[Nell]: 226.Stories.Shorts.Who's Afraid

I woke up at a quarter-past six. I put on my glasses and looked at my mini calendar on the bedside table. Normally I spend my afternoons playing bridge at the local senior centre, but today my granddaughter was coming over.

"How could I have forgotten? I'll have to phone Marg and tell her to come over and pick up my food contribution."

I got stiffly out of bed and began my morning yoga warm-ups, the bones and muscles complaining bitterly. I went into the kitchen and put on the coffee and some toast, no butter; I have to watch my diet carefully at my age. I wouldn't start making the muffins for my bridge partners until after lunch, so I pick up the newspaper to see what's going on in the community.

There was a report about a young woman who had been held captive in a pumpkin for eighteen months by her ex-boyfriend, a man whom she'd turned down for marriage. Apparently she'd escaped by eating her way out through one of the walls. I shook my head sadly; what was this world coming to?

"Can't be too cautious, you can never tell who's on the other side of your door," I muttered to myself.

I still have a habit of talking aloud, even though Mac died a long time ago, out in the prairies where I used to live. Maybe I should get myself a bird or something.

I began the crossword puzzle, starting with the question: who's afraid of the big bad wolf? As I continued my daily routine, I thought about my granddaughter.

A visit from Red would be nice, but she was such a strange girl, with her pop culture views and her odd fashion trends. Like that cape of hers; totally impractical, but it made her look very cute.

After the crossword, I spent some time on a new knitting project (a wool red cape for Red in the fall, which was coming on pretty quickly), then phoned Marg. She said she wouldn't be able to come, but her husband, who is a local lumberman and working out this way, could swing by and pick them up. He'd be coming a bit earlier, so I started on the muffins right away. I took off my glasses so I wouldn't get batter all over them.

The muffins were sitting on the rack to cool when the doorbell rang.

"That must be him! Now where did I put my glasses?" I looked around, but I couldn't find them anywhere. The doorbell rang again. "Coming! Coming!"

Giving up on the search, I went over to the door and looked through the peephole. No one seemed to be there, but I really couldn't tell without my glasses. "Who is it?"

"Grandma! It's me, Little Red Riding Hood!" came a high-pitched voice on the other side. "Let me in, I have a present for you!"

Grandma? Whatever happened to Granny-pie? And what was with the voice? It sounded like the poor girl had some sort of bad cold.

I shrugged and opened the door. On the doorstep was a dog of some sort; I couldn't see him properly without my glasses, but he seemed very big. I've always had a soft spot for big dogs as I used to have a sweet one named Bingo back in the prairies.

"What's this? Good lord, I haven't begun to hear things have I? For a moment, poochy, I thought you had spoken! Let's see if we can't find you a treat though."

I went into the kitchen, and the dog followed me in. I went to the cupboard, but when I looked inside, I didn't see anything that resembled a bone. I seemed to be all out.

Then a question sprang to mind; "If you were the only one there, poochy, who rang the doorbell?" I felt a shadow fall across my back…