The Traveling Vampire Show

At the sound of a door opening, we went silent and watched Bitsy step into the hallway. She was no longer crying. She seemed calm. Back straight, she limped toward us. She’d used a couple of safety pins to fasten the top of her dress together, but she hadn’t done a very good job with them. Her front was open to one extent or another all the way down to her waist.

“How are you doing?” I asked her.

“Not so good.”

“We’re really sorry you got hurt.”

“Yeah,” Rusty said. “I’m sorry.”

“You know what?” Slim asked her. “We’re glad you’re the one who did that stuff in our houses. I mean, we figured we had those weirdos from the vampire show creeping around, so it’s a fantastic relief to find out it was only you.”

“That’s for sure,” I said.

It wasn’t a total lie. I was very glad we weren’t being stalked by Stryker and his gang. But the notion of Bitsy creeping through my house—while my mom was home—gave me a bad case of the creeps. I knew that Rusty and I had sneaked into Slim’s house that same day, but this seemed different. In fact, this seemed a trifle demented.

What if she sneaks into the house when I’m there?

I imagined her skulking through the hallways and rooms late at night, lurking in shadows, spying on me.

“I’m sorry I upset you,” Slim told her.

“And I’m sorry you fell,” Rusty said.

I just smiled at her and shrugged.

She smiled at me. A rather sad smile that used only one side of her mouth. “Anyway,” she said, “I don’t wanta go home, after all.”

“Okay,” Slim said.

Rusty looked as if he wanted to whoop for joy. He held it in, though, and simply sighed as if his death sentence had been commuted.

“All I ever wanted,” Bitsy said, “was just to hang out with you guys. I didn’t wanta wreck anything.”

“That’s real good,” I said, trying to sound sincere.

“So can we all be friends?” she asked. “If I promise not to tell?”

“Sure!” Rusty blurted.

“And nobody tells on me, okay?”

“A deal,” Slim said.

I nodded.

“What’s to tell?” said Rusty.

Blushing, she looked away and muttered, “Nothing.”

“Well,” said Slim, “I’m glad that’s all settled. Now we just have to decide what to do about Lee.” She asked me, “What do you think?”

“I guess ... since it was Bitsy who did the other stuff, maybe there really isn’t anything to worry about.”

Rusty gave his sister a look of exaggerated suspicion. “You didn’t do something with Lee, did you?”

Bitsy narrowed her eyes. “No.”

“Anyway,” I said, “I guess we can either go on to the drive-in or wait here.”

“There’s no point in the drive-in anymore,” Bitsy said.

We all looked at her.

“By the time we can get there ...” She shrugged. “We’d just have to turn around and come back. Wouldn’t even get to see a whole movie. Not if we have to be here by ten-thirty.”

“We could at least watch part of one,” I told her.

“Nah.” A smile lifted her heavy lips. “Who wants to see a couple of stupid movies, anyway? I wanta go see the Traveling Vampire Show.”

Silence crashed down on us.

Slim, Rusty and I stared at each other.

Bitsy watched us, a funny smile on her face that made me suspect she knew exactly what she was doing.

Nobody else spoke up, so I did.

“We’d like to have you come with us,” I said, “but we’ve only got four tickets.”

She pointed at us, counting aloud. “One, two, three, four.”

“The problem is, one of the tickets is for Lee.”