The Flip Side

By Sunny Shah

Illustrated by Sunny Shah

The Flip Side

By Sunny Shah

Illustrated by Sunny Shah

For my loving parents. I will always remember and keep you in my

heart.

Based On a True Story

I bet all of you know the story of The LittleRed Riding Hood. But I guarantee that noneof you know my story. I don’t know who madeup that we’re all bad; maybe it was Aesop orthe Grimm Brothers. The name is GriffinTheodore Wolf. But you can call me Theo forshort. We’re really not bad folk I tell you.

We can’t help eating little piggies and sheep. It’s just what we eat.

If hamburgers were cute and cuddly, people might think you were big and bad too. So let me tell you what really happened.

I’ve always been the inquisitive one out of my brother and I. What can I say, I knew my way around the deep dark forest. But we always avoided the deepest and darkest parts. That’s where the

wicked witch lives. Plus, we had to look out for hunters and angry townspeople trying to get rid of us for one reason or another. But

there was one person I loved to go see.

Her name was Granny. She practically raised us. I remember Momma and Poppa taking us to Granny’s before they would go

out for our dinners. Granny was crushed when she found out about James and the three little pigs. It’s not his fault he had

allergies and blew down their homes.

One day, I was walking through the woods when I came upon a young girl wearing a red hood. She had a face that was almost too white to be human. It was almost ghostly. I thought it was strange and eerie that such a young girl would be allowed to take stroll through the deep dark forest.

So I cautiously asked her, “What brings you to my part of the woods?” She replied, “I have to bring cookies and bread to dear old sick Granny.”

“Granny, Granny, Granny! Some girl… No, some THING in a red hood is coming for you! I saw her in the

woods. She said she had treats for you because you were sick, but she hid the basket when I tried to look into it!” I

exclaimed to her in a frenzy. Her eyes widened as she stared back at me.

Granny replied, “Oh. That might just be… Red.”And as her words trailed off, she sickly fell back into bed.

Who was this Red? What did she want with my Granny?

Eureka! I took Granny out of bed and put her in the closet with her blanket, pillow, and hot ginger tea. She should rest easy for this. I grabbed her

clothes from her drawers and slipped them on along with her glasses. It was a sight to see, a wolf in Granny’s clothes! My plan was to pretend to be

Granny and wait for this little red thing to make her grand entrance. Then, I would jump out and scare her away. No one messes with my Granny!

“Knock! Knock! Knock!” Came from the other side of

the door. It was time.

The door swung open. And there she

was. This little red thing. Her

hood was shadowing her

face while a grin swung

from ear to ear. I was nervous.

“Hello Granny.” She said slightly louder

than a whisper. “I’ve brought you some bread, cookies, and

your favorite…

licorice tea.”

“Granny hates

licorice!” I thought to

myself. This girl definitely doesn’t know my Granny.

“Um, all the better to hear you with my dear.” I stammered out. I could feel her hands on the bed. It was now or

never.

“Oh, grandmother. What big ears you

have!”

With a flash of my big sharp teeth, I tore off the blanket and growled at her fiercely. She sprang back and her hood dropped off her head as she let

out a shriek.

It was her. It was the wicked witch of this dark forest coming for my Granny!

I barked, snarled, and growled and told her to

leave!

At that moment, the door tore open and there stood the huntsman with his axe in

hand. He must have heard my growls and her shrieks. The witch quickly put her red

hood back on and started to scream. He rushed in and with one powerful blow of

his axe, he chopped the bed in two.

I pounced off the bed, scooped Granny on my back and ran through the kitchen, and out the backdoor. I didn’t stop running until I felt my paws tiring

under me.

I laid Granny down under the old Juniper tree. I could see she was tired. She scratched the back of my head and said I was a good boy.

She opened her eyes and whispered, “Every story has two sides.” With that, she closed her eyes and went. I closed my eyes, and wrapped my body

tightly around hers.

Everyone found out about what

happened at Granny’s. I’m sure the town

gossipers didn’t want to talk

about how a poor and lonely wolf was attacked by

a seemingly innocent girl and a huntsman. So they just chalked

it up to be another case of

the big bad wolf.

But now, you know the real story. Just remember, there is

always another side.