The Inventory

It was December 7, a gray, dreary day. Tony’s mood was just as gray and dreary. He sat at his desk with the lamp on, staring dismally at the blank sheet of paper in front of him. To try and cheer him up, his mother had suggested that he write up a list of what he wanted for Christmas, but Tony wasn’t looking forward to Christmas at all. The thought of a Christmas tree covered in decorations with presents under it and a cozy Christmas party with delicious food and games made him feel queasy. Anna and Rudolph, his best friends, were perhaps about to have the worst Christmas of their—um—lives, so Tony couldn’t possibly be happy and celebrate.

With a shaky hand he wrote:

I want Anna and Rudolph to come back.

I want my friends to move back to their old crypt.

I want Ravenhood and Snifflerman to be transferred to a cemetery on the other side of the world!

He felt a little better after having written that. He went over to the closet and started searching under his sweaters for the musty old vampire cape Anna had given him as a farewell present.

“You should keep that,” she’d explained, “as a pledge that we won’t lose touch.”

Several weeks had gone by and Tony had seen Anna only once since then. It had been the evening after the vampires had moved to Misery Valley. She had been in a great hurry and only had the time to tell him that everything had gone well, and that they were now living in a side wing of the ruins of the great hall.

There was a knock.

Startled, Tony stood up.

“What do you want?” he called gruffly toward the door. “I’m not finished with my Christmas list yet.”

But instead of an answer, the knock was repeated. Tony realized that it wasn’t coming from the door after all. Someone was knocking quietly and cautiously on his window.

“Anna!”

With a stifled cry, Tony ran to the window and threw open the curtains so violently that a book he had put on the sill crashed to the floor.

But the black-clad figure out there wasn’t Anna. Rudolph, the little vampire, sat on the windowsill and bared his powerful, pointy fangs at Tony with a friendly grin.

The sight of the razor-sharp vampire fangs, along with his disappointment that it wasn’t Anna after all, made Tony freeze. Meanwhile, the vampire continued to knock impatiently on the wooden window frame.

“Hey, open the window! Or do you want me to freeze out here?” he called in a muffled voice.

“Of course not!” Embarrassed, Tony quickly unlocked the window and pushed it up, and the little vampire climbed into the room.

Rudolph had dark rings under his eyes, and his lips were thin and pale, truly bloodless.

A shiver ran down Tony’s spine. Surely Rudolph hadn’t come to…

“Don’t worry,” the vampire said hoarsely. “I’ve just come to get the cape.”

“Why?”

“Aunt Dorothee has decided to take inventory.”

“Inventory?”

“Yes. Every five years or so, she comes up with the idea of taking inventory of all our belongings. This time, however, she decided to do it three years early because we moved.”

“And what is inventoried?”

“Everything! Our coffins, blankets, pillows, capes, raingear, tights, shoes, the family treasure, candles, matches…”

“Even matches?” cried Tony indignantly. “She must be completely obsessed to count all that!”

“Exactly!” agreed the vampire with a sigh. “And then Aunt Dorothee makes lists of everything, and woe betide us all if anything’s missing! At the last inventory, Gregory didn’t have his cuddly blanket. He had lent it to someone and he couldn’t remember who. Aunt Dorothee nagged him until he got it back. It was Martin the Malicious who had it. And now Anna’s been as bad as Aunt Dorothee! She’s constantly nagging me,” he went on angrily.

“Anna? Why?”

“Because she foolishly left Uncle Theodore’s cape with you and wanted me to fly all the way here from Misery Valley to get it back for her!”

“Foolishly?” protested Tony. “I thought it was really nice of her.”

The little vampire snorted with contempt. “Anna gets brownie points and I’m the one who has to fix things afterward!”

“Why didn’t Anna come herself?” asked Tony.

“Do you really want to know?” the vampire replied, grinning.

“Yes!”

“Uh…” The vampire coughed. “The changeover is still a problem for her.”

“The move to Misery Valley?”

“That too!”

Tony still didn’t understand what he meant. “What else?”

Rudolph looked at him and laughed. “Dracula-style food and drink!” he said.

Suddenly Tony understood what changes he was referring to that Anna was going through. Up until recently she had only been drinking milk, but now…

He went white.

The little vampire watched him with amusement. “Now do you get it?”

“Y-yes,” Tony stammered.

“Good. Now, give me the cape! Or don’t you have it anymore?”

“Of course I do.”

On shaky legs, Tony walked over to the closet and pulled out the cape. When he touched the rough fabric, he couldn’t help thinking of Anna and how loving the goodbye had been. Did he really have to give it up?

“Anna told me to keep it,” he began hesitantly, “as a pledge that we wouldn’t lose touch.”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait until she comes to visit you,” the vampire replied, clacking his long fangs together.

Tony went cold. “You’re mean!” he said angrily.

“No, only hungry,” replied the vampire, and in a quick move he snatched the cape from Tony’s grasp and jumped swiftly onto the windowsill. “See you soon, Tony!” he said, as he flew away.

Tony rushed to the window. “When?” he called after the vampire, but Rudolph didn’t answer. Tony watched him grow smaller and smaller until he disappeared into the darkness.