The Traveling Vampire Show(71)

 

“Danny’s out of town.”

 

“Well, Lee’s home. Or go over to Stu’s.”

 

“I’ll be okay here,” I said.

 

“That’s fine. You’re certainly old enough to stay by yourself. There’s ground beef in the fridge. You can make yourself a hamburger if you want. We were going to grill them on the barbecue tonight....” Her voice trembled and stopped and I knew she was weeping. After a while, she sniffed and said, “If you’d rather get take-out, there’s money in the drawer....”

 

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Don’t worry about me. Tell Dad hi for me, okay?”

 

“I will, darling. Oh, he said I should let you know that he missed the dog.”

 

“He should’ve hit the dog and missed the tree,” I said.

 

I heard Mom laugh softly. “I’ll tell him that. And I’ll give him your love.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Anything else before we hang up?”

 

“Not that I can think of.”

 

“Okay then, honey. You can call us here if anything comes up.” She gave me the hospital’s phone number and Dad’s room number. Then she said, “I guess that’s about it for now.”

 

“Guess so.”

 

“Okay, we’ll see you in the morning.”

 

“See you then,” I said.

 

“Be good.”’

 

“I will.”

 

“Bye.”

 

“Bye,” I said, and hang up.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twenty-nine

 

 

So he’s pretty much all right?” Slim asked when I turned around. Nodding, I realized she’d heard only my side of the conversation. I wasn’t sure what she knew and what she didn’t. So I explained, ”They’re keeping him overnight because he hit his head, but ... other than that, he broke his arm and cracked some ribs.”

 

“But his head’ll be all right?”

 

“They think so.”

 

“He missed a dog and hit a tree?”

 

I smiled. It must’ve looked strange, because it brought a frown to Slim’s face. “He was out on Route 3,” I explained, “and a dog ran out in front of his car.”

 

Slim made a face as if she were smelling something horrible but amusing. “A one-eyed dog?” she asked.

 

“I didn’t ask.”

 

“Woo.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“When did this happen?”

 

“I don’t think it was that long ago.”

 

“Our dog’s been dead since about noon.”

 

“Yeah.” I shook my head. “Had to be a different dog.”

 

“Maybe the one that chewed up my Dracula.”

 

“The very same,” I said.

 

She grimaced.

 

I grimaced.

 

“Maybe we’ve got ghost dogs,” she said.

 

“Or someone wants us to think so,” I said, which got her laughing. “Anyway,” I continued, “it wasn’t a ghost or a dog that chewed up your Dracula.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Pretty sure. For one thing, there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

She was seeming very playful.

 

“Pretty sure.”

 

“Don’t be.”

 

“Anyway, if there are ghosts, they can’t bite stuff. They don’t have any ...”

 

“Teeth?” she asked.

 

Grinning, I shook my head. “That’s not what ... I mean, they’re just ... like spirits. They don’t have substance.”

 

“A matter of opinion.”

 

“Anyway, ghost or not, a dog would’ve had to paw the Dracula off your bookshelf. Or bite it out. Either way, it would’ve messed up your other books. But they were all in a neat row. That could only be done by a human.”

 

“Or a vampire,” she added, “speaking on behalf of our absent Russell.”

 

I laughed. “Daylight,” I reminded her.

 

Her smile evaporated. “Which leaves us with humans. I’m glad we’re out of my house.”

 

“My mom isn’t coming home till tomorrow morning, so I guess there’s no reason you can’t stay here.”

 

“No reason you can’t go to the vampire show tonight, either.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“You don’t want to miss that.”

 

“I might.”

 

“Oh? You’d rather stay home and watch television?”

 

“Maybe. If you’ll be here.”