Little Red & Mr. Wolf

There was once a teenager named Megan, who everyone in the South Haven neighborhood called Little Red. She always wore a red hoodie everywhere, even in the summertime. Her grandma had given it to her, and she loved her grandma more than anyone—even her mother. She never went swimming, because she would have to take off the hoodie. She only removed it when she took a shower or the hoodie needed to be washed.

Every Saturday, Little Red spent the night with her grandma. She had a room, with a canopied bed and a dresser full of clothes. There were board games for her grandma and Little Red and plenty of books to read. They’d even bake cakes and cookies together. The two always had a blast, enjoying each other's company.

Red’s grandmother’s house was a cute little yellow cottage across town. Megan always walked the same way there, each time. She would walk down Smithson Street, then turn up Bass Street until she reached Grand Avenue. Following Grand Avenue to South Haven Central Park, she would cross to the other side of town through the north park entrance, exiting through the south side. Once out of the park, it was a straight shot down Walton’s Way to grandmother’s house. The walk was probably seven miles, but Little Red always enjoyed it, no matter the weather.

Megan knew everyone in South Haven, at least by face, and she always said hello to the people she met during the day. Everyone who knew her was always so surprised by how kind she was. They would tell her mother daily that she had such a sweet, well-mannered daughter.

Each time she went to her grandma’s little house, her mother would send her a gift to give her grandmother. Sometimes it was a bag of gourmet coffee beans and other times it was only a gift card to a place like an Applebee’s restaurant. One time her mother had even sent a golden ring as a present.

During the week, Little Red would be impatient for Saturday to come around. She’d constantly check her cell phone for the date, even though she had three alarms set as reminders. Then when the long-awaited day finally would arrive, she would wake up early, kiss her mother goodbye for the weekend, and walk over to her beloved grandma’s home.

One Saturday morning, Little Red was told that her grandmother had a cold and that Red needed to deliver some homemade chicken noodle soup and Airborne medication to help her get better. This news, of course, saddened the girl, who loved her grandma as much as she did and hated to see her sick. So quickly gathering the items for her grandmother, Little Red made haste to go to her house.

Before she left their apartment, her mother had warned her of a dangerous predator lurking in the town. The police hadn’t caught the offender yet, and there were no leads. She warned her daughter to be careful. With this in mind, Red had been on her way.

She sang as she skipped along, which she usually did because she was such a sunny, cheerful teenager. She was so preoccupied with her song that she did not notice the strange man following her. He had a humongous nose and course shaggy hair hanging down into his face. Licking his lips, the man smiled a sinister grin and looked around them, seeing the park ahead. Once he saw Red heading toward the park, he strode and set off with a quick lope to intercept her there.

Meanwhile, continuing on her way, Little Red nodded to friends and told folks hello. She stopped at a flower stand and bought a bouquet of posies for her grandma, knowing it would help her feel better. Seeing some children playing hopscotch at the entrance to the park, Red paused to watch them for a moment or two. Then she walked over to the ice cream kiosk to buy her usual Butterfinger cup from Mr. Slayder, who ran the little stand, talking to him for a bit before recommencing her journey to grandmother’s house.

There was a thicket of trees before exiting the park, and as Little Red came upon this little grove, the strange man stepped out in front of Little Red. Startled, she stopped in her tracks, hearing her mother’s words that were said to her before she left the house. The man smiled at her with his lascivious grin and introduced himself as Hal Wolf. Then he asked if she knew the time. She didn’t because she hadn’t looked at her phone in a while but Red thought it was about 9:30. Without getting her phone out of her bag, she couldn’t be sure, and she wasn’t going to take her eyes off of the strange man long enough to check for him. Edging around him, she told him she had to go, her grandmother was waiting for her. With that, she took off at a jog.

Leering after her, he smiled more broadly and bounded away on a shortcut he had found. The weekend before, he had seen Little Red leaving her grandma’s house, and had tried to follow, but lost her at the park. Knowing that she would be coming to her grandmother’s home again, he had been watching out for her, and while he was he’d looked for shorter ways around the area. He’d found an alley that took him straight to grandmother’s back door.

Breaking and entering was nothing to Hal Wolf, he was a professional burglar. He just walked right on into grandmother’s house and scared grandma so bad that she fell right off the bed in a dead faint. He couldn’t believe his luck, seeing as he thought she was dead, which made things so much easier as he just unceremoniously dumped her body into the closet. Then he found the biggest nightgown of the old woman’s that he could, and put it on along with a large bonnet to help hide his hair and face. Putting on grandma’s pins-nez glasses, he climbed into the big four-poster bed to wait.

Hal didn’t have long to wait after he climbed into the full-sized feather bed. Directly, Little Red came walking into the house, singing her favorite song by Pharrell. Breezing into her grandma’s room, she set the basket on a table beside the door. Thinking Hal was her grandma, Red turned around and smiled radiantly at him.

“Hi, Grandma! Mom says you’re sick, so she sent you some Airborne and chicken noodle soup,” Little Red greeted her grandmother.

“That’s nice, dearie, could you bring it to me?” Hal said in his best granny voice, hoping to coax Red a little closer to him.

Megan looked at her grandmother funnily, thinking her voice sounded different. Starting forward, Little Red suddenly stopped in her tracks. The bonnet on her grandma’s head had pulled up a little. With a trace of fear in her voice, she said, “Grandma! What big ears you have!!”

Grinning and looking up at her, thinking he had Red fooled enough, Hal replied, “All the better to hear you with, my dear!”

Unsure of things now, especially since she had never seen her grandma wear this bonnet, so she didn’t know what she looked like in it, Red said shakily, “Grandmother, what a huge nose you have!” Since that was all she could see sticking out of the bonnet.

Smiling broadly while scratching his beak, Mr. Wolf answered, “Oh, the better to smell the roses in your hair, my sweet!”

Almost completely sure now since Little Red was allergic to roses, the teenager exclaimed, “Granny! What humongous hands you have!”

As the strange man jumped out of the bed, he screamed, “The better to hold you with, little girl!”

When Hal leaped from the bed, Red was ready. She turned and ran from the room, slamming the door behind her. She ran down the hall and opened a smaller door. Hal could be heard close behind her. She slammed the steel-lined door shut, effectively sealing herself in her grandmother’s safe room and setting off the silent alarm.

Little Red pulled out her cell phone, to see if she had service in the room. She didn’t, but she wasn’t worried. She knew the police would be there shortly. Grandma didn’t live too far from the police station, and the silent alarm was connected to 911.

While she sat in the room, she could hear Wolf banging on the door, trying to bust it down. Turning, she looked at the monitor which showed Hal outside the entrance. Watching from the safety of the chamber, she waited for the police to arrive.

Finally, Sgt. Cutter Woodsman entered the hallway and arrested Hal. As he cuffed the predator, Little Red opened the safe room and stepped out. Other officers had arrived and found her grandmother in the closet, alive, but shaken up. Hal was taken away in a police cruiser while Red and her grandma gave statements to Sgt. Woodsman.

Everyone lived happily ever after, except for Hal Wolf. Hal Wolf rotted away in a basement prison where he deserved to stay–never to see the light of day.