
"So he has a few hours at Kastrup ..."
"Yes, why?"
"Nothing. I was just wondering."
When Hilde thought a suitable interval had elapsed, she said casually, "Have you heard from Anne and Ole lately?"
"They call from time to time. They are coming home on vacation sometime in July."
"Not before?"
"No, I don't think so."
"So they'll be in Copenhagen this week... ?"
"Why all these questions, Hilde?"
"No reason. Just small talk."
"You mentioned Copenhagen twice."
"I did?"
"We talked about Dad touching down in ..."
"That's probably why I thought of Anne and Ole."
As soon as they finished eating, Hilde collected the mugs and plates on the tray.
"I have to get on with my reading, Mom."
"I guess you must."
Was there a touch of reproach in her voice? They had talked about fixing up the boat together before Dad came home.
"Dad almost made me promise to finish the book before he got home."
"It's a little crazy. When he's away, he doesn't have to order us around back home."
"If you only knew how much he orders people around," said Hilde enigmatically, "and you can't imagine how much he enjoys it."
She returned to her room and went on reading.
Suddenly Sophie heard a knock on the door. Alberto looked at her severely.
"We don't wish to be disturbed."
The knocking became louder.
"I am going to tell you about a Danish philosopher who was infuriated by Hegel's philosophy," said Alberto.
The knocking on the door grew so violent that the whole door shook.
"It's the major, of course, sending some phantasm to see whether we swallow the bait," said Alberto. "It costs him no effort at all."
"But if we don't open the door and see who it is, it won't cost him any effort to tear the whole place down either."
"You might have a point there. We'd better open the door then."
They went to the door. Since the knocking had been so forceful, Sophie expected to see a very large person. But standing on the front step was a little girl with long fair hair, wearing a blue dress. She had a small bottle in each hand. One bottle was red, the other blue.
"Hi," said Sophie. "Who are you?"
"My name is Alice," said the girl, curtseying shyly.
"I thought so," said Alberto, nodding. "It's Alice in Wonderland."
"How did she find her way to us?"
Alice explained: "Wonderland is a completely borderless country. That means that Wonderland is everywhere--rather like the UN. It should be an honorary member of the UN. We should have representatives on all committees, because the UN also arose out of people's wonder."
"Hm ... that major!" muttered Alberto.
"And what brings you here?" asked Sophie.
"I am to give Sophie these little philosophy bottles."
She handed the bottles to Sophie. There was red liquid in one and blue in the other. The label on the red bottle read DRINK ME, and on the blue one the label read DRINK ME too.
The next second a white rabbit came hurrying past the cabin. It walked upright on two legs and was dressed in a waistcoat and jacket. Just in front of the cabin it took a pocket watch out of its waistcoat pocket and said:
"Oh dear!