Over the River, Though the Woods

Daily Flash Fiction Challenge (use the words hood, tray, rock)


Red adored her grandmother, and so didn’t mind the effort it took to visit her each afternoon after school. From her Bronx ‘hood Red rode the train over the Harlem River to Central Park, and from there traipsed through the park’s North Woods to grandma’s high-rise on W 107th Street. It was a long trip for little legs, but still a shorter journey than it had been to grandma’s previous two homes, both of which had been blown down under suspicious circumstances. The memory of those traumas sent chills up her spine, and she pulled her scarlet hoodie over her ears.

Red arrived at the rock-solid apartment building and was relieved to find that Wolfe was not at his usual front desk location. Probably off scoring a fix, Red thought as she sprinted past the big, bad concierge’s empty station, boarded the elevator and soon arrived at grandma’s apartment. There, she quietly let herself in and in the kitchen loaded a tray with tea, finger cakes and medicine. She then tip-toed into grandma’s silent bedroom to find….grandma?

Grandma didn’t look so good.

“Hello my sweet,” growled grandma from her bed.

Red realized she’d left her glasses at home, but that didn’t sound like grandma. “You sound hoarse, grandma.” Then, squinting. “And your eyes, they’re awfully dilated and watery.” Red took her grandmother’s hands in hers. “And your arms! Are those…track marks?”

Wolfe had enough of the charade. He snatched the pills from the tray, poured them into his big-toothed maw, and dashed huffing and puffing out of the apartment.

Red found grandma, bound but otherwise unharmed, in the closet. As for Wolfe, Detective Woodcutter later informed her that in his years on the force he’d never heard of anyone overdosing on prescription estrogen.

299 Words