Little Bad Wolf Page 5

  “Yes you have a say.” Matilda was impatiently finishing off her sentences for her. “It is just that we do not think it fair for you to have to go through this. You have heard what they are saying outside the school gates. It’s horrible.”

  “I do not like the people outside school,” said Little Bad Wolf. “But I have some friends. I am learning a lot and I think it is a good thing to do. I think I can learn to speak like a human and if I ever want to get my father out of prison I need to be able to speak to the judge. I will need to read and write too.”

  The two aunts looked at each other and then at Little Bad Wolf. They had that ‘adults know best’ look which all children find so frustrating when they are completely certain that they are right but whatever it is will not be allowed. Little Bad Wolf felt sad, stopped herself from crying and looked at them.

  “We will think about it,” said Aunt Matilda.

  “Yes. Let’s think this over,” agreed Martha.

  Little Bad Wolf really liked the route she took to school. She was never one for going the same route every day and always liked to search new paths. Since going to school she had a route which she had to go every day and she discovered that there were some unexpected treats. While walking to school she would meet her friends, ET and Rosie the corgis. They would tease her as she went past. “Oh look it’s Little Miss Brainbox” or call her “Wolfie Shakespeare.”

  Little Bad Wolf decided that she would go in search of ET and Rosie and get away from the den. She also wanted to let her aunts talk together for a while. The two corgis were not in the garden of their house. This meant they were either inside or had gone wandering. She tried to look inside of the window but could only see people. She also did not hear any barking which probably meant that the dogs had gone wandering in the forest. Rosie, in particular, felt it was her duty to bark like mad when anyone was outside the house and would almost surely have noticed Little Bad Wolf trying to look through the window.

  She headed towards the forest and saw the two dogs were busy smelling something at the side of a tree. They looked as if they were very intent on this smelling and analysing but when she got there completely forgot about what they had just been doing so seriously.

  “Hey Wolfie,” said Rose. “What’s up?”

  “You look a bit sad,” said ET.

  They walked through the forest as Little Bad Wolf told them about what was happening at school and that her aunts thought it best if they gave up.

  “Never give up,” barked Rosie. “Give them a good bite on the bottom.”

  ET laughed a little. This was Rosie’s solution to the problems in the world. A good bite on the bottom would sort most things according to her. Rosie never actually bit anyone on the bottom despite her constantly proposing this as the most effective therapy possible. Listening to her you would think she was some sort of retired General who was used to giving orders and sorting things out. However, the reality was that she was a little dog who everyone thought charming even when she was barking. Rosie also always did as ET told her.

  “A good bite on the bottom might just do the trick,” laughed Little Bad Wolf. “Mrs Hurray-Bill has a very big bottom so it would be just right for biting.”

  “That’s settled, then,” said Rosie. “Bites on the bottom all round.”

  They all laughed at this and forgot their problems for an hour as they played in the forest.

  When Little Bad Wolf went back to the den her aunts came to talk to her.

  “Hiya,” said Aunt Martha. “We have talked about what you said and you are right. We know it is not nice at the moment but let’s not give in. Let’s try and see if we can stick with school.”

  Little Bad Wolf said nothing but smiled and hugged her aunts.

 

  Chapter 14 Who’s Afraid Of The Little Bad Wolf?

  The first protest had happened one month after Little Bad Wolf had started in the school. There was an incident near the school when a German Shepherd had barked rather viciously at a child and her mother. As she was telling another mother about this Little Bad Wolf walked happily past them and into school. As they watched the young wolf both mothers were thinking the same thoughts about how dangerous this creature could be. They then saw Mr Silliman, the head of the parents’ council, go to his car after leaving his daughter Samantha in school and called him over.

  “Well Mrs Bennett,” he said after listening to her story. “I am in total agreement with you. A school is a place where children should be nurtured and educated. Not threatened by wild animals.”

  The two ladies had been calm and wondered whether they were worrying too much before talking to Mr Silliman. After talking to him they were sure that their children were in mortal danger of this animal who should be caged in a zoo and not walking into the same classroom as their own children.

  “Of course you know who the father is?” asked Mr Silliman. They did not and said so. “It is the murdering Big Bad Wolf.”

  “But did he actually kill them?”

  “You mean Little Red Riding Hood, her granny or the woodcutter? Well it appears they were lucky. But there were others. I am sure. This is why those pink hearted wishy-washy liberal judges only gave him life in prison. There is no justice.”

  The two ladies agreed with this and allowed him to continue. “We do not want history to repeat itself, in our village, in our school with our children. The headmistress tells me her hands are tied. I think we need to untie her hands for her.”

  “How could we do that?” asked Mrs Bennett.

  “Well we could just remove our children from the school,” answered Mr Silliman.

  “That is a good idea,” said Mrs Jones. “But I can see one problem.”

  “What?” asked Mrs Bennett and Mr Silliman.

  “Well,” answered Mrs Jones. “I know we all love our children dearly and want them to be around us as much of the time as possible.”

  Her two listeners nodded their head in agreement.

  “However, they may not resolve this quickly and we would be stuck with the little mites for too many hours a day.”

  Again her two listeners nodded their head in agreement.

  “A good point,” said Mr Silliman.

  “Yes. We would not want our children’s education to suffer,” said Mrs Jones thinking of how her regular lunches in town might also suffer.

  “Why don’t we tell Mrs Hurray-Bill that we will protest outside her school until this wolf is kicked out,” said Mr Silliman.

  Mrs Bennett and Mrs Joyce thought that this was an excellent idea. In their mind it was simple: they would talk to Mrs Hurray-Bill, she would see sense, kick the wolf out and everyone would be happy.

  Mr Silliman was expecting Mrs Hurray-Bill not to agree easily when he met her.

  “I have discussed this with some very wise and helpful people,” said Mrs Hurray-Bill. Mr Silliman understood this to mean she had talked to her husband the Mayor.

  “It is very important that correct procedure is followed,” said Mrs Hurray-Bill. “The school has procedures for discipline and other matters. The public expect us to act in a fair and proper manner.” Mr Silliman understood this to mean that her husband, the Mayor, was afraid that this would create bad publicity for him.

  “We also understand that parents are concerned. We welcome input from all the parents who are interested in us resolving this quickly and to the benefit of the people involved.” Mr Silliman understood that the headmistress was happy they were protesting and would welcome their ideas on getting rid of the wolf.

  Mr Silliman did ask why they don’t just kick out the wolf, and got an answer that they could not just do that.

  That day was now one month ago but every day since then Little Bad Wolf had dreaded going to school. The first day she didn’t know what all the fuss was about. She was still in the phase where she thought that school was the greatest thing which had happened to her and that everyone connected to it, even the children who did not like
her, were wonderful. She strode up wondering what all these nice people were doing carrying their weird and wonderful signs. But she was mistaken; there were no nice people there but an angry mob. Although nine parents with badly made placards hardly make a mob, this is what it seemed like to Little Bad Wolf when they saw her and turned on her.

  Since then she had been figuring out ways to get to school without passing through the protest. For a wolf this is relatively easy. There were many ways where she could go under the fence, through the hole beside the back gate and if needed just jump over from the wall adjacent to the school. The protesters had been delighted at the look of fear on Little Bad Wolf’s face on the first day but were then disappointed that they never got to meet her the second or third morning or any other morning after that. They would be happy to know that they were still terrifying her. She had always known that it was possible that people might not want her to go to the school but she never thought that they would spend their time trying to stop her going and shout abuse at her or anyone they thought supported her.

  “Mr Silliman,” said Matt’s father to Samantha’s father when he was leaving Matt at school. “I believe you are responsible for this daft bunch of agitators.”

  “I am not responsible for a group of concerned parents expressing their worries for their children’s safety,” said Mr Silliman.

  “Aha! So you have met this creature who is putting your child’s safety at risk?”

  “You do not have to shake hands with a wolf to know it is dangerous.”

  “And what exact danger is that?”

  “A wolf is a wolf.”

  “And she is not just any old wolf,” said another of the protesting parents. “You know how her father is.”

  “This is a new criteria for expulsion. Are you saying children should be expelled because of who their parents are?” said Matt’s dad.

  Mr Silliman was now getting angry. He had this urge to end this argument with a punch. Two things stopped him. Fighting with another parent would not be good for their protest and Matt’s dad was much bigger than him. Punching him might not be a good idea.

  “You know why we are here,” said Mr Silliman very loudly. “Please now go about your business as we are busy.”

  Mr Silliman then took his placard and started walking up and down, ignoring Matt’s dad who got in his car and drove away.

 

  Chapter 15 Overheard

  Claire was telling Samantha and Jo how the protesters had almost stopped Little Bad Wolf from getting to school that morning. “She had to sneak through a fence at the back of the school yesterday,” she said. “I think she came to school an hour earlier today. What an idiot. Why doesn’t she hunt rabbits or something?”

  “There’s no need to be quite so loud,” said Samantha.

  “I want to let her hear me,” said Claire.

  “Claire,” said Samantha in a quiet but firm manner. “You are also making sure that the teachers hear you. At present the little bitch is still a pupil here and they will have to do something about you talking about her.”

  Jo, the third girl in the company, had started laughing, “That’s very good, very good.”

  “What?” said both Samantha and Claire.

  “Well you know. She’s a wolf which is kind of like a dog.” Jo stopped and laughed again. “Well calling her a bitch. That’s very good. Very funny”

  Samantha looked at her. She was very pleased with her joke being appreciated but wanted to show that this sort of talk was normal for her.

  “If we can I would like to get to the point,” said Samantha.

  “OK” said Jo still chuckling.

  “The point is she can hear us even if we talk very quietly,” said Samantha. “And the teachers cannot.”

  “So like if I whisper ‘you little bitch’ or something, she can hear me?” asked Jo.

  “I think so,” said Samantha and looked at Little Bad Wolf whose look confirmed what she had just said.

  “Hey, its break time,” said Jo. “Why don’t you go fetch a bone or maybe dig a hole in the garden? You little bitch.” She could not contain herself after this and started very loudly laughing at her own joke.

  “Anyway where was I?” Samantha’s conspiratorial tone gave the others the signal to pay attention.

  “My dad has figured out how to get other woolly liberal parents to support the protest. He just asks them have they seen the adverts in the Estate Agent’s. He tells them that house prices near the school have reduced by five per cent since the wolf came to school. Some parents change completely when they hear this. One minute they are talking about the rights of all creatures. My dad tells them that if they try and sell their house, it will be worth a lot less than it was a few months ago. Hey presto they are then talking about how their little baby needs to be protected. Next day you see their child being told to make sure they don’t have anything to do with the wolf. He’s very clever, my dad.”

  “Anyway.” Again Samantha nodded towards Little Bad Wolf as if to say this is the important part if you want to listen. “My dad invited the head teacher and Mrs Hurray-Bill to dinner in our house yesterday. They thought I was in bed but I listened.”

  Her two friends showing the intensity of their listening with dropped jaws. Little Bad Wolf who was across the school yard was also listening intently.

  “My dad he told Mrs Hurray-Bill exactly what to do. Do you know what she said to him?”

  They didn’t.

  “She said thank you very much. This is good advice.”

  “So what did he say?” asked Jo.

  “I heard most of it but not all. I was on the stairs just outside my room and I had to be ready to hide if anyone came out so I did not hear it all but I did hear enough.”

  She paused again to allow her friends to realize that it is her dad who tells Mrs Hurray-Bill what to do and she thanks him for it.

  “Well. They know they have made an awful mistake. As well as it being dangerous having such a wild animal in school...”

  Jo interrupted “They are going to let wild animals into school now.”

  Samantha rolled her eyes towards the sky. “Please they already have. I meant the wolf.”

  Jo said “Oh” and “sorry” but Samantha was continuing without waiting to acknowledge this interruption.

  “They have a plan to get her out. I am not sure of the exact details but there are things which all pupils should do and which the wolf does not. My dad told Mrs Hurray-Bill that she has to stand up for civilisation.”

  “What sort of things does she not do?” asked Claire.

  “Well, have you ever seen her wear clothes?” asked Samantha. Claire wanted to answer this but Samantha was continuing. “Well what if they enforced some decency. If you or I came into school naked we would be very quickly asked to leave. I think they should bring in the same rules for everyone.”

  With that Claire, Jo and Samantha went back to the classroom. Little Bad Wolf had already told Matt and Louise what Samantha had been saying.

  “They literally can’t do that,” said Matt. “A wolf’s coat is the same as peoples’ clothes. It’s as simple as that. This is not fair.”

  Louise and Little Bad Wolf looked at him. There was no point in their asking what has fair got to do with it or pointing out that Samantha was right. If they started getting technical on school rules they might be able to expel Little Bad Wolf very quickly.

  Matt and Louise were surprised when Little Bad Wolf started to laugh as they walked back into their classroom.

  “What’s up?” asked Matt.

  “I had for agot ten tha-at I have a T-shirt,” answered Little Bad Wolf. “Act-ooo-ually I have a few. My mo-ther used to col-lect T-shirts from rock bands.”

  “What?” said Louise.

  “It’s true. She act-oo-ually stole some of them, I suppose. Her fav-our-ite was one of Elvis on a motor-bike. I was just way-it-ing for an occ-as-ion to wear them.”

  “Wow,” sa
id Matt.

  “Wow,” said Louise.

  The three of them took their seats in the classroom laughing at this. All three also noticed Samantha staring at them with a look of puzzled annoyance. She had been looking forward to seeing Little Bad Wolf worry about having to wear clothes and did not expect to see her laughing.

 

  Chapter 16 No Nudity Please

  Everyone knew what the rules were at school. You were not allowed to talk with your friends, run down the corridor or fight. The worst thing ever was to be caught “making a total idiot of yourself, once again” in Mr Clogs’ class. He would stare and shout at you in a very frightening way and then after he had made you really scared would do something to punish you. It seemed that some children were let off while others were given extra home work. The worst punishment from Mr Clogs was detention. He would demand that you be kept in school after everyone else had gone home. However, while everyone knew the rules of the school no-one had ever seen them written down.

  The day after Little Bad Wolf had heard Samantha tell her friends about the new rule Mr Clogs made them aware of this notice on the school noticeboard. Matt, Louise and Little Bad Wolf were sitting in his class listening to him explain something very complicated which could possibly be interesting only if someone else was explaining it. At the end of the lesson Mr Clogs said “I would appreciate if everyone would start adhering to the new school rule.”

  “Excuse me, Mr Clogs,” said Matt. “But what new school rule is this?”

  “Matt. I am disappointed,” said Mr Clogs. “I suspected that you could read. It appears I am wrong. The notice about the new rule has been on the notice board all day.”

  Mr Clogs then said goodbye and left the class. He was followed out the door by almost the entire class. Samantha was the sole pupil who stayed behind.

  There was indeed a poster. Twenty seven children were staring at it and reading and wondering.

  New School Rule

  “It has been noticed that some pupils were coming to school dressed improperly or not wearing clothes at all. This is a school and not a nudist camp. All pupils must now wear proper clothes at all times while in school. No exceptions!!”

  Most of the children had no idea what this was about. Even Jo and Claire who had been talking about this as a clever way of getting rid of Little Bad Wolf did not figure it out immediately. Louise, Matt and Little Bad Wolf knew exactly why this rule had appeared. There was only one pupil in this school who did not wear clothes and that was Little Bad Wolf. The school was going to give in to the parents who were protesting about having a wolf as a student.