Little Red and the Wolf

Gawd, she meant the world to Maizie. Why hadn’t she got one last hug, one last feathery kiss? She wanted to hear Gra

Maizie took a step, her front paws and head bathed in the light from Gra

She backed up, stealing into the shadows again. Another time. If she stayed this way, Maizie would keep trying to overcome the scream of her wolf instincts. But for now, even if the worst happened-furry wolf parts forever, rampaging villagers, whatever-Maizie knew Gra

A knock sounded at Gra

“Come in,” Gra

The door opened and a dark-haired man poked his head through the crack. “Hey, Mom. Were mwap sleeping?”

“Riddly?” Gra

Maizie’s wolf brain struggled with the words. Daddy? Maizie edged forward, light touching her toes and muzzle. The man smiled, stepped in and closed the door behind him.

“How’s my mwap girl?” Handsome, sophisticated in his tailored business suit, the man was familiar, but Maizie wasn’t sure why. He was thickly built, like a tall wrestler, with broad shoulders, a squared jaw and a prominent Romanic nose. He was graying at the temples, the dull color all the more noticeable against the sheer blackness of his neatly trimmed hair.

He kept his right hand hidden behind him as he came across the room to Gra

Maizie snorted. They were beautiful, but they weren’t Gra

“Oh, mwap mwap, dear. They’re mwap. Could you mwap them in mwap mwap me? There’s a mwap in the mwap mwap.” Gra

“Sure, Mom.”

That man was not Riddly Hood. Maizie’s father never would’ve brought his mother the wrong flowers. A strange vibration hummed in her chest, a low growl filled her ears. It took a second to realize the growl was coming from inside her, anger manifesting in her new wolf form. She liked it.

The moment the strange imposter left the room, Gra

“I, ah, brought mwap papers we mwap about,” the man said from the bathroom.

Gra

“What’ya mwap there, Mom?”

“Mwap nothing, mwap.” But the phony Riddly’s attention was riveted. He set the vase on Gra

The growl vibrating through Maizie grew louder. She took another bold step into the light.

Gra

The man studied the pictures, his thick black brows wrinkled tight over his dark eyes. But then he smiled, closed the locket and placed it gently on her chest. “That picture mwap mwap ages ago. I looked mwap a different person mwap then.”

Gra

“Thanks, Mom.” The man slipped a hand into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a thin stack of papers folded long-ways. He set them on the tray next to Gra

“Mwap I miss mwap top twenty mwap?” He nodded toward the TV.

“Mwap on sixteen. Sit, sit, mwap a little mwap mwap with mwap old mwap,” Gra

“Old.” He scoffed. “You’ll mwap mwap us all.” He pulled the storage bench from around the end of her bed then dragged one of the high-backed chairs closer. He dropped into it with a casualness that belied his sophisticated attire and propped his expensive leather-shoed feet on the bench.

What were the papers he talked about, the ones sitting conspicuously on Gra

She backed into the shadows again, jogging toward the end of the building. Maybe she could find a door propped open or slip in behind someone else. She had to get to Gra

She edged along the building, skirting the pockets of light as best she could. She turned a final corner where the forest and grass ended. Her toes edged against the wide expanse of blacktop. Before her, the parking lot of Green Acres Nursing Home stretched between her and the front door.

The forest encircled Green Acres on three sides, leaving the front façade and the parking lot exposed. The lot was lit like daylight by three enormous lights placed just right to keep shadows at bay. Beyond the parking lot, directly across from the nursing home, cars whizzed by on a busy two-lane road, and on the other side of that, the night evaporated in the glow of human encroachment. A restaurant, a grocery store, a gas station and more-the edge of civilization on one side, acres and acres of forest behind her. Maizie wanted to turn back so badly her muscles ached from the restraint.

Gra