Kimberly - Our Little Chop

"I know I smell her, Tony!" Wolf said a second time, insisting that Virginia was nearby.

"That’s impossible, Wolf, you know as well as I do that we left Virginia safe at home in New York. Your sniffer’s playing tricks on you."

"No, Tony. I’m a wolf. If there’s one thing a wolf knows above everything else, it’s the scent of the one he loves. I know Virginia is here somewhere," he insisted again and, following his nose, ran straight up to the little house they’d been trying to approach stealthily. He ran around the corner just in time to see the very familiar shape of his beloved wife slipping through the window into the cellar. Tony was following right behind, and while he missed seeing his daughter sneak into the one place they’d been warned to avoid, he did arrive in time to clap a hand across Wolf’s mouth, catching the howl that was about to escape.

"Shh!" Tony cautioned. "I don’t think we’ve caught the old bag’s attention yet, no thanks to you. Now come over here - let’s see if we can peek inside and see what we’re up against."

"But Tony," Wolf whispered in desperation. "Didn’t you see her? Virginia just climbed into the cellar! We’ve got to save her!"

"What?" Tony asked aloud, then quickly returned to a whisper. "Are you sure?"

When Wolf only nodded his certainty, Tony made a decision. The only way to save his daughter was to act immediately. He quit thinking and let his New York instincts kick in. For much the same as wolves, there were some things that New Yorkers just knew. He marched straight around the side of the house and up to the front door. I’ll scam her, he thought, fumbling to throw off the rags that covered his clothes as he walked. Putting on the sunglasses he’d brought with him from New York with one hand, he knocked purposefully on the door with the other, motioning reassuringly to Wolf to stay out of sight.

The old lady that opened to the knock did not look like a witch to Tony. He had assumed that a real witch would be stooped and warty like in the stories he read as a child. But this witch looked a lot like a sweet old grandmother. Flustered, he stammered as she stood looking at him expectantly. It wasn’t often that someone knocked on this particular door, after all.

"Hello, madam," Tony began in his best snooty accent, the one he’d first heard from Prince Wendell as a dog. "Tony Lew- er, ah, that is Antony Welles here." He felt his pockets as if looking for something. "I seem to have left my papers in the carriage. It’s at the top of the hill, madam, so I can’t very well read you the proclamation, but allow me to summarize for you. I am Prince, oh, I mean King Wendell’s royal building inspector. I’ve been sent to inspect every dwelling in the kingdom. I assure you I won’t take much of your time; I simply need to take a few measurements and verify that the building is up to code."

The old lady looked thoroughly bewildered by his explanation. Pleased, he stepped forward, placing a foot inside the door. "Yes, well," he said, pushing his way into the tiny two room cottage and pretending to take measurements with his arms. "I have already checked the foundation from the outside, and everything seems fine, so I will just need to see your cellar and I will be able to verify that everything is in order. It’s a very nice home you have here, and I’m sure it will pass inspection nicely."

Finally, the old woman cleared her throat and moved to speak. Before she was able to protest, however, Tony found the cellar door and pulled it open. Peering into the darkness, he asked the old woman for a lamp or a candle. Before he could finish the sentence, however, the kindly and confused-looking old woman had knocked him on the head with a pot and he felt himself falling into the darkness.

Damn, he thought to himself as his head hit the corner of a shelf and he blacked out.

The old woman closed the cellar door, slid the lock into place, and turned - a table was sitting against the wall, a white cat perched on top. She absently stroked the cat’s fur and looked at the mirror on the wall above the table.

"Show me," she said in a soft, singsong voice.

Suddenly instead of her own reflection she was seeing Tony, lying in a heap on the ground. Virginia was lifting his head and laying it in her lap, slapping his face gently, trying to bring him around.

"Good," the witch whispered. "He’s alive, and the girl is here. Now, where’s the one they call Wolf?" In the darkness of the woods her mirror was of less use to her and was only able to show her the trees. A few dark shadows moved, but there was nothing distinct. "No worry," she said to the cat. "He, too, will come to us soon."

In the cellar, Tony was beginning to come around. "Virginia!" he whispered, wincing at the pain in his head. "What, exactly are you doing here?"

"I’d like to ask you the same thing," Virginia replied. "I thought you were going to reason with the witch, or try to buy her off or something."

"That was before I found out that my daughter was trapped in the witch’s cellar, now wasn’t it?"

"What do you mean, trapped?" Virginia asked with a sly smile. "Nobody’s trapped."

Just then Virginia’s two new friends emerged from where they’d been hiding when Tony fell, and while the witch was watching in the mirror. Linn reached out a hand to Tony, and he, Art and Virginia helped him to his feet. They half-carried him into the surprisingly large passage that Art’s father had built into the house so many years ago. Closing the secret door behind them, Art spoke for the first time.

"You must be Sir Tony," he said. "It’s a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Tony said in confusion, rubbing his head. "But who are you?"

"I am Art, the elf, and this is Linn. My father built this gingerbread house for the first Gingerbread Witch. I played here for days during the early construction, while the witch was away gathering recipes. My father was afraid that after he built the house for the witch, she would imprison him. She had a habit of doing such things, so he built this secret passage, in case he ever needed to escape. I don’t think the second Gingerbread Witch knows it exists. That’s why I came to help the Lady Virginia. Unfortunately, it has been a very long time since anyone has used this passage. In fact, I myself may have been the last person to use it playing here as a child." He peered into the darkness. "It used to come out behind the little cupboard in the hearth room, but it looks like the passage has caved in some just ahead. I don’t think the witch has seen Linn and I, so we’ll try and clear the passage - you two go back into the cellar so she doesn’t get suspicious.

Wolf, now alone in the woods and fearing the worst, was still hiding where Tony had indicated, behind a tree just outside little clearing. He gnawed absentmindedly on a small branch while trying to decide what to do.

Huff puff. It’s been an awfully long time, he thought to himself. And Tony’s still in there, and so is my sweet filet of soulmate Virginia. I have to come up with a plan! He finally noticed what he’d been doing to the tree branch. Pushing it aside, he spat out bits of bark. "Look at me, I’m a mess. I’m eating tree now. And that crazy old witch has my family in there. Everyone I love is trapped in there, and I’m still worried about being hungry." He growled and scratched his temple. "I have to concentrate. Maybe I can trick her into letting me in, and then eat her! I’m almost hungry enough, and surely if she dies the curse dies with her! Ooooh," he whined, "I can’t! I’m not a killer. Tomorrow night, maybe I could do it - I’ll have changed by then. But it can’t wait that long! Who knows what she’s doing to Virginia and Tony."

At that thought, the cramps began. He let out a low, hollow howl, knowing that the witch could probably hear him, but not being able to stop himself. "I wish I had some troll dust. If I could put her to sleep for a little while, I could at least set them free. Then we could tie her up and when she came to she’d have to break the curse! But I don’t have any. Wait!" he growled, turning his head violently to the side. "I’ve got it! I’ll get some water from the swamp! It’s probably less than a dozen miles from here. It won’t be the same as troll dust. I’ll have to find a way to get her to drink it, but maybe it could work!"

At that, Wolf took off running, scrambling over the hill, determined to save his beloved and her father. His swift strong legs carried him all the faster as the full moon came closer, and soon, despite the cramping, he was in the swamp and he could hear the mushrooms singing.

In the secret passage, the elves worked away. They had piled quite a bit of earth and debris by the door, and still it appeared that there was much more work to be done. In the cellar, Virginia and Tony sat talking quietly.

"Don’t worry, Virginia," Tony said, trying to comfort his daughter. "My head is fine - I’m not hurt too badly, and you just heard Wolf - he’s outside now working up a plan to get us out of here, I’m sure of it! We’ll be fine."

"Wow Dad," Virginia whispered. "I didn’t think you had much faith in Wolf. I always got the impression you thought he was dumb. And you surely never trusted him."

"Of course I didn’t trust him. You yourself didn’t trust him at first either, if you recall. I especially didn’t trust him around my little girl. I just knew he would hurt you. I mean for Pete’s sake, the guys a wolf!" He put up a hand to ward off Virginia’s protests and continued. "But! But I’ve seen how he looks at you, Virginia. That’s not the look of a wolf. That’s the look of a man who’s lost himself in the woman he loves. I know. I remember seeing that look in the mirror when I fell in love with your mother. She was beautiful. And so sweet and so good in those days before she became sick. I lived for her every breath. Even when she got sick, I stood by her. I did everything in my power to protect her and help her. All the way up until the day she tried to hurt you, Virginia. I would have done anything for her. And that’s what I see in Wolf. And he’s not dumb - far from it. That’s one of the reasons I distrusted him so much before I realized how he cared for you. But don’t you worry. There’s nobody you can count on in this life more than Wolf. Not even me - look how my little rescue turned out! He’s gotten both of us out of some pretty tight jams before, Virginia. You can count on him."

Wiping tears from her cheeks, Virginia reached out to her father. Hugging him, she sighed.

"Thank you Daddy. Thanks for having faith in Wolf. I’m so glad that you see what I see in him. Now if only you could convince Grandma," she said, and they shared a laugh.

Tired, and still very hungry, Wolf nonetheless felt remarkably cheerful as he returned to the little clearing. In fact, he felt oddly giddy. His visit to the swamp had been more productive than he’d planned. Those tasty little mushrooms had advised him and he’d made a concoction nearly as effective as troll dust by grinding some mysterious leaves into the water. Now all he had to do was get the witch to take just a tiny sip. Somehow he was feeling a little woozy. He knew he wasn’t supposed to eat the mushrooms, but they were so inviting.

"Come on," they’d said, "Just a bite. Aren’t you hungry?" Boy, was he! But he’d only eaten a few, well, okay a few dozen. And besides, he felt fine. He was just woozy because he’d been running for so long. Strange, though, how the little cottage seemed to be smiling at him. It sure was a tasty looking little house, and here it was smiling at him - almost tauntingly. He could hear the voices of the little mushrooms again, urging him to have just a bite. It was near dawn and he could feel twinges of the change coming on. By the time it was dark again, the change would be complete, and he didn’t know if he could keep his pledge not to eat meat, much less keep from devouring this whole house - especially if it kept teasing him like this. It was bouncing up and down provocatively now, like a sheep playing in the field. Just a little bit from the trim, nobody would notice if he ate the same bit on both sides, right? His stomach growled some more. Jumping, he looked around, convinced that there was another wolf out there somewhere, before realizing that the sound had come from himself. Growling back at his stomach, Wolf began to approach the house. But, strangely, it kept dodging him. He felt a little dizzy and thought maybe he’d better sit down for a minute. A little sip of water might help clear his head, he thought, opening the water jar.

"Wait!" He stopped himself with the jar inches from his lips. "This is the swamp water! I’ve got to snap out of this! I have to get to that witch and save Virginia!"

In the cellar Virginia and Tony were sleeping fitfully, huddled together in the center of the room to avoid whatever creatures were making the squeaking and scratching sounds coming from the shadows. Linn and Art had given up digging through the passage for the night and were snoring away in the secret room. Suddenly they heard a noise from above. Afraid of what was to come, they gathered at the foot of the ladder and tried to listen for further noise from above. Weak morning light was now filtering through the window.

They could hear the witch moving around upstairs, cleaning up and fixing her breakfast. They could hear her humming tunelessly to herself. Then, without warning, they heard three loud knocks on the small cottage door and the witch laughing to herself.

"Wolf!" they whispered together.

"He’ll be able to get us out of here," Tony said, to convince himself as much as the others. "After all, how many jams has he gotten us out of?"

They heard the door squeak open and the muffled voice of the witch. Then, much louder, they heard the voice of Wolf. As they listened, faces fell. They began looking at each other in confusion. The elves looked to Tony and Virginia for reassurance, but Virginia shrugged and shook her head. Tony let out a disgusted laugh.

"Great!" he said. "There goes our last hope out the window."

Taking a deep breath, he knocked three times, so hard the door shook in its frame. The old woman came to the door, again acting addled and confused, and asked him a question, but he didn’t hear. His heart leapt with joy! The love of his life! And she wasn’t being tortured after all!

"Virginia!" he cried and embraced the now truly confused witch. "My little clam chowder, you’re safe!" Kissing the witch’s face and neck he proclaimed his undying love again and again. "I was so afraid that that old witch was going to hurt you, Virginia! Where is she? How did you manage to get out of the cellar? Has she already broken the spell? Oh, I’ve spent an awful night worrying about you!"

The witch, taking advantage of this strange situation, told Wolf to sit down and relax, she’d bring him some breakfast and explain everything. He sat, reluctantly explaining to his beloved that he would just take a few loaves of bread, and some tea if she could find any, because he had sworn off meat forever. When the witch returned, she lured Wolf to the table in the corner, covered to the floor by a cloth, and just as he was going to sit down, she hit him over the head with the same pot she’d used on Tony. He slumped to the floor.

The Gingerbread Witch lifted the cloth on the high table, revealing it to be the sturdy cage her sister had held Hansel and Gretel in all those years ago. Opening the door, she shoved Wolf in, pushing his long legs up under his chin so he would fit. She locked the door, replaced the tablecloth, and sat down to a leisurely breakfast.