The Little Vampire 19/19 -Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
(the introductory portrait pages misspell Tony’s last name Peasbody as Prasbody)
Tony’s parents went out as the do every Saturday night, his mother asks why it’s important for him to know where they’re going (there’s a typo where instead of using quotation marks they use «) but Tony didn’t want to tell he he wanted to watch a late night scary movie. She was already suspicious though but didn’t press and told him they’d be out past midnight. Now Tony was in bed reading a Frankenstein book when his alarm for the start of the movie went off so he turned on the TV and got comfortable feeling like an adventurer. But he had no provisions so braved the dark hallway and creepy coat closet to the kitchen. “However, he had not gone far, just into the hallway, when he noticed that something was not quite right.”p.11 Silence, his TV was off, someone must have gone into his room and Tony was frozen with fear of who could be there and he remembered he had left his window open. Then there was a sudden crash then nothing happened, Tony thought he was just imagining burglars but then why was his TV off? (IDK maybe they’re environmentally conscious)
He inched open his bedroom door and noticed a moldering scent and thought it was the wall outlet burning then heard a rattling from the window. He went closer to it and the musty moldy scent got stranger and Tony felt horror as two red eyes from a pale face looked back at him grinding, it’s white pointed teeth that seemed to enjoy Tony’s fear of him being a real vampire. “But of course I’m a vampire!”p.14 The vampire comes in the room and blocks the door commenting that Tony looks too thin then asks if his father has tasty blood. He took a step nearer Tony and Tony leaped back knocking over some candy. The Vampire remarks his grandmother used to give him jelly babies and eats one then quickly spat it out and collapsed for several minutes before loudly blowing his nose. “Vampires have very sensitive stomachs, stupid. Sweets are like poison for us.”p.16 (we later find out Rudolph is over 150 years old Jelly Babies were invented in 1864 so how could Rudolph had eaten them and not be sick) Tony offers him apple juice and the vampire accuses him of trying to make him sick.
Tony asked how old he is since he looks like a kid, so he was one when he died and tells Tony he could visit him after dark. Tony mentions the vampire facts that he knows including the one about driving a stake in their hearts. Tony shouldn’t have said that as as soon as he did the little vampire growled and jumped at him but Tony jumped out of the way with the vampire catching him as he reached the door and threatens him not to talk about it again. Now what to do about him, Tony offered to listen to records, play chutes and ladders, look at postcards, the little vampire said no to all of it then ripped apart Tony’s King Kong poster. Tony told him to stop, but the vampire moved onto his books but pauses when he finds Dracula and asks to borrow it.
Finally the vampire told Tony his name, Rudolph, Tony doesn’t like his own name much (he’s the third Tony) and Rudolph used to think his own was stupid but he got used to it. Rudolph asks how often he’s left home alone and does he get scared, Rudolph also gets scared sometimes and his father scolds him for it, “Rudolph, you’re not a proper vampire. You’re a coward.”p.20 His whole family are vampires and Tony is sad his parents are normal with normal boring jobs. Rudolph said interesting things are always happening to them like last winter their coffins had frozen shut for two nights and there’s the new nightwatchman. Rudolph was about to tell Tony about him when Tony’s parents came home and Rudolph quickly flew away and Tony got into bed.
At breakfast Tony asked his parents what they thought about vampires but they didn’t take him seriously so Tony told them vampire are different than fairies and dwarfs, anyone who doesn’t believe in vampires are either deaf or blind or very stupid. His father says they’ve never seen one and Tony says it may happen sooner than he thinks. Tony ate contently as his parents quietly laughed at him, just wait until Saturday.
As he parents went about for Saturday Tony hid everything in his room Rudolph might destroy and replaced them with bat and vampire themed stuff, his mother asked why he made such revolting things. Now Tony read a vampire book on his bed when he heard his mother cry out in pain after she fell from a chair, she twisted her ankle and he was worried she wouldn’t go out with it swollen. Tony ran to the pharmacist and tended to his mother who grew suspicious that he wanted her out of the house but she already decided to stay home and they’ll spend the evening together. Tony left to his room disappointed his plans were ruined when there was a knock at his window and Tony let Rudolph inside. Tony told him to be quiet since his mom is home then told Rudolph not to dare eat her, Rudolph told him not to worry about it then was distracted by Tony’s new books. He’ll return it and the other one next week, then Tony fishes for compliments about his room.
Tony hears his mom and makes Rudolph hide before she pops in offering to make him tea or play ludo she sees him acting anxious and ask if he’s okay then asks if he’s been playing with matches. (matches were a lot more common in the house back in the days of gas stoves) She knew something fishy was going on then looked around his room and pulls on some black cloth stick out of the cupboard door. Tony says that’s his friend who’s afraid of the light she wants to meet him but Tony says he can’t have tea so she leaves defeated. Once she left Rudolph came out and said he had to go and jumps out the window right before Tony’s mother returned. Tony said he left for a party and she says he’s got funny friends but she’d still like to meet him. The tea chime went off and Tony would join her “Good. Don’t forget to close your window. Otherwise moths will get into your room.” “Or vampires!”p.36 And that was Saturday, better luck next week, having tea his mother asked what his friend was dressed like for his party, a vampire, she’ll probably see it next week, he always dresses like one, she laughed and said next he’ll tell her his friend flew out the window.
The next Saturday Tony’s mother asked if his funny friend was coming over and she told his father Tony’s friend always dresses up as a vampire and his father almost laughed. His mother still wanted to meet his friend and his parents to see who’s he’s mixing with and where does he live, Tony said near the cemetery and his father dragged his mother out before she could question him more. Tony waited in his room as it got dark and watched a large black moth fly down to his window and it transformed into Rudolph who took offense Tony thought he looked like a moth. Anyway Rudolph brought him something, a real vampire cloak (complete with bloodstains) but Tony was afraid it would turn him into one (thought you were the vampire expert here) and Rudolph asked if he really thought he’d do anything to him and encourages him to put it on. Rudolph shows him how to fly with it. (by flapping his arms up and down which sounds extremely tiring seriously see how long you last) Once Tony was air born Rudolph flew out impatiently into the night and Tony followed him.
They were going to the cemetery to get the books and Tony was relieved the tomb would be empty, but Rudolph told him they still have to be careful as the nightwatchman is doing his rounds looking for them. “Because he can’t stand us. What do you think he carries around in his pocket? A hammer and a wooden stake!”p.44 He already killed Rudolph’s uncle Theodore, the nightwatchman caught him playing cards on his tombstone marked it and came back in the morning and has hunted them ever since and they can’t eat him cause he’s always eating garlic. (Tony’s finds it gross which means Tony has no idea what good food is) “And that’s not all: he’s determined to be the first Nightwatchman in Europe to have a vampire-free cemetery.”p.46 (you’ll have to get behind Lithuania) They can’t move and won’t slip up. Once the coast is clear they climbed over the wall, they keep all their coffins in a vault well hidden and it has an emergency exit and Rudolph has Tony follow him underground.
Tony hesitated at the hole but Rudolph yelled at him to jump so he let go and landed on a platform and standing on his tiptoe slid a rock back over the hole and was in swallowed in darkness. His eyes could make out a feeble light and the vault smelt of dankness and decay. Tony walked down the stair to the inner chamber except for the coffins and a single candle it was empty, Rudolph welcomed him to the Sackville-Bagg vault. Rudolph showed him around, his grandmother Sabina was the first vampire in the family, the next was her husband William who she bit herself. His father Frederick was already a vampire when he married Thelma but she didn’t know that until he brought her to the family castle. (so wouldn’t that make the children dhampirs) Rudolph pointed out his own coffin and told Tony he could get in, Tony wouldn’t but said it doesn’t look comfortable which Rudolph takes offense to and says there’s enough room for them both. Tony distracts him asking who the other coffins belongs to, his sister and brother Gregory. Tony asks what his sister’s name is but Rudolph hears knocking from his aunt Dorothy’s coffin, scared he hides Tony in his own. When Rudolph opens Aunt Dorothy’s she starts scolding him for leaving her in there in her feeble state, when she catches the scent of humans Rudolph hurries her outside. When she’s gone Rudolph lets Tony out but he wants to go home and Rudolph relents and reminds him to take his books, ten minutes later Tony was in his bed asleep.
Tony slept late and woke up to the smell of macaroni baking (lucky kid) then he remembered what happened last night and worried his parents found the cloak. He tried to act clam when he asked his father what was in the washing machine and lied that he wanted to wash his socks. His father tells them it’s a dark load and to ask his mother if there’s anything of his in there, she’s in the living room mending a large black cloth she found full of holes. She remarked it reeks and she’s sorry for his friend to have such a tattered thing certain he’ll be pleased after she fixes it. Back in his room Tony seethes about the cloak and angry at himself for leaving it out but maybe after it’s fixed it’ll fly better. As he hear his mother come by he pretends to make his bed and when she began to question him about Rudolph his father called lunch was done but she continued to ask as they ate. His dad said Rudolph Sackville-Bagg isn’t a good name (says the guy who’s so unclever he named his son after himself) and Tony replied Tony Peasbody isn’t much better, people laugh at that name, his mom says to be thankful his name isn’t Peasbody-Bagg then. His dad offered to drive to his friends house to drop off the cloak, he’ll be going near the cemetery and his mom reminds him to ask his friend to come over on Wednesday, but Tony insisted on walking there himself.
Sunday afternoon was the most boring time of the week, (yeah the weekend is ending and you got school/work the next day you have to brace yourself for) so when Tony made it to the ground floor of the apartment it was empty, Tony’s parents waved him on from the balcony but he didn’t to spite them. How was he going to return the cloak to Rudolph during the day or invite him over for tea, if he left a note and the other vampires found it what would happen. He ran into a boy, Nigel, Tony told him he was on a walk but that didn’t satisfy him so Tony told him he was visiting a friend, nobody he knows, unless he knows vampires. Nigel told him to get so Tony continued walking to the cemetery he looked back but Nigel was gone so he went through the gate.
The cemetery wasn’t as spooky in the day, if it weren’t for the headstones he might have thought he was going through the park. (that’s how people used to treat cemeteries) Tony saw the padlocked chapel and spooked himself thinking of a story he read of a haunted morgue and told himself to hurry up. He went further in where it was overgrown and almost tripped over a head stoned shaped like a heart with the letters “Frederick Sackville-Bagg, 1803-1850.”p.70 a few paces farther was Thelma’s, Sabina’s and William’s, two meters further were Dorothy and Theodore’s, each were shaped like a heart, did it mean love or blood. Tony thought of the dates they all died a year after each other. “Did that mean that each one had…? And what about the children? Who had…? Where were their gravestones anyway?”p.71 (this does bring up some questions why were they all turned one after the other so soon was there a disease) Tony looked but couldn’t find the children’s, they were probably the last to die, as he was thinking of this he ran into Nigel.
Nigel was gleeful he scared Tony who lied he thought Nigel was his friend he arranged to meet up with Nigel doesn’t buy it Tony says it’s true, his friends name is Rudolph Sackville-Bagg. They were going to look for vampire graves, Tony was careful not to mention the vault Nigel doesn’t believe it so Tony says they’re special, they’re shaped like a heart. Nigel doesn’t leave but it changed his interest and makes a bet on who finds them, on the way back to the chapel he shouts he found them. (he calls their names weird which is something coming from a Nigel) He sees the last name and asks Tony about his friend he said was a vampire did he mean it. Tony could tell him many tales if he believes in vampires, maybe he does now or he could by introducing him to his friend right now, Tony says he can’t, it’s daytime. Nigel asks then why did he say he was meeting him, well he had to start the nonsense somewhere and Nigel is enraged he’d been had and goes home. Tony then has an idea he could invite Nigel on Wednesday instead of Rudolph and runs after him.
Tony was sleeping when there was a tap on his window from two dark figures but Rudolph always came alone, what if it was a trap. Tony threw aside the curtains and saw it was Rudolph and a smaller girl vampire who Rudolph introduced as his sister, Anna the Toothless, (no relation to Toothless the dragon) which Anna was upset by as her teeth are still growing in. She asks to borrow a book and Tony thought she was pretty for a vampire “if only her face were not so pale, and if she did not have those dark rings under her eyes...but what did it matter? As if he was interested in girl vampires!”p.79 Rudolph asked about his cloak, Tony confesses he lent it to someone, his parents were asking questions and wanted to meet him, so he got a kid they never met to pretend to be him. As Rudolph and Tony were talking Anna fiddled with the radio and blasted up the music and Tony hides them before his mother barges in to scold him. She notices a moldy smell in the room thinks it’s her son and will make him take a bath tomorrow. When she’s gone Rudolph says it’s time to go and Anna asked if she could visit tomorrow night and Tony told him he’d get the cloak back Wednesday to Rudolph’s relief since it was his Uncle Theodore’s.
Tony’s mom commented that his friend wasn’t very punctual the tea was getting cold and she even set out the nice dinnerware and special sweets. She brings out a phone book to call them but there was no Sackville-Bagg in the directory Tony was pretty sure they wouldn’t have a phone anyway before his mother could ask more questions the doorbell rang, Nigel finally showed up dressed like a vampire. Tony helped Nigel play the part and his performance was worth the fifty pence price, (that’s about three dollars today) Nigel gorged himself on the cake but at a comment on his appetite he almost gave away his real name and Tony was upset he kept eating all the food. Tony told him it was time to leave and when asked why the doorbell rang, Tony’s dad came home early to meet his friend and Tony got more grumpy that his father ignored him. When Tony’s dad started to ask questions about his costume he couldn’t answer Nigel said it was time for him to leave. Tony went with him to the door and Nigel told him he met his father before but his father might not have recognized him and hangs Tony the cloak. Tony smuggled it into his room before going back to his parents, his friend wasn’t very talkative and they’ve met better behaved boys his mother doesn’t know why they’re friends but his dad thinks he saw him somewhere before. “Everything had gone according to plan. And it was highly unlikely that his father would ever remember where he had met Nigel-at least, he hoped not!”p.95
Tony made an excuse to go to his room in his relief he fell asleep until dusk and it was now quiet in the apartment and supposed his parents went out. He went and got a snack but on the way back noticed a moldy smell, Anna was in his room (she had since gave her hair a good brushing) Anna guess he worried why she was there and reminded him she’s called Toothless cause she only drinks milk. Tony get her a glass and asks why she’s here she just wanted to see him and asks him if she looks nice, (she hadn’t brushed her hair in 47 years) “Do you know, I never minded before what I looked like. Bit now I think you’d like me better in pretty clothes, wouldn’t you?”p.98 It’s unfair normal girls can dress pretty but vampire girls have to wear ratty old things. She asks what he thinks of vampires, they’re great and vampire girls, he doesn’t know he only met one, of her, she’s okay and she’s disappointing in that answer and Tony changes the subject to Rudolph.
Rudolph can’t come tonight he’s sick with blood poisoning, (no the human kind) Tony asks if they could go see him, Anna reminds him if their family saw him. Anna tells him to forget about his worry over him dying since he’s already dead but Tony insists he must have someone looking after him, Anna doesn’t know what that means. Tony tries to explain but Anna sighed, no one does that for them, everyone is either asleep or out, “Anyway, nobody has any time for us. Nobody has ever read me a story or played a game with me.”p.100 Tony felt sorry for Anna, he thought his own parents took little notice of him but to hers they seemed fantastic. He proposed they look after Rudolph, he’s already been there to Anna’s shock, Tony told her he almost got caught by their Aunt Dorothy but she’ll be out longer and Anna decides it’s a good idea for them to take care of Rudolph.
They flew to the cemetery and Tony thought it looked less spooky on his third visit and Tony has Anna enter the vault first, just in case, as Anna checked it out Tony caught sight of the Nightwatchman with his pocket full of wooden stakes. When the door to the vault began to open Tony threw a rock in the opposite direction to lead away the Nightwatchman. He tells Anna what he did and she tells him Mr. McRookery looks rat like and vampires look sweet in comparison. Anna tells him their brother Gregory is also sick now he knows about Tony, but don’t worry vampire kids stick together.
Tony is nervous so tries to leave but Gregory wakes up and sees him and warns him not to come too close or he might catch something he doesn’t want, but pulls out a ludo box to play and it quickly started and fight, so he went back in his coffin. Anna says he’s just moody, “But the worst thing is that he’ll never grow out of it. He died in puberty, and there he’ll stay.”p.113 Then the door began to open and Rudolph had Tony hide in a coffin as Aunt Dorothy comes in looking for her false teeth (an old vampire with dentures doesn’t seem very scary) and orders Rudolph to get back in his coffin, so he climbed in with Tony. After a minute Anna opened it and scolded Rudolph who was leaning over Tony, Rudolph claimed he was only giving him artificial respiration since Tony fainted. Tony says he’s going and Anna offers to take him home as Rudolph apologizes, he just wanted to help, Tony says it’s fine and Rudolph’s glad he hasn’t had enough of them.
The night air restored Tony to his senses, when Anna asks he just says the coffin was stuffy and Anna says they can’t air them out. She asks Tony if there’s any vampire love stories (well I suppose The Interview with a Vampire counts as toxic yaoi) he doesn’t know, Anna tells him she read one with a happy ending, “Well, the boy ended up as a vampire too, and they both lived happily ever after.”p.117 (...Anna please tell me you did not read Let the Right One In) Tony doesn’t think that’s a happy ending and he can’t become one, Anna implies she could once her teeth grow in, he doesn’t want to be one at all. Anna starts crying thinking he doesn’t like her and has a girlfriend, Tony promises he doesn’t, Anna calms down and supposes it’s all right as long as they’re friends. Tony hurried home before Anna could think of more embarrassing conversations. At his building Tony heard his parents watching TV and hoped thy didn’t notice his absence, unfortunately the window was shut and locked so hell have to ring himself in. He gives Anna the cloak and she sadly said goodbye as she flew off.
As Tony took the elevator up he was worried what his parents reactions would be, they were angry at him, (no shit) they’d been waiting for him to come back since eight and it’s going on ten. They don’t buy his out for a walk story his mother noticed a smell and ask if he’s been around a fire or smoking. (he’s nine) Tony says it might have been Anna, Rudolph’s sister, they want proof and his dad rings Henry Appleby, Nigel’s father, who does not have a daughter. His mother wants the truth, she wants to meet the real Rudolph and his sister but why hasn’t he brought them around, Tony says she kept bothering him about it but Rudolph didn’t want to come over since he stays up late and doesn’t like cake, he’s embarrassed and he stinks and doesn’t know how to behave, his mother says none of that matters. “What really counts in a person is their heart, and I’m sure your Rudolph has a good heart, Tony.”p.125 (and we’ll see how you don’t believe a lick of this) Someone he can rely on if he likes him they’re sure they’ll like him too, Tony asks if they like vampires but they think he’s joking again. Tony says they may meet him next week and as he leaves his mother tells him to keep his window shut. “There have been the most enormous moths flying about in the last few weeks.”p.126
The next day Tony was tired and leaves to do homework when the phone rings and his father was confused by the girl hissing on the other side but she wants to speak to Tony. It’s Anna, she’s worried Tony was mad at her and she has a surprise for him, a real vampire love story, she’ll come and read it to him, Tony, in code, tells her to come tomorrow at nine, he asks about Rudolph, he already left to eat. Tony hangs up and his mother asked why didn’t he ask her to come over with Rudolph, he hasn’t even fixed a day for him to come over yet. Tony says he doesn’t go to school, he’s not ill, just sleeps too late to go, now after the eavesdropping and interrogation Tony was in a mood.
The next evening Tony got ready for bed by seven and reading until his mother came to check on him by his eight PM bedtime and pretended to sleep until she passed. As he was about to pick up the story there was a knock on his window and he let Anna in. She asked if she smelled nice and he couldn’t tell her the truth about the dead leaf, mothball and mildew sent, it’s her mother’s homemade perfume, made for vampires, only allowed to be worm on special occasions. The main ingredient is onion mixed in with cow dung, (fun fact some types of animal dung is used in traditional perfume making) a nightshade and Tony gags but he lies that he likes it. Anna gives him the love story she wrote herself (it’s a mish mash of other fairy tales mostly sleeping beauty but really almost anything is a better vampire love story than Twilight) Tony tells her she could make the King and Queen vampires too, it wouldn’t be too grisly since no one believes in vampires nowadays, except him of course. Last week he had to write a composition for school about a terrifying experience and when asked his teacher told him vampires are fairy tales and to write about something real. (he wrote about something on TV and got a 5/10) His parents don’t believe at all but they would like to meet her and she’s excited and will ask Rudolph if he wants to come.
Tony’s mother made him help set up tea even though he said his friends have an afternoon rest and tries to explain they might not arrive until eight. They don’t have a bedtime and asks to stay up this once she only relents because she wants to meet his friends. Since they won’t come until later his mother allowed him to eat a few sweets and cocoa.
After eight the doorbell rang, his parents already invited them in, Rudolph and Anna were wearing gaudy make up and wearing Thelma’s perfume to seem more human and Rudolph handed Tony’s mother a bouquet of thorns that grew in the cemetery. Rudolph was looking weak and told Tony he was hungry and Tony’s parents lead them to the table. Anna felt embarrassed and wandered around looking at the fancy set up they don’t have since they always eat out. Tony’s father offered to open a window but his mother tells him not to because of the moths lately, Rudolph says he loves moths (then why did you take offense when Tony thought you looked like one) but bats are better and Anna suggests vampires and Rudolph laughs. Tony’s mother thinks he’s sick and makes him drink water, he has a bad reaction and Tony tells him it’s to be expected on an empty stomach. Tony’s mother tells them Rudolph locked himself in the bathroom and is making terrible noises, Anna tells her he’s just hungry and his father offers her sweet buns. She makes excuses not to eat but she’ll have milk, but as Tony’s mother leaves to get it she’s shocked Rudolph disappeared, the only way he could have gotten out is through Tony’s window but Anna says of course her brother can’t fly.
Anna reminds her about the milk and Tony gets it and his father asks Anna about her costume, she tells him they hold their parties in private. He mentions he’d like to see her without her costume on, (not like that) she says it’s not that different, just prettier. Do they always go to dress up parties, yes they do everything together and fight and he has an old fashion look on things, he thinks boys are tougher than girls. Tony’s father says most girls enjoy fancy dresses than climbing trees, Anna says he’s got it wrong. “Why do girls wear pretty dresses? Only because their mothers like to dress them up. And then they don’t climb trees because they are not supposed to get their clothes dirty.”p.149 (but then later Anna becomes obsessed with being allowed to wear pretty frilly dresses) Tony says he thinks girls are stupid cause they always giggle and get knocked over when playing ball and Anna retorts she thinks boys are silly who never let girls play football, (soccer) even Rudolph is like that even though the first of their family was a lady, Tony’s father thinks she’s joking, she corrects their first ancestor. Tony’s father laughs that her family is a funny lot, Anna says most people don’t think that but then says she needs to go and walks down then hall when Tony’s mother says the door is the other way.
Tony’s father remarks she was a nice girl, his mother thought she was odd and Rudolph was worse, “But they’re only children,”- “You sound as if you were frightened out of your wits, my dear.”p.151 His dad tells Tony no cheek since it was him that keeps bring up this vampire nonsense, Tony insists they are real, his mother checks the dictionary to prove him wrong. His father mentions his friends will look normal on their next visit but his mother will be glad if they didn’t come for quite a while, Tony doesn’t agree but they won’t forbid him from playing with them. (but you’ll certainly be glad when he can’t) “I think they are creepy,” - “and if there really were such things as vampires, I’m sure they would look just like your two friends!”p.153 His dad laughs there’s no such thing and his mom says she’ll get used to them (well that’s a big fat lie) and his dad asks if he won’t continue this vampire nonsense. Tony verbally agrees but thinks otherwise and goes to bed.
