The Wolf wouldn't talk to Red for the rest of the day, miserable that she had laughed at him. While he lay cooped up behind the locked door, Red compared the broken toy to the scraps of cloth she had, trying to find the best cloth to patch the toy up with.

For stuffing, she shredded the ugly, striped dress into little, itty-bitty pieces, lay that in a pile to the side, and then cut little squares from the lacy white dress. Afterwards, she dissected the toy, saved all the little fluffs of cotton next to the pile of shredded cloth, and began to inspect the empty skin of the toy.

The actual sewing and patching turned the little gray toy into colorful patchwork plush. The gray silk was spotted now with cotton and velvet patches of white and black. The missing button was replaced by a small black one, just a tad smaller than the other. The paw became a little red glove.

Then, as a finishing touch, Red stitched a little smile on the wolf's featureless muzzle before stuffing it full of its cotton and cloth innards.

When the Wolf appeared at her door, still sullenly silent, she presented it to him. Instantly, the morbid demeanor disappeared to be replaced with cheer. He held it up, smiled brightly, and then poked at the patchwork, "Thank you! You didn't have to make it so pretty though… What's this? A smile?" The Wolf peered at the little toy.

"… Do you really play with that?"

"No." said the Wolf hurriedly.

"Than why is it so torn up?"

The Wolf was suddenly defensive. "Um… It's… not mine… But… he left it here and… I like it… So… um…"

"Never mind…" sighed Red, standing. "Let me guess: soup?"

"No, actually, I was wondering if you wanted to watch me eat a rat." The Wolf glanced at her curiously. "And if I end up lying on the floor in extreme agony, you'd be there to keep my from ripping out my staples."

Red glared at him fiercely, "No way!"

"No matter, no matter! I have it right here!" The Wolf turned, stepped out the door. Red saw him bend over, his torso out of view as he set the toy down, before he straightened, holding a large, dead rat.

Instantly, Red scooted back, eyes widening with disgusted horror. "Ew! No! Don't you dare bring that in here! That's disgusting!"

The Wolf held it in front of his nose, eyes curious, "But I washed it too…" He poked at it, sniffed at it, and then glanced at the pale Red, "What? It's not going to come after you… See? It's dead." He swung it back and forth.

"That's gross! Stay out of my- No! Get out! Get out!"

The Wolf stepped in, blinked, and then smiled, "Ready?"

"Get out! Get out! Get-"

Raising the rat above his head, the Wolf turned up his snout, opened his mouth wide, and dropped the rat in. It didn't even make his neck bulge as it slid down his esophagus. Glancing back down at Red, the Wolf pursed his lips before sniffing, "Now… To wait." He sat down, pulled his knees up to his chest, and gazed at the floor.

Red stared at him before gulping dryly and asking hoarsely, "…And you actually like that?"

"It's not particularly my favorite… If you noticed, it's way too small to be even called a snack… But it'll help me see whether or not I have to keep sticking to soup or not…" The Wolf poked at his stomach, licked his lips. "I'm not feeling anything… Think I'll be all right?"

Red bit her lip before nodding hesitantly.

"Well then! Time to go to sleep then!" The Wolf stood, wandered out the door.

The next afternoon, Red was shaken rudely awake by the Wolf. Glaring up at him as she squinted, Red hissed, "What? I was sleeping!"

"… I waited around town till this morning and I went to the store."

Red waited, but, when the Wolf made no signs of continuing, she asked irritably, "…And?"

"I bought some food… Would you make me something?"

Red pulled the blanket over her head, grumbled, "What did you do before me? Starve between bleeding people?"

"Yes. Please make something…." The Wolf crawled onto her, pulled the blanket down, and peered eagerly into her face. "Or I'll bite you."

"Fine! I'm getting up!" Red shoved him off angrily.

Red stared at the knapsack that was almost overflowing with food before glancing at the Wolf and asking, "How much are you planning to eat?"

"A lot." The Wolf replied bluntly, watching her, waiting for her to act.

"You're not going to help me unpack it?"

"I lugged it here. I spent the money."

"Where do you even get money? And that doesn't count."

"I save up money that I find on my prey. It was heavy. It was work. You work now." The Wolf settled down, looked at her with glittering milky eyes.

Red sighed, picked up the bag, and then glowered at him, "What the heck did you buy?"

"Food."

"All the heavy food?"

"Lots of meat."

"And how are we going to keep that from spoiling?"

"I don't know."

"You don't have a basement or something? That usually helps."

"My basement is not going to be used for that. It's already used for something else." Sniffed the Wolf. "How about you cook it all now and salt it? Or… sun-dry it?"

"What?" asked Red, furious and annoyed. "That'd take all day! And, besides, you won't let me outside!"

"Then take all day. You're right. I wouldn't let you outside… So… I have a bag of salt that I can give you."

"So you're not going to help me at all?" Red hissed with hatred.

The Wolf shook his head, "Nope."

"Fine! You can watch half of your meat spoil before I even get to it!"

The Wolf groaned, "No… Don't say that… You haven't even seen how much I have yet… You might be able to cook it all or something easily…"

Red pursed her lips, unpacked the knapsack, and inspected the innards. Grudgingly, she muttered, "You're right…. I could do all of this... But I want help!" She gazed at the Wolf, hoping he would relent and help her.

The Wolf smiled, "Everything else is yours. Tell me when you're done. I'll be in the living room." He stood, strolled from the room.

It took a full three hours for Red to cook all the meat and to layer salt around it. The Wolf provided a small barrel for it, happily rolled it into his private part of the house, and returned to find Red sleeping on the kitchen chair, exhausted.

Slowly, he neared her, sniffing, and then bent to whisper, "Hey… Wake up… What about you? You need to eat…"

Red breathed on calmly, face happy as she waltzed through a dream.

Transferring to all fours, the Wolf ducked under the table, the fur of his back brushing against the underside, and rested his head on Red's lap, peering up at her face. "Hey… Wake up…"

Again, Red dozed on.

The Wolf's eyes narrowed before he scooted the chair back, put his forepaws on the sides of the chair, and hefted himself up so he was halfway-up on the chair. Leaning forward, he sniffed at her exposed neck before growling in annoyance, "Wake up!"

No response.

The Wolf opened his mouth, breathed out onto her face. For a second, Red breathed on before suddenly stiffening, paling, and snorting awake. Instantly clapping her hands over her nose, she saw the Wolf, snarled, "You have the worst breath in the world!"

The Wolf chuckled, pushed at her shoulders, "Off my chair. If you want to sleep, go to your room… But first, eat something."

Red stood, watched the Wolf angrily as he pulled the rest of himself up onto the chair, turned, and watched her. After a few moments, the Wolf sighed, "Does the word 'eat' not register with you?"

"Well, let's see!" said Red hotly. "I'm tired of eating jam sandwiches, first of all, and let's look at what you bought at the store!" She stomped over to the countertop. "Meat, meat, and more meat! Then, lots of flour, sugar, melted butter, and some… broken eggs…that was disgusting… and spoiled milk! You actually think I can eat that stuff? The only thing in here that's edible is the chocolate!" Red picked up a square block of chocolate and waved it around angrily.

"I was hoping you'd make cookies."

"Well, I can't! Next time, buy vegetables and fruits that won't spoil when you're coming back."

The Wolf stared at her, a bit surprised as she yelled at him. He jumped from the chair, used the table to help pull himself back up to his back two feet, and strode forward, "Well… Why don't you make a list and I'll see what I can do."

The Wolf went to the store again the next morning, bought the things Red had demanded. As he watched her beaming face as she unpacked the satchel, he whispered with disgust, "How can you eat those…?" He grimaced when he saw Red pull out an orange.

"Just because I'm living with you doesn't mean to I have to live off jam for the rest of my life… Ooh! What's this?" Red pulled out a small paper-wrapped chicken before glaring at the Wolf, "Don't you have enough meat…?"

The Wolf blanched, reached for it, yanked it away from her, and hugged it to his chest, glaring at her, "It's mine. If I cut it in half, I can eat it by tomorrow."

"Great." Red said, not really caring as she reached back into the bag.

The Wolf stayed in his room for the next two days, not even coming out when Red knocked at the door, bored. Finding nothing to occupy herself with, Red returned to the clothes, finished up her dress.

It was red down from the neckline to the fringe. The sleeves cut away to a swathe of lacy white, while the pockets possessed corners of lace. The buttons were alternating black and gold.

After finishing, she became bored again, went to clean the rest of the accessible part of the house. The kitchen became rather spotless, lest she count the dirty dishes piled in the corner waiting for a good wash, and the living room was free of dust. Her bedroom needed no more work than a few sweeps of a broom and a dust rag.

The third day, the Wolf appeared at her doorway, smiling broadly. "Hello."

Red glanced up from her little mittens, which she was sewing out of the patches of cloth left. Staring up at him, she squeaked, "Hello."

"You seem surprised. Thought I'd left you?" The Wolf crept in, came over, peered at her work.

"Where were you? I was going to ask you to bring in more water so I could clean up the dishes."

"Huh… I was in my room." Defended the Wolf, eyes narrowing. "Sleeping."

"For two straight days?"

"It happens."

Red sighed, knowing that the Wolf was hiding something, but decided to question no further. Instead, she asked, "What's going on in the outside world?"

The Wolf glanced at her curiously before smirking, "Pandemonium, panic… People trying to catch me even when they had no idea who I am. They're afraid of something, but they don't know what. I think that would be a miserable existence, don't you?"

"Depends on who you are."

"I'm me. I'd be miserable. So... Change of topic…" The Wolf rubbed his hands before stating, "If I didn't want to eat you, I'd keep you as my cleaning maid. You do such a good job."

"Well, I would gladly do that instead of being eaten. I could make soup and food for you…" Red stared up at the Wolf, seeing the idea had no effect on him whatsoever.

"Now… Why would I do that?"

"So I could live."

"… But I want to eat you. Just having you in the house in a temptation enough. Knowing I couldn't eat you would just destroy me. It's what I've been working up to." The Wolf beamed happily. "See? I start with small rats and cats and then move up to dogs, and thank the heavens you haven't grown that much! I might be able to eat you up right after the dogs!"

Dryly, Red growled, "Well… only another reason why I wish I wasn't short."

"Ah… Don't be sad. It'll take a while." The Wolf bent, blew on her hair, and then whispered, "I want some food."

"I'll make you some soup." Muttered Red, pushing his snout away.

"I don't want soup. I want cookies. Or cake. Make some."

"The chocolate's done. No eggs… Or milk, or butter, for that matter!"

"I'll go get some, and they won't be broken or spoiled when I come back… You'll make something good?" The Wolf peered suspiciously into her face.

"Yes."

"And if I bring double what you need, will you make two?"

"Why would you want-"

"One for now and one for later."

"Glutton."

"Ah…" the Wolf flopped down, turned onto his back, and huffed up to her, eyes bright, "I just got the ability to eat small solids again… Just humor me."

Red stared at his underbelly, the scathing scar, and the metal clenched staples. Without thinking, she reached over, rubbed at the gray fur.

The Wolf froze, staring at her hand, and then slumped as he moaned. "Ah… If you're going to treat me like a dog, shouldn't you give me some doggy treats too?" He chuckled before adding, "And you never answered… You'll make two? Please?"

"Sure…" Red toyed with the lock of soft fur before flinching as the Wolf took her arm into his jaws gently, thrust it away, and stumbled up. Glancing at her arm, seeing the small craters his sharp teeth had left on her arm.

He scratched at his fur before sniffing, "Okay then… I'll be back in an hour… I suppose…"