Issues

She entered the cottage and pulled her hood down; grabbing a couple of paper towels, she made her way to the back bedroom without delay. "Relax, relax," Red told the wolf. "Can we just skip the 'what big ears' and all of that crap? We have bigger issues right now." The wolf sat up, nodded, and pulled off its cap, wig, and the glasses (relieved, because the glasses made everything blurry). She put a meat pie on one of the towels and gave it to the wolf; she took a muffin out of the basket for herself. The wolf hesitated, suspicious. "Really?" Red asked it, annoyed. "I'm going to bother making you a meat pie and put poison in it? Who has time for that?" They talked through the late morning into the afternoon. Red helped the wolf out of the flannel nightie (because that was just embarrassing), and there were more pies in the basket to make the conversation a real pleasure. "So," she summarized, standing up and putting her cloak back on, "you'll tell the others? Warn them that the forestry service is corrupt and the rangers are dangerous?" The wolf nodded. "I'm serious now," Red said again, forgetting herself and giving the beast a scritch (which it gladly allowed). "Hide; do not engage; protect the children; if you have to fight, fight to win." She locked up the cottage after the wolf had gone with an agreement to treat it like a safe house - as safe as anywhere could be (in an unsafe world).