Little Red

Sometimes, we have wolves around us

Tearing into our lives like vicious reminders

That the real world…bites back

That night my grandmother died

I was no fool

The real world seems to tell the stories by the word of the victorious

Our history is written by whoever comes out alive

And so I’m here

Because my mother always acted like I had nothing to say

Because in the beginning,

 I lost

And aren’t we all judged by that?

A tainted first impression?

I didn’t ask to be saved from the belly of the wolf

Contrary to what you all know

It was my choice, -to be there

But isn’t the point of men to invalidate a woman’s triumph?

That day I walked into my grandmother’s house

-          I  was not fooled by the wolf-in-Gran’s-clothing

But there was no trace

No proof of a fight

And my Gran-

My ex-military fight-not-flight

Spunky Gran-

She would’ve won this fight

I was sure

Beyond sure that he had swallowed her whole

My plan began ‘tick’ ‘tick’ -ing in my brain

The gears spun at full throttle

I would have to go in and get her!

Gradually, Carefully,

I acted oblivious,

Innocent,

Forward,

Closer,

Lean in,

Hold Breath,

The belly of the beast is a silly expression…

Aside from icky residue

It was only slightly cramped!

Gran looked at me with a bone chilling icy stare

We knew

It was time to bust out.

In that same moment a rogue huntsman clambered in

Drunk, and violent

He swung an axe clumsily at the wolf,

Startling it and us

Bang!

Gran didn’t like being ‘rescued’

Bang!

She didn’t need it

Bang!

Her 3 warning shots rang into the roof of her cottage

My, did the huntsman clamber away

Quickly, yet oddly efficiently

Out the door.

Press hounded us

But Gran’s pride

Was something to be respected.

Gran and I

We shot every last wolf in that forest.

He took the credit and of course-

Mainstream media is a wicked waterfall

A sea of lies and heroic ‘half-truths’

Anything that sells

A hero story always sells the street papers out faster-

Than the self-sufficient woman

so

In the end he got to tell his story

But now you’ll all know the truth…

Sometimes we have wolves around us

But they’re nothing you can’t shoot.

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