Caroline Bird
Familiar Ground
Red Riding Hood went back to the spot
where she was nearly mauled,
and she waited.
A hairy man in a hat
asked her for a cigarette.
She tilted down her sunglasses,
gave him a peek
of her bloody black eyes.
‘Jesus Christ,’ he said,
‘what happened to you?’
‘Rottweilers, bears, gorillas,’ she said,
‘lions, tigers...pigeons even,
they’ve all taken a shot.
By the way, sonny, I know who you are.’
‘You’ve changed,’ he said, ‘you’re sharper,
wiser, I can see that.’
Then he offered her a bottle
and she drank like an outlaw
until her eyes rolled back in her head.
The wolf dragged her body to a clearing
and they were not separated.
When dawn broke, she regained consciousness.
The wolf was leaning by an oak, looking sweaty.
It had been too easy.
Red Riding Hood smiled a cough
and wiped her mouth.
‘I must have nodded off,’ she said,
‘I didn’t do anything daft last night did I?’
‘No,’ said the wolf, ‘you were charming.’
‘Oh good,’ she said
and staggered off through the trees,
her dress tucked into her tights.
Page(s) 56-57
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