Red Riding Hood's Mate

There's No Place Like Home.

Papa knocked on Grandma's door.

"Mama?" He called.

But Grandma didn't seem to be in. Papa unlocked Grandma's door and let us in. I thought I heard a noise behind the house but no one else seemed to notice.

Papa told Mama to put on some tea and he would go outside and look for Grandma.

"I'll go with you." I told him, not really giving him an option. Who wants to be stuck inside, when they can be walking in a beautiful forest, anyway?

He stopped so I could catch up and I said, "I thought I heard something behind the house earlier." I told Papa once we were outside.

"I think that might be Grandma." He said confidently, as we walked towards where I thought I heard something.

"You aren't worried about Grandma being in the forest by herself?" I asked. He was so protective of me, warning about wild animals, but seemed so relaxed about Grandma, who was older and frail.

"She knows how to handle herself," Papa said, slowing down.

"You know there's something I want to talk to you about." Papa said, walking even slower and matching the speed of his words with his walking pace.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Amber, you know I before I married Mama..." He looked uncomfortable as he was speaking, rubbing the back of his neck and not looking at me. He used my actual name. That means he wanted a serious talk.

"Yes?" I said, encouraging him to continue.

He cracked his knuckles, struggling for words.

"You mean when you were married to Mama Amber?" I said, thinking maybe he was alluding to my birth mother.

"Yes. I want to talk about how they died. You're old enough to know the truth now." He said, sadly.

What has he been keeping from me?

"You said Mama Amber, Nick, Anne and Natasha died in a tragic accident?" I said, unsure of how far from the truth that was. I was the youngest of four siblings. It was so difficult to imagine that, growing up as an only child.

"I was on the other side of the forest. I wasn't quick enough." He started, his words were strained, as if it was hard for him to speak.

Water started to build up in his eyes. He wasn't the type of man to cry. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen him cry before in my life.

"What happened?" I asked him, hugging him. I didn't want to see my Papa cry. I looked in the direction I heard a noise from earlier.

"They were attacked. There were-"

I saw a grey beast stride into view. My whole body tensed up.

"Wolf!" I interrupted him, whispering.

He quickly pulled his arms away from me and looked at my face. Then I could feel his head turn in the direction my head was.

This wolf was huge- bigger than any wolf I've ever seen before.

"Let's go to Grandma's." Papa said calmly.

"What about the wolf?" I asked him. I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"She won't hurt us," he said, coolly. He had much more experience with wolves, working in forests, but I didn't understand how he wasn't scared.

"Wait, she?" I asked. If that was a female, I wouldn't want to see a male! We had taken the tablets, so maybe 'she' didn't sense us or see us as food?

Just then, I thought I saw the wolf looking at us. It had thick silver fur and beautiful brown eyes. If I wasn't so scared, I might actually think this wolf was magnificent. The size... It was huge: bigger than any other dog I've ever seen. Maybe this was just the size of wolves? It was more like that of a horse.

Then, before I could even process what was happening, it or she, bent its head down and darted into the forest, out of sight.

"We can't tell Mama about this." Papa warned me. His eyes were full of concern but there wasn't a trace of fear in his whole face. He was actually more concerned about Mama not knowing.

"We just saw a freaking wolf!" I said quietly, dismayed. My whole body was shaking and getting ready for a fight or flight reaction, but Papa was as cool as a cucumber.

"Kiddo, I'll explain later. But please don't upset Mama." He said, looking into my eyes.

I nodded reluctantly. Stepmother or not, I didn't like keeping secrets from her. She has been a mother figure to me since I was a baby.

He put his arm around my shoulders and walked back towards Grandma's house with me. I looked back a few times to see if I could see the wolf again, but Papa didn't even bother to do that.

When we got back, Mama was sitting down with some tea for us all.

"Have you seen Grandma?" I asked her.

"No, she's not been here." Mama said. She looked at me closer. "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

I felt Papa's eyes on me.

"I'm just worried about her," I said.

"We should probably call her before we come next time," Papa said.

He didn't seem fazed by it; by what we had just witnessed at all. It almost calmed me down, as I thought maybe they weren't as aggressive as he had painted them out to be.

"How long should we wait for her? Did she mention to anyone about seeing a friend or doing any chores?" Mama asks, completely unaware there is at least one massive wolf nearby.

I didn't want to leave until I saw she was okay.

"Not to me. Papa, do you think she's okay? I don't mind staying here if you want to take Mama back." I said. I didn't want Mama to be around when a huge wolf is so close. I wanted Grandma to be out by herself when a wolf is around even less than that.

Papa was staring at nothing in particular. Suddenly, he said,

"Lets pick Grandma some flowers. I'm sure she'll be back soon." Then he stood up and we followed his lead.

We went to where we saw the flowers on the way to Grandma's. I felt like I kept looking around, but I didn't see any more wolves. We weren't there for long when I heard an unusual sound. I was on high alert, so even though it was far away, it caught my attention. It was in the direction of Grandma's house. My legs quickly took me to where I could see Grandma's door. I thought I saw the white door disappear into the greying white walls. Or was that a huge grey or silver thing covering the door? Then I saw a small figure on front of it and the white door opened.

"Grandma!" I called, even though she was too far away to hear me.

Mama and Papa called out after me but I ran to Grandma's house and opened the door.

"Grandma?" I called out.

There was a noise upstairs.

"One minute, Amber." Grandma's voice filled my body with calming love. She was safe.

Grandma came downstairs, wearing a nightdress. She was wearing pink fluffy slippers and anyone would have thought she had been there the whole time, if it wasn't for the the dirt all on her legs.

"Grandma, it's so good to see you. Where were you?" I asked, all at once, pulling her into a hug.

"It's good to see you too. Oh my you've grown!" She said, smiling at me. Her brown eyes were looking deep into mine.

"Where have you been?" I asked again. I didn't want to press her, but there was a wolf lurking outside her cottage just half an hour ago and there was just no way it wouldn't have seen her as dinner.

"Oh you know. I just went for a little walk." She said, releasing me from her hug.

"You're all dirty." I said, looking at her legs. It was clear to me the nightdress hadn't been worn outside. If still had its creases in it from where Grandma folded it after ironing.

"Oh! Yes!" She said, wiping them with some water from the sink.

Just then, Mama and Papa came in with the flowers we had picked.

"Mama!" Papa said, hugging Grandma.

Grandma returned his hug and kissed Mama on her cheek.

"What a lovely surprise!" Grandma said.

"We all bought some bikes and Amber insisted we come over." Papa explained warmly.

"We picked these for you." Mama said, handing her the bouquet.

"Now you're close by, I'm looking forward to seeing you all more again." Grandma said, spreading her love around us all.

"This red riding hood is beautiful. Is it new? I love sheepskin." Grandma said, pulling the material gently into her hands.

I thanked her, proudly informing her that Papa collected the materials and Mama sewed it together. Grandma gave a knowing nod to Papa and we all chatted for a few hours. Wolf sighting aside, it felt so good to have what actually felt like the first day of relaxing since we moved here.

We ate the food Mama brought and when the sun cast long shadows on the forest, we left. I had quickly put the image of that majestic silver wolf to the back of my mind. Papa always kept to his rule of being home by dark and today was no exception. It made me feel safe, knowing he knew what we had to do to keep ourselves safe.

By the time we got back to the house, I was sure I knew the way to Grandma's by myself. Not that I would be allowed to go by myself, of course.

Papa knocked on my door and came in. "Do you think the wolf saw Grandma?" I asked cautiously.

"She has methods to keep the wolves from bothering her." he said, like he was hiding something. I could tell he wanted to talk, but I was so tired, sleep took over my eyes as soon as my head touched the pillow.

One thing's for sure though: seeing Grandma finally made this place feel more like home.