Food For Thought

©Alicia al@emote.org 4/13/01

Disclaimer : I do not own the characters Wolf, Virginia, Acorn the Dwarf or any other original characters of Robert Halmi jr. R. H. Sr., Hallmark, NBC, etc. Or any other characters/plots/themes from which this story stems. I am not claiming to own these characters/plots/themes, I am simply borrowing them, making them do foolish things, and then placing them back to where they belong, slightly used, a little mentally damaged, but still in pretty good shape. I am not making money off of this story. No copyright infringment intended, please don't sue me.

Summary : Virginia makes Wolf take the baby to the castle to pick something up for her and spend a little "quality time" with one Tony Lewis. He gets lost and meets up with an old lady. Wacky hijinks ensue.

Feedback : I thrive on it. But be nice. I can take constructive criticism, but. Don't. Be. Mean. As the old addage goes, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." If however you do decide to flame me, don't be a coward about it, leave your email. I'll send you a nice little note back.

Authors Note : I got the idea for this from a collaborative I am currently a member of. This months topic was Hanzel & Gretal. I got an idea for The 10th Kingdom and I went with it. I wrote this very late at night (or early in the morning, depending on your perspective). All of my 10th Kingdom stories are meant to be silly. Finally complete! The ending is sorta rushed, I had to get it finished. Sorry about the HTML showing up, I don't know why it is.



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"Wolf!?"

Virginia's cry brought Wolf out of his trance. For the past half hour or so he had been watching a furry white rabbit hop around in their backyard. He was crouched behind their bushes, keeping his breath as shallow as possible, so as to not frighten the rabbit away. Occasionally the rabbit would grab one of the vegetables and scurry back to its resting spot under one of the many trees that were scattered around their yard.

Virginia came to the back door carrying the baby, looking angry. "I've been calling you for the past five minutes, Wolf! I need you to go to the castle and pick something up for me. And take the baby, I'm sure my father would like to spend some time with him." Wolf nodded as she turned and went back inside. He scratched his temple and looked at the rabbit, who was nibbling on a carrot,

"Huff, I'll see you later."

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Not being very far from the castle, Wolf decided to walk. The baby cooed softly in the pack he had strapped to the front of his body. Along the way he pointed out to his son the different plants and animals that they passed. He wasn't paying any attention to the direction in which they were headed, until after about an hour into their journey, he realized they were lost.

As if sensing something was wrong the baby started crying. "Don't worry my little chop. I know exactly where we are." Wolf said, trying to soothe the now wailing child. "Cripes," he whispered to himself. "I suppose I don't know exactly where we are." He turned in a circle and scratched his brow. "We'll just turn around and go back to the way we came. But huff puff, which way was that?"

Just then he heard a rustling in the bushes. He let out a low growl as a warning and clutched the baby to his chest. "Who's there?" he called, but recieved no answer. The rustling continued, and he looked around for a place to hide the baby, incase he needed to fight.

"I said, who's there?!" he called a little louder this time. Out of the bushes stepped a woman. She was old, and looked weary. And she held a striking resemblence to Acorn the Dwarf.

"Oh, hello ma'am," he said stepping towards her. "I was wondering, if maybe you could provide me with some assistence?"

When she didn't answer or even look up, he reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and swung around with her cane in the air ready to strike.

Wolf took a step back and threw his hands in the air to show he meant no harm. She looked at him through her one good eye.

"Are you trying to scare me to death? Don't you know to not sneak up on people?! I have a weak heart you know. I could have dropped right here, then what would you have done? Huh?"

Wolf smiled a little at her, "I'm sorry ma'am," he said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry!"

"Huh?"

"I said I'm SORRY!" he shouted.

The old woman scowled at him, "No need to yell boy, I'm not deaf. You have no manners do ya?" She eyed the baby then, "Who's that?"

The baby had stopped crying, and was now sleeping, although how he slept through the shouting was beyond Wolf. "My son, William." Wolf replied proudly.

"Cute. Looks good enough to eat, eh?" She chuckled and nudged Wolf with her cane. He just smiled and nodded.

The old woman turned to leave, and Wolf followed behind. "I was wondering if you could help me find my way back to the main road? I was on my way to King Wendell's castle, and I got lost."

The woman stopped and turned to him.

"What are you doing so far off the main road? It's not safe out here in these woods, certainly not safe for children."

Wolf looked at her quizzically, "I said I got lost on my way --"

"Huh? Your lips are movin' but there's nothin' comin' out." She interrupted.

Wolf opened his mouth tos peak but she turned on her heals and started walking again.

"If you want, you can come home with me. I don't walk and talk at the same time, causes me to trip. Never was much for coordination. I'm not gonna stop and waste my time trying to explain things to a poorly-mannered man, or whatever it is you are, who will just forget what I said. So come on if you're comin, I got things to do and pe-er, food to cook."

At the mention of the word 'food' Wolf's ears perked up.