The urgent knocking on the front door clamored for attention. Brian quickly donned a bathrobe over his silk pajamas, and went to answer the call.
-“Who goes there this late at night?”
-“It’s me, Michael. Open the door immediately! The big bad wolf is on my trail.”
Quickly opening the door, Brian greeted his brother with a frown. –“Why didn’t you stay home then? Don’t you know that I rise with the dawn, in order to monitor the financial markets?
Holy shit! Is that a real gun you are carrying?” Brian’s eyes bulged when it dawned that Michael was packing.
-“This is no time for explanations. We must reinforce all the lower windows, and prepare to confront the wolf. He is on his way, of that I am sure.
He is injured, and it is only a matter of time before he dies of starvation or hemorrhaging. In his state he will not be able to kill his prey, and tear off the flesh, since I blew off half his teeth.”
-“Why didn’t you simply kill him, and let me sleep a full night’s sleep?” Brian questioned.
-“I do not want to kill, or even consume another life. Although we may be mortal enemies, and of different species, it does not change the fact that we are still brothers.” Michael reiterated his stance.
Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Brian went to the kitchen to heat water to make hot cocoa. –“I have oatmeal and raisin cookies, would you like some hot cocoa or coffee?”
-“I’ll have the cocoa, thank you brother.”
They were about to seat down at the kitchen table to warm their bellies with the hot chocolate, when a thunderous thump on the door announced the arrival of the wolf.
-“Come out, come out little piggy! I know that you’re in there! I can smell you, and can almost taste your tender, lush flesh. And when I get my paws on you…do you know what I am going to do?
Why, after I eat your entrails, I am going to sauté you. I will make little sausages, bacon, and patties just like they serve in Mc Donalds, for people to devour your cousins at the bargain rate of two for three dollars.
I will condiment you with salt and pepper, and grill to a golden crisp, your filleted meat…Yum! Yum! I am salivating with the anticipation of such a treat!”
-“Cut it out wolf. You know that you are dying and get even swallow with your injured muzzle. You should go back to the woods, and die in dignity.”
-“Piggy why are you so harsh with me? After what you did to me, you should come out willingly and offer yourself as a sacrifice. What you did was very bad.
Would you also kill a homeless indigent, if he were to come near a patio table of a fancy eatery to beg for money - in order to appease his raving hunger - from a lovely couple enjoying their outing?
And this lovely couple, instead of seeing in the labyrinth of dementia and a foul smelling form, a precious being housed in that offensive body, chose to cruelly turn him away as if he were merely a flea-ridden dog, so as to not contaminate their perception of the good life.
And so this man, lost in a state of dementia and consumed with raging hunger, takes their basket of fresh baked bread and runs away with it.
Would you then, justify shooting this poor man in the mouth, so that he could not eat that bread? The death from slow starvation is surely more horrific than instant death. You should be ashamed little piggy.
Now, OPEN THIS DOOR AT ONCE!” The wolf ordered.
-“No! Go away, and you can't compare bread to my little brother. We will not open the door, so just leave!” Michael said.
-“Very well, if that’s the case, I will break my way in, and I will make you watch as I roast on a pit your brother alive, and he cowardly begs for forgiveness of all his sins, since the pit will only be a prelude to hell!”
Brian went from rosy cheeked, to ghastly white when he listened to this. He sat on a nearby couch, shaken to the core.
Try as he might, the wolf could not make an impact on the bricks, through massive bodily force. The attempts seemed puny at best in comparison to the impenetrable density of the bricks.
Perspiring and bleeding profusely from the right shoulder and muzzle, the wolf felt his mighty energy, slowly ebbing. He needed to eat some protein urgently, so he rested for a bit, and considered his options.
He walked around the stately home, and saw that all the windows were shut. Then he looked up and saw the chimney upright. The rays of the moon, filtered through the dense bush of a massive tree. This tree was fortuitously rooted next to the house, and its branches razed the chimney.
The wolf smiled slyly from the good side of his muzzle. He knew that he could do it. He could agilely climb up that tree, and from the highest branches, it was just a calculated leap to the rooftop of the house.
When they heard the thump on the roof near the chimney, Brian quickly ran to the chimney to light the wood, while his heart beat accelerated to a spiraling beat.
-“Michael come quickly and fan the fire, I have to run to the kitchen. Quickly, before the wolf comes down the chimney!”
-“Why are you going to the kitchen? This is no time to eat. I have to stand guard with my gun cocked. I can’t be entertained with matches and sticks.”
-“I am not going to eat now! I am going to gather water in a large pot which I will place on the fire, and I am going to eat the wolf when he is boiled.”
-“Are you crazy? You can’t eat that wolf; if you did you would eat our own brother Bernie! We are not cannibals; I simply won’t allow it!” Michael, who usually was congenial and easy going, was adamant on this.
-“I’m so tired of your spiritual crap Michael. This is my home; and I am going to do this, and you can’t stop me!” Brian said as he ran to the kitchen to fill a large kettle of water.
-“Save your trouble Brian, regardless of whether you share my philosophies or not, I won’t allow you to eat this wolf. What we will do is to let him fall into the burning flames of the fire.
He will burn to ashes in the flames that consume and devour, and he will be purified that way."
Michael said this as he quickly reinforced the metal grill of the fireplace with nails, so that the wolf when it fell through howled like a creature from hell and could not scape.
The eerie, unholy howl, created goosebumps on Brian’s skin. He was busy carrying the heavy iron kettle to the living room, when his left arm released the kettle, and became paralyzed.
All chaos ensued as the wolf whelped in agonizing anguish,while he attempted like a being possesed by a demon, to escape the flames. Meanwhile, Brian grasped his chest with his right hoof, and toppled to the floor in acute pain.
-“Michael, help me! My chest hurts. Take me to a hospital.” Brian said as he vomited on the floor.
-“How are you feeling today? The doctor said that your blood pressure and stress level were off the roof.
He also said that with time, and rehabilitation, that you will probably regain some control of the left side of your arm and face.
The good new is, that mom has decided to move in with you, in order to take good care of you.” Michael said to Brian, as he recuperated on the hospital bed. Due to Brian's facial paralysis, it was difficult to discern his reaction.
"Moonlight Lanscape" By Linda Messier
