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When the sun set that windless evening in late June, the laziness characterizing that time of year had already begun taking the better of Rose Blackburn-Smith. She didn't mind. It had been a particularly hot afternoon, and while the countryside, in contrast to the city, offered many quiet places of shade and relaxation, the bright sunlight had been forcing people to look through the smallest of gaps between their eyelids and turned the entire world into a painful white haze all morning. Now that the sun was beginning to set, the people of Linton could safely open their eyes completely to the beauty of their surroundings that seemed to glow dark yellow in the shimmering light. For those unlucky few with thick coats of fur, the evening was the most pleasant time of day, which is why some of them slept through the entire morning and afternoon. Not Rose, however, who would just play in the shade instead of staying indoors all the time, and would either go home or to one of her many nearby hideouts during the hottest two, three hours of day. These had just passed, and Rose was lying in a field of grass. She knew she was awake, though she appeared sleeping to others and to herself. She did not have a watch, but she figured it was about time to go home. Mom and Dad might start to worry if she stayed out longer. The strange thing was that she never had to worry about them when she was younger. When she was a child, she could stay out as long as she liked, provided she was done with her homework. All the children of Linton could, because everyone knows that Linton was halfway around the world from any actual danger. But lately, the adults seemed to grown distrustful and scared of the world. Rose's parents had not given her an official curfew yet, and she agreed with them that it would be ridiculous to give a kid a curfew as it grew older. Older people were always less vulnerable and more able to look after themselves then younger ones. The older one became, the less one were in any kind of danger and the later one's curfew should be, that was self-evident. But for some reason, Rose had gotten the feeling that her Mom and Dad were uneasy with their daughter going out. They tried to hide it from her, but Rose knew her parents well enough to know that they were relieved whenever she came home safely. She didn't know why, and she did not like her parents keeping secrets from her. Obviously, they wanted to restrict her going out at night, but they were afraid that their daughter might ask why, and they would have to tell Rose about all the fears they had, and that she already knew of. Rose had considered coming home in the middle of the night every night on purpose, thus forcing her parents to be honest, but she had decided not to. You can't always expect your parents to "be the bigger person" just because they were older then you. Every child realizes at some point in its life (some sooner than others, very few sooner than Rose) that its parents are not superheroes. They are human beings with their own flaws, limitations, and irrationalities. From that point on, a child takes its own responsibilities and that includes doing things that you know Mom and Dad want you to do, but love you too much to ask.

On her way home, Rose came by a shed. Where exactly this shed came from, no one knew. It was exactly what you would expect an old shed to look like, with rotten boards and blistering green paint. There had probably been a house next to it once, but Rose had never taken the effort to ask anyone about it or look it up in the library. Somehow, it was painfully obvious about this little wooden box by the side of the road that there was no interesting story behind it whatsoever. So why she decided to go check it for spiders that evening, Rose would never be able to understand. All she knew, was that there was absolutely no way that she could ever just have walked by without peeking through the door for just a second. Any other night, she would indeed have found spiders. Not that she had any business with spiders, But at least she would know they were there. But tonight, she found no spiders. She found a little hump of life on the ground, it's back turned towards her, it's scrawny knees tucked somewhere that was probably it's chin. It was dressed in something that had probably once been stylish. Rose stood in the doorway frozen. The way she saw it, she had two options. One, gently close the door and walk away. The thing on the ground was probably either dead or sleeping, either way, it would not come after her. Option two: Try to wake it up. If it woke up, it was awake, if it did not, it was dead. Either way, Rose would have a chance look at it a little closer. Her parents would probably tell her to go with option one. They had once, not very long ago, told her never to go with strangers who approached her late at night. As aforementioned, Rose did not know exactly what time it was, but whatever it was, the time would be an argument for option one. On the other hand, this thing had not approached her, but she had approached it. Maybe if she woke it up, she could make it get out of this shed, which would be beneficial to both of them, because Rose would get a chance to look at in the daylight, thus giving her a better chance of finding out what exactly it was, and this thing would no longer be sleeping in this rusty old shed which couldn't possibly be a comfortable place to sleep, after all. But maybe, if this thing knew the rule about never going with strangers, it would refuse or run away. Before she could probably make up her mind, it awoke by itself. It made a pained moaning sound, made an effort to get up, and sat down again.

"You shouldn't sleep here." Rose had decided to get right to the point, in case this thing wasn't in the mood for chit-chat, and because she wanted to go home. The sooner she could convince it to find another place to sleep, the better. But in retrospect, she could have made her presence known in a less startling way. It jumped up, backed up against the wall and looked at Rose with its big hollow eyes. She could see now that it was a middle-aged wolf by the few gray streaks around his muzzle and ears. It was wearing a suit of some sort, covered in dust and worn to the thread. Rose instantly felt bad for whoever this was. A wolf his age should look dignified and compelling respect. This creature looked like you could do whatever you wanted to it without any consequences, as if no-one would blame you or retaliate if you mistreated him. The world wouldn't care. It had obviously not eaten in a while, and it was unusually small for his kind. The fear in his eyes was slowly fading now that he could see who he was dealing with. His glances shot past Rose through the open door, as if to see whether she was alone.

"Why not? Is this your barn?" The strange fellow had calmed down when he saw he was dealing with a small girl. He tried to sound defiant and a little intimidating, which was not being made any easier by the slight tremble in his voice.

"No. It just seems like a crummy place to sleep, that's all. Don't you have a house or something?"

"No."

"Then maybe you should sleep outside. It's a beautiful night, not cold or anything. This place looks like it could come down on you any minute. And it might be full of spiders."

The wolf looked around at the rickety wooden planks and realized she might be right.

"I know that, little girl. But I want to have some shelter."

"From what? It's not raining, and even if it was; the roof is so full of holes and gaps you might as well be standing outside.

The old wolf smiled and shook his head. "No, not the rain. I'm..."

He shook his head again, more violently this time, and frowned. "Why am I even telling you this? I should really be leaving now. Goodbye."

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere far away from here. Not because of you, little girl, but I really have to stay on the move."

He walked past Rose through the door.

"Wait," she called, "Aren't you going to take anything with you?"

The wolf stopped and turned around. "Like what? I don't have any stuff"

Then, Rose had an idea. "Well, I have stuff. Maybe I can get you some provisions for on the road. You'll just have to hang out here for a little while longer. Tomorrow I can come back and bring you some from home."

The wolf looked at her in surprise, then for some reason burst out laughing.

"Sure. And I bet you'll bring an angry mob of concerned parents with you too. And maybe a few policemen to top it off. I don't mean to be rude, little girl, but now that you know I'm here, I want to be far away before morning." He turned around once more and walked away. Rose couldn't help but feel a little insulted. "Fine, go then, whoever you are. I hope that whoever you're running from isn't too hard on you."

He stopped.

"What, did you really think I hadn't figured that out yet? Go ahead then, run all you like. I wonder how far you get without any food, clothes, or money.

He sighed and turned around. And at that moment, Rose knew he would not leave again. He would try to make her think that he hadn't quite made up his mind yet, that he was seriously considering rejecting Rose's offer. But in reality, they both knew from that point on that Rose had won.

"So you're saying I'm just gonna have to trust you on this? "

"That's right. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, and you're gonna be here as well, and then we'll talk some more." Rose walked away and smiled.

"And one more thing: I'd appreciate it if you would stop calling me little girl."

He was there the next day. Rose felt relieved, in spite of her confidence that he would indeed not have left before she returned. Gathering enough food and supplies at home had turned out more difficult than expected. In the first place, she had no idea what you needed to run from the authorities for an extended period of time. The mysterious wolf in the shed by the side of the road had not even told her what he was planning to do or where he was going, making it even harder for Rose to figure out what he was going to need. Well, whatever his plans (if he even had any) were, he obviously needed something to eat. Rose managed to pack in a whole loaf of bread and half a salami before Dad noticed, and asked if she was really planning on eating all that.

"No, not all of it, I think. Just a little. I'll put the rest back."

He looked at Rose in a way that made her nervously wonder if he was on to her, then shrugged and turned back to his newspaper.

Rose spent the rest of the morning carefully snooping around the house, here and there taking things that looked useful, then smuggling them back up to her room under her shirt and stuffing them into an old suitcase. She didn't enjoy stealing from her parents at all, but she was fairly sure that they didn't really need the things she took anyway. And even if they did, that strange little man in the shed needed them more. Mom and Dad were simply being generous without knowing it, and Rose was helping them, that's the way she saw it. Nothing wrong with helping a stranger out once in a while. Of course, Rose knew all too well that stealing wasn't the best way to go about that, but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs (figure of speech).

And so it came that Rose returned to the old shed that day with a bulking suitcase. She realized now that carrying such a big piece of luggage with you was not ideal for travelling lightly and inconspicuously, but it was better than travelling with nothing at all. When she opened the door she saw her nameless friend in the exact same spot as the day. His back was against the wall, his arms wrapped around his knees. He looked like he was trying very hard not to be there. Not anywhere, actually. Rose felt a familiar jolt of pity seeing him there. She was not completely sure he was awake, or even alive. And when she whispered a greeting and shook his dirty foot, it took him a few seconds to completely open his eyes and turn his head towards her. You just came from very far, Rose thought.

"You're here. You actually came."

"Yes, I did. And I brought this." Rose put the suitcase down on the ground. "It contains some things that may come in handy on the road. Food, mostly. "

He took a sandwich out of the suitcase, quickly ate half of it, and reluctantly put the rest back in the suitcase. When he saw Rose's surprised face, he said:

"I haven't eaten in a while. I can't eat too much at first, My stomach has to..." He made a gesture that might have meant something like "Grow" or "Stretch".

They sat there, silently for a while. Then Rose said: "Yesterday we agreed that if we met again, and I'd give you this stuff, you would tell me who you are and why you are on the run."

"I remember no such thing"

"Well, I want to know anyway. You should tell me, and you know it."

"All right then. I suppose you deserve it. I come from quite far away. I'm not sure where, or if it even had a name. But I was there to... " He stopped and looked up at Rose.

"There are some things that you may or may not know, it's complicated, but for now it's enough to know that you and I are less alike then we seem. Or maybe we seem less alike then we are, in a strange way I guess that's pretty much the same thing. "

"Uh...Seem to who?"

"To the rest of the world. You are different from them in how you see me, That's why I, when I first met you,..."

He shook his head as if there was an annoying thought he needed to get rid of.

"I know I'm not explaining this in a very understandable way. Let me try again. You are too young to see, little girl, that there is a very notable difference between you and me. But the rest of the world sees us as members of a different species. "

Rose had heard that term before a couple of times, "species", but she wasn't sure what it meant. Something very scientific. "That's something biological, right?"

"Right. You see, according to what we know of our own evolutional path, we were all animals once, and we evolved to people. But some people, like me and others like me, are still a little bit more animal than for instance, you, little girl. You and probably all the people you know are one step ahead of us. We were held somewhere very far away, me and others of my kind. We had been working there for as long as I can remember. I left and ran away, to somewhere else. They all wanted to stay there, my friends and family, because they were scared. They were not so much afraid of that place itself, I think, but they were scared of tasting freedom and then being caught and having to return."

Rose didn't quite know what to make of it. She strangely felt a little bit accused, Not by her friend who's name she still didn't know, but by herself. There were people like her, and like him, and for some reason, "they" were not free to go where and do what they wanted. Of course, Rose was not responsible for anything that her kind had ever done wrong. No, the reason she felt accused was the uncanny realization that she was beginning to think in terms of "us" and "they" already.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me "little girl". My name is Rose."

"But I like calling you little girl. It makes much more sense."

"How do you mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "No offense, but you look a lot more like a little girl than like a rose to me."

Rose couldn't argue with that, but she still had the feeling there was something wrong with his logic.

"Well then, I guess I don't have to know your name either, do I? I can just call you "Short Man", because you are one, aren't you?". Short Man looked a little insulted. "Short? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean you're short. Simple as that. If you want to pass for a normal person, you are going to need a name. Might as well be easy to remember, right? "

She had him with that one. He couldn't argue with her without violating his own reasoning. The only downside to Rose's minor victory was that Short Man would probably seize every single opportunity he would get to call her Little Girl now. They Sat there for a while in silence, both wondering how to continue this conversation. It was a strange feeling, like being on a train and the rail ends all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere. Eventually, Rose said:

"I still don't quite understand why you had to run away from that "place" where you had been working all your life. I assume you were held against your will there?" He shrugged, as if he somehow wasn't sure of that. "I don't quite understand the difference between you and the other people I know either. "

Short Man smiled. " Of course you don't. Very few people actually do, though they pretend it's the simplest thing in the world. But, it has supposedly been "proven" over a hundred years ago by some very great minds, and nobody has questioned their ideas since." Rose jumped up.

"I do! I think it's wrong that you people are separated from us and made to live and work somewhere where you don't want to be, and I promise you I will change it." She had rarely been so sure of it. Maybe, if only one person would stand up for what was right, the world would follow. But when she saw his face, that she had expected to be relieved and hopeful, her confidence faded. Her friend looked at her in a strange way. He looked at her like you would look at a small child that is trying to buy it's parents a house. Like you would look at a toddler, reaching to grab the moon from the sky and wondering why something so close was so far away.

For the first time, Short Man looked at Little Girl and saw a little girl.

"What's the matter?"

Short Man got up with a smile. "Nothing. I just have to go now. Thank you for everything, really, I owe you, I can't thank you enough. Goodbye. "

He grabbed his suitcase and walked out the door.

"Wait!" Rose didn't really know what she was going to say to him, but he understood what the last question was that he would need to answer. He put down the suitcase, took her head in his paws and looked deep into her eyes, the first and last time he would ever touch her.

"Rose," he said, "you are young and full of unanswered questions. One day, you will be a woman, and not just any woman. You will be beautiful, and you will understand there are answers to all those questions, and more importantly, you'll understand that they're just not always logical. You will have a family of your own, you'll love them and you will accept the world the way it is. You are a very special girl, and you want to change the world. But you will understand soon that some things can't change. Just don't blame yourself. We all think silly things when we're children." He kissed Rose's forehead. Her tears were running down the fur on his fingers now. He turned around and walked away.

"You are wrong!" Rose didn't care about people hearing her anymore. She didn't care about anything anymore. "I'll do it! Maybe you don't believe me, but someone will! I may grow up, but I will never become like the other grown-ups, do you hear me? You'll see one day! You'll all see!

She ran away as fast as she could. It was dark, so she couldn't really see where she was going, but she didn't care. She vaguely heard Short Man's voice behind her, calling her to come back, but she didn't want to see him. So, Rose ran to somewhere where he could not follow.

By the time she got home, she was sobbing hysterically through her gasping for air. Her parents freaked out when she collapsed into her mother's arms, barely able to say anything. She told them everything, all the rules she had broken, the humiliation, and the punishment she would receive didn't even cross her mind. There was only one thing she left out. Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't have explained it to them in a million years; How, for the first time in her life, the way she had spoken with Short Man had made her feel respected, important, like what she had to say mattered. Never before had she spoken with an adult about such complicated things without feeling she was being treated as a child. But of course, he had never taken her seriously for a second. Gullible and impulsive as she was, she had been nothing but a tool to him, nothing but a pretty face, nothing but a little girl.

Rose's parents understood very little of what Rose said; there was some kind of wolf hiding in the old shed by the road, a fugitive, and he had tricked their sweet, innocent daughter into stealing "things" for him. That was more than enough to know that whatever he was, he was an immediate threat to the kids that played there every day and the safety of their community. A threat that needed to be taken care of immediately. In today's world, parents needed to be ready to defend their children in any possible way.

That night, while Rose was tossing and turning in her bed and her mother was trying to find a good trauma-therapist for children on the internet, a group of twenty concerned fathers with clubs and flashlights who had bravely volunteered for this dangerous mission stormed the shed and found it empty. Short Man was long gone.