4 March 2012
The wolf, unkindly termed a big, bad one by some, was simply concerned with self-preservation. So it was that when the wolf became advanced in years, he sought to transfer his essential consciousness to another vessel, a different body, if you will. His life-long study of magic had prepared the wolf for this task, and so he snuck into the house of Red Riding Hood's grandmother while the old gal was out playing at the casinos. Once there, the wolf put on the nightgown and duster cap of the elderly woman and crept into her bed so as to impersonate her. It would be a very bad impersonation, to be sure, but the wolf only required a momentary confusion on the part of the young girl to be able to seize her mind.
A little later, Red Riding Hood came traipsing into her grandmother's house to visit, bearing a basket of goodies. She beheld her presumed grandmother lying in bed, really the wolf in drag.
Now Red was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so she ticked off aloud the discrepancies that she beheld. "What big teeth you have, Grandmother!," commented the shallow young girl.
"Yes, you twit!," replied the wolf with some annoyance. "But forget about my dentition. Look into my eyes!"
The girl did as she was requested, and that was all that the wolf required to impose his consciousness into the girl's mind, pushing her little pea-sized consciousness into his failing wolf body. It was then that a passing woodsman knocked at the door, concerned that there was foul play afoot.
"Hurry, my good fellow!," shouted the wolf in the girl's body to the woodsman. "There's a wolf impersonating my grandmother right in her bed!--Dispatch the blighter, and be quick about it!," cried the possessed girl's body.
The woodsman raised his trusty axe and whacked the aged wolf's body with the girl's consciousness on board into oblivion. The wolf's essence rehoused in Red Riding Hood's body observed the whole nasty business, and heaped praise afterwards upon the woodsman for his bravery.
"You have saved me! I am forever in your debt, courageous sir!," enthused the body thief, batting her newly-acquired eyes for additional effect.
After the woodsman had departed, the wolf's formidable mind observed his delicate new fingers through his just-acquired eyes, adjusted his rather stunning blond hair, and reflected that his upcoming life might be a truly memorable one. The girl in body only smiled darkly, and began to consider the possibilities...
Revised Edition • Opuss № I