Little Red Curly Hair

Little Red Curly Hair by Stef Smulders

“Back home in time, please!” her mother called as Little Red Curly Hair closed the door behind her.

She walked along the avenue with large, energetic strides. In the sparse lantern light, the densely leaved trees were like curious giants that watched the girl with the curly red hair passing by. Where is she going? they seemed to think. But Little Red Curly Hair showed no fear and marched happily along. The light summer breeze whispered something unintelligible.

At ‘Grandmother’s Caffe’ warm yellow light shone through the little windows. It was always so cosy there. The bar lady always created the right atmosphere. Would he have arrived already? Little Red Curly Hair pushed the heavy door open and stepped inside. There was nobody there. Weird.

“Anybody there?” Little Red Curly Hair called.

A hefty man appeared from behind. He rested his big hairy arms on the counter and said: “Hi there, what can I offer you, dear little girl?”

“But…, where is…?”

“Grandma? She’s on holiday,” he answered and circumstantially licked his lips with a stupendously large tongue.

“Now there, girlie, what will it be?”

“I… I prefer to wait till…”

“He isn’t coming tonight. He called to cancel. Hunter was his name, right?”

Little Red Curly Hair nodded shyly.

“Why don’t you have a little snack? You seem so small. Real men like some flesh to hold on to, you know. Look, the Day’s Menu.”

He pointed to the blackboard next to the counter.

Below the green text ‘Menu of the Day’, a firm hand had written one item, in sturdy large block letters in white chalk: ‘Hunter’s Meat’.

“Fancy it?” the barman asked, displaying a full set of large, blinking white teeth.


About the Author

  1. Avatar Stef Smulders (1 story )

    Stef Smulders is a Dutchman who moved to Italy in 2008 to start a bed-and-breakfast in the Oltrepo Pavese wine region south of Milan. In 2016 he published ‘Living in Italy: the Real Deal’, a collection of short stories about his life as an expat.

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Little Red Curly Hair



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