I trot back to our cabin in the woods with my little prize. Meat. I have not eaten meat in quite a while. I was tired and bored of apples and whatever berries and mushrooms that we foraged all the time.

“Arthy I’m home!” I call out. I hear a grunting within the cabin. Looks like he is home, I think to myself with a smile. “I brought home some meat!” He groans and walks towards me, his matt grey hair all in knots. The horns on his head gleaming in the sunlight shining through the windows. “Marianne, you know I hate eating soft things,” he says looking sadly at the rabbit. The poor thing.

He took the rabbit from me regardless, as I knew he would, to begin the cleaning process. “Thank you dear,” I smile and he grunts again. It was a deal we had that if I went to get food he would have to prepare it. I go to take a shower. “It was a real hot day today,” I yell at him on the way up. “Just like the day we met.”

I picture him smiling at the memory. He always has been one for recollections. “I remember that day, you were so scared of me,” he replies.

“Yeah, until I found out that you were not much of a monster at all,” I scowl then smile thinking of the memory too.

Arthy puts the rabbit into a bucket of iced water. He rummages around for his carving knife, hoping this time to salvage the fur to make warm gloves for Marianne. He thinks back to when they first met and smiles. 

A few years ago… 

I ran to the girl and grabbed her by the scruff of her collar. She shrieked and scream. “Woah, settle down, settle down,” I said and picked her up and shook her around. She responded by kicking me in the stomach.

“Ow, ow ow,” I whine but I don’t let her go. She struggled on a little, and then stopped.
“Are you going to eat me?” the girl said, horror in her voice. 
“No,” I said with my free hand, rubbing my stomach. 
“I don’t eat people. I tried to eat a baby once but its leg was all so soft and squishy and I didn’t like it. Too much fat. I don’t eat humans. I didn’t even eat that baby. I nibbled on its leg at best. They told me monsters should eat humans. But I don’t like eating things that are not crunchy.”

I point to the apples that were scattered on the floor from the basket. “I have to ask though; if you are not eating those may I please have them? I’m starving.”

The girl nodded slowly at me and I put her down. “Thank you,” I say and proceeded to pick up and eat the fallen apples from the basket. “I don’t like taking things without asking first,” I said to her. The girl came closer to me. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat me?” the girl asked. 
“Good heavens no!” I said. “Way to squishy. I like crunchy things, did you pick these out yourself?” I asked as I munched on the crunchy apple. The girl had a good eye if she was the ones to pick them out. 
“Oh,” she said and fell to the floor, her knees giving way. 
“Sorry to give you such a scare,” I said. “Did you pick these yourself?” I asked again. 
"Yeah, I did," she said sniffling. Then she turned to stare at me, her eyes wide. The birds dart around and call out mocking our little display. 
"Stupid things," I mumbled. "I don't need any chatter from you," I said and hurled some stones at then. They do nothing but laugh. 
"Can you understand what they are saying? What are they saying?" The girl asked curiously. 
"Nothing right now, they are just laughing at me, a monster who doesn't want meat." 
"I wish I could understand them," she said. "It's okay to not eat stuff you don't like to eat. I really hate artichokes and my guardian used to say that sometimes you just have your likes and dislikes, so it's okay to know what you like and don't like." 
“If you pick more for me I could teach you how to talk to animals?” It was a monster trade secret, but it was not like there were other monsters around. All the other monsters vanished a long time ago. I had been alone for quiet some time now. It was nice to talk to somebody.

The girl laughed. “You’re not scary like they say are you?” she smiled. “Sure,” she took my clawed hand and shook it. “I think we have ourselves a deal.”