As you certainly noticed, dear Reader, I am a sweet, peaceful creature, but when listening to the woeful tale of the Tyrex, my brow got more and more furrowed. I mean, enough is enough. I mean, first laughing at Muffin because she’s a beautiful hamster, then, calling the Tyrex a…a …. I can’t even repeat this awful word! … calling the Tyrex names and saying he has tiny arms? Sure, he does have a certain portliness, and yes, his arms are on the small side, but how dare this wolf hurt the feelings of my friends? I was outraged, incensed, beside myself, frothing with indignation and all. I saw red. It was time for action.
“All of you!! I said imperiously, come with me! Right now!”
They looked at me in awe.
“Mummy, whispered Jimmy, hiding behind Muffin, Auntie scares me!”
I was already at the door.
“I said, RIGHT NOW!”
They all ran to their coats and shoes and sprinted out in a disordered jumble.
“Where are we going, Owl? said Charles in a very soft voice.
-To the Big Bad Gym! I’ve had enough of this infernal wolf!”
I felt both icy cold and very hot. I’m quite sure I was leaving a smoking trail in the snow, I was in such a rage!
As I entered the Big Bad Gym with the whole gang, Jimmy included, I saw the wolf and went straight to him, calling him out:
“YOU! The wolf!”
He looked at me with the beginning of what he certainly thought to be a charming smile, mixed with some wonder.
I turned to the Tyrex.
“Is this the wolf who asked you do to the push ups and called you names?”
The Tyrex whimpered yes. I turned to Muffin.
“Is this the wolf who takes your money and tells you you’re ugly?”
Muffin acquiesced.
I turned back to the wolf.
“AH! I said, and I looked at him with eyes that I’m quite certain were shooting lasers.
-Huh, hello? said the wolf, and he grinned.
-AH!” I repeated.
The truth is, dear Reader, I didn’t know where to start, and I was also a bit disappointed that my eyes were not shooting lasers when they felt so much like it. Still, they must have been shooting something, because the Wolf seemed to shrink underneath my steady laser-gaze.
“YOU”, I said. This time, it was my ears, definitely letting out steam and going MEEEP. “YOU, BAD WOLF!”
He obviously didn’t know what to answer to that caustic remark, so he sniggered, which made me grow even hotter.
At this point of the proceedings, Muffin intervened.
“Blue! He is not a bad wolf, he’s helping me reach my goal to become like those beautiful weasels!”
This was just what I needed. I gave me back my voice and my words, and transformed my impotent rage into a big wave of love.
“Muffin, dear Muffin, I said. You’re not a weasel, you’re a beautiful hamster with friends who love you! Isn’t it better to be a beautiful beloved generous hamster than a mean, cruel, dreadful, lean weasel making other people unhappy?”
The blondest of the weasels jeered.
“You ugly lot are just the kind of friend the fat hamster would have!”
And they laughed.
“Look at this mean weasel, Muffin! I continued.( Yes I’m talking about you, mean weasel, if you had a beating loving heart, you would feel bad about yourself right now!)
And Muffin, look at this wolf! Preying on you like a despicable predator. Wouldn’t he himself be happier and enjoy his job and his life more if instead of screaming at you, he was nice and helpful? If instead of using you and taking your money, he was teaching you how to become a healthier, stronger person? He could do it. But he chooses not to. He is a Bad Wolf indeed!”
Muffin started to cry.
“We see you become the shadow of yourself – not physically you know, that would be weird – but in your life, and that’s why we think you should have a good thinking about the influence of this Bad Wolf and those Weasels. We are worried about your health and happiness dear… Come back to us!”
The whole group was sniffing. Charles was shaking his beak, Jimmy was openly bawling, the Tyrex was hiding his face in a big tissue, which reminded me of something else I wanted to say to the wolf.
“YOU!”
See, I was going back to my first stinging remarks. He had listen to the exchange with open mouth all along, and was now trying to retreat.
“YOU SIR, I said, ARE NOT VERY NICE!”
He blinked.
“Why did you make fun of my friend here? I showed the Tyrex. Why did you make him do things he couldn’t do, and laugh at him and call him names?
-It… it was funny, blubbered the Wolf.
-FUNNY!”
This time I shot lightning bolts out of my eyes.
“Hurting the feelings of someone, you find that funny? Making someone cry and suffer, you call that funny?”
I stamped my feet.
“I’m sorry, Sir Wolf, but it makes me horribly angry. You, Sir, are an un-empathic pathetic creature. You Sir, should be ASHAMED of yourself. What would your Mom say! Wait, when was the last time you called your Mom, Sir Wolf?”
He blinked. I stamped.
“She… she called me last week… she wanted to tell me she had found and repaired my comforter Wowie…
-Let me guess, I said sternly. You didn’t call her back. Ingrate child. Your poor dear Mom, how do you think she is feeling right now? Do you think having Wowie will help her in her sorrow at having an ingrate son? And what about your friends? Do you have true friends who love you?
-Of course I do! Look, there’s Jake, the Ant-eater, right here!
-I don’t love you, Wolfie, said Jake. You should call your Mom. She’s a nice lady.
-Billie, the blond weasel! She’s my friend!
-Don’t talk to me, I just like laughing at you because your arms are bigger than your legs, said Billie.
-Stan?
-Dude, of course I’m your friend, you have like 10000 followers on Instagram.”
I could see the lips of the wolf tremble.
“There, there, I soothed him. Don’t cry. Maybe there is a heart in you somewhere, and if there is, you will find friends who love you for who you are, even though you are, you know, a snarling wolf.
-The pigs, he muttered. The pigs were right. Nobody loves me.
-Don’t say that, of course somebody loves you. Your Mom for example! Or Wowie!
-I called him Wowie because I couldn’t say Wolfie, gasped the Wolf. I was cute!
-I’m sure you were adorable.
-My arms are not bigger than my legs, I never skip leg day!
-Of course you don’t, you’re beautiful, don’t listen to the mean weasel!
-I’m sorry I’ve hurt the feelings of your friend!
-Don’t mention it, he’s forgiven you already.
-No I haven’t! He’s a chicken-legged wolf and nobody loves him!” said the Tyrex.
Then, the Wolf told me the story of the bad Pigs who used to laugh at him and beat him at school, and how he swore he would become stronger and meaner than the Pigs, and how he feared in the process, he’s become a kind of Pig himself.
Poor Wolf, I thought. So I hugged him and held him tight and told him everything was going to be alright and Muffin joined me, and everybody joined, and there was a lot of emotions everywhere.