M. GARNET

Trudy was sharing her peanut butter sandwich with her fat black cat Midnight, who was crouched at her feet. She had to be careful that mommy didn’t catch them. Mommy said Midnight was too fat and shouldn’t eat all the fun food that Trudy fed her.

Working on getting the peanut butter off the top of her mouth and on the outside of her lips, Trudy let the cat work to get the soft goodie off her finger that she was holding down below the table. Trudy used only her right-hand finger, as mommy had warned her about her left hand.

Mommy said when she was older, they would take the time to show her how to use both her hands, especially her left hand properly. Right now, everyone was too busy for special lessons and secrets.

She felt a tiny bit guilty, not minding mommy, but Midnight was the only other person who knew her special secret, and the big fat black cat kept her secrets. Midnight never told anyone when Trudy went out into the woods and took her shirt off and let her wings out to fly.  She hid her wings from everyone, even mommy because no one else had wings.

Trudy had to be more careful now, even though she loved the feeling of the freedom she got from the wings. She wasn’t sure where they went when her wings disappeared. She knew that when mommy helped her bathe, there were no marks in her back. She was glad that her wings were hidden because she wanted something unique that was all her own.

She now had a baby brother, so she no longer got all the attention from her parents. They were busy, and this meant it might take them longer to teach her all the things she needed to know, as she was growing up.  After all, she was four years old now. She needed to act like a big girl.

She was going to have to learn how to take care of her little brother and protect him. After all, they were entirely different, and it was necessary to keep away from the outsiders.

She slipped out the back door, letting Midnight lead the way into the woods on their usual path.  When they got deep into the forest, she was free.

She smiled as she brushed against the pine needles with her wings out, taking her higher than her small legs would let her climb.

Up in the sweet-smelling air, she heard Midnight hiss a warning and looked down to see her black friend hunched down, all hairs standing upright.

Trudy slowly used her wings to come down to see a boy sitting in the leaves and dead pine needles, next to a small spotted dog. He was holding a leash on the puppy who seemed happy to see her. The little dog looked so friendly and panted, as it looked over at Midnight. The dog looked like it wanted to play with the fat black cat, but Midnight was not sure what to make about the little dog on the leash.

She had no choice, but to come down, as the boy was looking at her. She tucked her wings before she dropped, hoping he thought she had scrambled up a tree. She grabbed her shirt and put it on, turning her bare back to let him see it without wings.

Perhaps she had fooled him, and he just thought she had climbed a tree. She had her fingers crossed as she turned and knelt down next to Midnight to calm her friend.  It now looked like Midnight might want to be a companion with the little dog, if he would understand that the cat was boss.

“I’m Ben. I live down the road. I play in these woods to hide from the big boys who are bullies. I bet you do the same thing.”

Trudy looked around.

“No, you’re the first kid I’ve seen. My mommy doesn’t let me play beyond our property, so I haven’t met anyone else. No one is supposed to come back here to my daddy’s property.”

Trudy sat down on the damp ground, and Midnight was settling down in her lap. Mommy always said she needed to be polite. “My name is Trudy. You have a nice doggy. Will his hurt my cat?”

Actually, the whole time she had watched the boy with the dog on the leash, the dog had sat with its tail wagging in the needles on the ground. The dog didn’t look very dangerous. In fact, it looked cute, almost like one of her stuffed toys.

The boy glanced around. “We could be friends.”

Mommy had said to be polite, but she didn’t say anything about friends. “I don’t think my mommy will let me have friends. We never have anyone over at our house.”

The boy looked over his shoulder. “No one in our little area has friends over. That is why the bullies like to pick on all of us. We are all different on this edge of town.”

Trudy shrugged. “I’m not different. I’m four years old. Next year I can go to school for half a day.”

The little boy smiled. “You think they will let you go to school with those wings?”

Trudy didn’t want to cry, but why was the boy being so mean? She pulled Midnight close to hug the cat. Midnight pushed out two paws and curled them, loved to be cuddled by Trudy.

The boy scooted closer. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just want to be friends. I have a secret too.”

The boy leaned forward until he was on his knees. The little dog backed away, as far as it could on the leash and whined. The boy was closing his eyes, and it looked like he was pushing something really hard like he had to go to the potty.

Suddenly his face changed. His nose stretched and grew, and hair began to sprout out to cover his skin. His ears stood up, above his head, covered with brown fur. His eyes glistened in a blue colour, like the wolves she saw on TV.

Midnight rose up, all protective cat, claws out, teeth showing and the hair on her back straight up.

There was a deep sigh from the wolf face, and with strange sounds, the face returned into the boy.

“See, now we both have a secret. We can share and stay friends.”

His little dog had settled down and quit whining, yet it stayed away from the boy. It looked at her with sad eyes on the end of its short leash.

Trudy shook her head. “I just don’t think my mommy will allow it. Sorry.”

Trudy stood up and looking in the boy’s eyes. She waved her left hand at him. It was the one mommy told her to be careful how she pointed with it.

She said, “Go away.” With a puff, the boy disappeared. It was just like when she made the mad dog disappear. She had also made the tree knocked down from a storm disappear and some junk in the forest where she played. They all disappeared and were out of the family’s way.

Walking back to the house, she could smell the cupcakes her mother had been baking. She smiled as she thought she now had two small friends to sneak treats to under the table.

The little dog trotted along at her side without the leash. He never whined after she took it off his neck and he licked her hand in what she thought was a thank you. Midnight led the way home, trying to prove that as a cat, she was the mistress of the household.

Mom greeted her at the door. “And who is this?”

“Mommy, this is Midnight’s friend. She wants us to keep him.”

Mother looked down at the little dog that was being ignored by the fat cat and laughed.

“Well, we can’t turn down Midnight, can we? How about some milk and a cupcake?”

Trudy washed her hands and climbed up on a stool. She watched her mom settle her new baby brother in a basket, as she ate.

“So, Trudy, what did you do today in the woods. You were careful, weren’t you?”

“Yes, mommy.” Trudy let some crumbs fall to the floor. “I played with a friend and then imagined him away. Midnight liked the dog, and I allowed her to bring him home. He is small and won’t eat much.”

“Okay, we can keep the puppy. But if a real person comes into the woods, come home immediately and tell us. Remember, we are a little different from the folks out there in the world, so we can’t mix with them.”

“Yes, mommy.” Trudy smiled down at the dog, knowing he was happier with her and Midnight than he had been with the boy who scared him when the boy changed into a wolf. The dog had told her with his eyes that he was afraid that someday the wolf would kill him. But he knew that Midnight would never hurt him and he shared the crumbs on the floor with his new fat friend.

Mommy added a larger water bowl before she turned to the baby brother.  Life was good in this house of secrets.

M. Garnet © 2024