Marie stood at her kitchen sink, sipping a glass of ice water. Her stomach hadn’t settled much after her disagreement with the garlic bread.
Maybe I should call Doc Rowe for an appointment.
She hadn’t been able to afford health insurance since she opened the shop. Doc Rowe was willing to trade haircuts for the kids’ school physicals, which helped, but Doc Rowe was running out of hair.
Lucy came in from the shop with an armload of towels.
“Mom! What’s this?” She pointed out large, brownish-red stains on three towels from the shop hamper. “This looks like blood! I didn’t want to wash them in case they stain.”
Marie picked up one of the towels, sniffed it, rubbed it between her fingers.
“Hmm,” she said. “Nobody’s been bleeding. Sure looks like blood.” She sniffed again. “Maybe it was that face-pack goo. It turned red.”
She dampened the towel under cold water, rubbed the stain and rinsed it away.
“Cold water works. At least it’s not permanent.” She gave it back to Lucy. “Just use the cold-water setting.”
“Gross!” Lucy said.
Marie sighed. Something churned in her belly. “Hey, I know … leave that laundry for later. I’m not feeling well and don’t have an appointment for two hours. Let’s just sit on the couch and watch a movie. Want to watch Bride of Dracula again?”
“Sure!” Lucy said. “Can I nuke some popcorn? It won’t spoil my dinner.”
Marie stood too fast and slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Oh, no … I’m going to be …”
She ran for the bathroom.
“Pregnant?” Lucy finished.
James clumped into the kitchen in his work boots and hurried to the refrigerator.
“Who’s pregnant?” he asked. “You, squirt?”
He pulled out a quart of milk and a plate of leftovers.
“Nobody, nosey. How was work with Alice?”
James gulped down half of the milk and scooped a mouthful of cold spaghetti out of the Tupperware.
Lucy started the popcorn in the microwave, frowned at James and poured herself a glass of milk before he drank it all.
“Cool,” he said. He spoke around another mouthful of cold spaghetti. “Alice paid me for doing like almost nothing today. And she says this job will go a while, so camp’s in the bag.”
“What about those night people? Any vampire signs?” She lifted the large silver cross she wore whenever she watched vampire movies.
“Signs like what?” he asked. “They’re just weird, is all.”
The popcorn finished popping so she pulled it from the microwave.
“Weird like baby sacrifices in the full moon?”
“Didn’t see any babies or any sacrifices,” he said. “Besides, I think that’s Satanists.” He wiped the Tupperware clean with a slice of bread and reached for the popcorn. “She’s really hot. Like, hot hot. They’re allergic to the sun, so, yeah, probably vampires. No fangs, though. Just normal teeth.”
Lucy grabbed back the popcorn bag and mimicked James by stuffing her mouth full. Bits of popcorn flecked her mouth when she said, “Better carry a silver bullet, just in case.”
He scooped a huge handful of popcorn into his mouth and mumbled, “That’s werewolves, Runt.”
She smiled her popcorny smile and said, “Silver garlic, then.”
James shook his head and tossed the Tupperware into the sink. He picked up Lucy’s glass of milk and slugged down half.
“Hey!” she said. “That’s mine!” She saved the last of her milk and took the remaining popcorn to the living room for her movie.
James passed Marie on his way upstairs and she said, “Whew, stinky boy! You need a shower!”
“That’s where I’m going Mom! Geez!”
He clomped upstairs and she asked Lucy, “What’s with him?”
Lucy offered her the popcorn and said, “That vampire woman, she’s ‘like, hot.’” She used air quotes for emphasis.
Marie said, “I don’t want to think about it,” and started their movie.