The Traveling Vampire Show

I found a pen and a pad of scratch paper by the phone. Back at the table, I wrote:

Dear Lee,

Sorry we missed you. We took three of the tickets and went on ahead. We figured we had better get there early and beat the crowd, as the parking has been known to get wierd.

We took Slim’s Pontiac. Please come as early as you can. We well be looking for you and save you a seat.

Love, Dwight

I showed the note to Slim. She read it to herself, then asked, “Who ever taught you how to spell?”

“What’s wrong with my spelling?”

“Aside from it stinks?”

Rusty chuckled.

“Like you’re some kinda whiz kid,” I said to him.

“Let me see,” Bitsy said, and plucked the note from Slim’s hand. Her head bobbed up and down as she silently mouthed the words. About the time she came to the end, her brow furrowed.

“She’s my sister-in-law,” I explained.

Bitsy said, “I know that,” but she looked relieved.

After she gave the note to me, I folded it and placed it beside the red ticket. “All set,” I said.

“You don’t want to correct the spelling?” Slim asked, a glint in her eyes.

“Not really.”

“Lee’s a teacher.”

“I know that,” I said, suddenly sounding like Rusty or Bitsy.

Rusty let out a laugh. To Slim, he said, “Dwighty’s hoping to get some private spelling lessons from her.”

“Very funny,” I said. “Are we going?”

“Let’s go,” Slim said.

In the living room, she picked up her bow and her quiver of arrows. Then we left the house. Hanging back, I shut the main door after I was out.

We crossed the lawn to Slim’s car. When we got there, she put her bow and quiver of arrows into the trunk. Then we all climbed into the car. I sat in the back seat with Bitsy. Slim drove. Within about a minute, we were out on Route 3 with woods on both sides and no other cars in sight.

“What I think we’ll do,” she said, “is walk in.”

“Huh?” Rusty said.

“Walk?” asked Bitsy.

“I’m not driving onto Janks Field,” Slim said. “For one thing, I don’t want the tires getting ruined. For another, we might be the only car there this early. We’re too young to be going at all, so we sure don’t want the whole crew watching us arrive.”

“Good point,” I said.

“Also, the place’ll probably end up jammed with cars later on. We don’t want to get stuck in the traffic.”

“Hey,” Rusty said, “maybe they’ll have a riot like that other time.” He sounded as if he hoped so and wouldn’t mind participating.

“If there is a riot,” Slim said, “we can just take off into the woods free and clear.”

“Are we gonna have to walk through the woods?” Bitsy asked.

“Just if there’s a riot,” I explained.

“Or if we get chased by vampires,” Rusty added.

“Quit it,” Bitsy said.

“What we’ll do,” Slim said, “is park along the highway and walk in on the dirt road.”

Bitsy moaned.

“You wanted to come,” Rusty reminded her.

“I know that.”

“You don’t have to,” I told her. “We’ve still got plenty of time. We could drop you off….”

“I wanta come with.”

“That’s fine,” Slim said. “The thing is, Bitsy, we might see some really bad stuff happen. I sure did. What they did to that dog… These are bad people.”

“You’re just trying to talk me out of it.”

“No, I’m trying to warn you. You might end up wishing you’d stayed home.”

“So how come you’re going?” Asking that, she sounded a little snotty.

“Slim’s the judge,” Rusty said.

“Huh?”

“Dwight and I, we’ve got a bet going.”

“What bet?” Bitsy asked.

“I say Valeria’s a babe.”

“Who’s she?”

“The star of the show,” I explained.

“Dwight says she’ll be a loser, but I happen to know she’ll be gorgeous. If I’m right, Dwight has to shave his head.”

“Slim shaves my head,” I reminded him.

“Oh, yeah, right. Anyways, Slim’s the judge.”

“That isn’t why I’m going,” Slim said. Turning her head to the left, she said, “There’s the way in.” She started to slow down. “We’ll turn around… ,” she muttered.

“Then why?” Bitsy asked.

“Huh?”

“How come you wanta go if it’s gonna be so horrible?”

“Gotta watch out for my guys,” she said. Slowing almost to a stop, she made a U-tum. “Anyway, my mom’s away for the night and I didn’t much want to stay by myself.”

“Especially since she had a prowler today,” Rusty added, and glanced back at his sister.

“I said I was sorry,” Bitsy muttered.

“Here’s the turnoff,” Slim announced.

As she drove slowly past it, I glimpsed a couple of Traveling Vampire Show handbills and the makeshift cardboard sign on trees near the narrow dirt road. They were dim shapes in the darkness. If I hadn’t already seen them a couple of times in daylight, I wouldn’t have known what they were.

I thought, Nobody’ll be able to find the place.