Ma and Pa Dracula Read online

  Tobi frowned. “You talk funny,” he said. Then he added, “Let’s go to the summerhouse. We won’t have to be so quiet there.” He pointed across the back lawn to a square, open structure.

  Tobi headed for it, and Jonathan followed him. When they reached the summerhouse, they climbed a short flight of steps and sat on a railing that ran around the building. From there, Jonathan could see the back of his house and, in other directions, miles and miles of fields.

  “By the way,” said Tobi, “in case you’re wondering, I’m a girl.”

  Jonathan was startled. “Really?” Tobi was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and her brown hair was cut very short. “I thought girls wore dresses and had long hair,” said Jonathan.

  “Dresses? Are you kidding?” replied Tobi. “I thought it was just my hair that confused people. Where did you come from?”

  Jonathan didn’t know that Tobi was teasing him. He had no answer to her question. “From—from—” He had no idea where he’d come from, or where he was just then, for that matter. He hadn’t thought to ask Ma and Pa. “We just moved in,” he told Tobi.

  “I know. Wow, no one ever thought anybody would move into this old place. It’s supposed to be haunted, you know.”

  “Oh … No, I did not know,” said Jonathan. “Do you live around here?”

  “Sort of,” replied Tobi. “When you’re out in the country, no one lives nearby. Our house is across those fields, way over there. See?”

  Jonathan nodded.

  “We’re two miles away,” Tobi added.

  “What are you doing out at this time of day?” Jonathan asked.

  “Huh?” Tobi looked at her watch. “It’s only one-thirty,” she said. “I just ate lunch. I don’t have to be home for hours. During the summer, or whenever school is out, Mom and Dad let me and my brothers do whatever we want, as long as we get our chores done.”

  “School?” repeated Jonathan. A funny little chill crept up his back. He felt like a child who was finding out that there really isn’t a Santa Claus.

  Tobi frowned again. “Yeah. School. You know—that place with all the desks and books and bad food.”

  Jonathan tried to hide his excitement. “Oh, of course. School. It is just that I have never been to one.”

  “Never been to school!” cried Tobi, amazed. “Wow. You are so lucky!”

  “Well, perhaps,” said Jonathan. “Listen, tell me something.” Jonathan’s mind was clicking away. “Do you really get to go out in the daytime?”

  “Of course,” said Tobi. “What’d you think?” Now she looked amazed. “Anyway, you’re outside,” she reminded him.

  “Believe me, this is rare. My parents … my parents shelter me,” Jonathan tried to explain. “Do you go outside often? Maybe even every day?”

  “Sure. Geez, where are you from?”

  Jonathan shook his head. “Do you mean are we from Pennsylvania or Arkansas?”

  “Or Mars?” suggested Tobi.

  Jonathan didn’t get the joke. “Excuse me?”

  “Never mind. Do you know where you’re from?”

  “No. Where are we now?”

  “Hopewell, Maryland. The sticks.”

  Jonathan nodded. He didn’t know what “the sticks” were, but slowly—very slowly—something was dawning on him. His parents and Mr. Saginaw had been lying to him!

  “Tobi,” he asked quickly, “do you have TV at your house?”

  “Oh, sure. We’re even getting cable soon. Maybe.”

  “And do you have something called a radio? And maybe a record player?”

  “’Course. Well, not a record player, a stereo.”

  “And do you have a telephone?”

  “Yes.” Tobi was sounding impatient. “These aren’t the olden days, you know.”

  “Forgive me,” said Jonathan. “You see, we do not have any of those things. I,” he went on, “have never believed they were real.”

  “You’re weird,” said Tobi flatly.

  “I do not mean to be,” replied Jonathan. “But tell me—where is your school? If there really is such a thing as school, I want to know what it is like.”

  “Oh,” said Tobi. “Well, I can take you there. It’s only about a mile away. Want to go?”

  Jonathan looked at his sleepy house. Going to a school was surely against the rules, but he didn’t care anymore. The rule-makers were liars, and he was mad at them. This was the first time Jonathan Primave had ever felt angry. “Yes,” he told Tobi, “I do want to go. Right now.”

  3

  Littleton Elementary School

  JONATHAN ASKED TOBI A lot of questions. But as Tobi led him through the fields to her school, she asked a lot of questions, too.

  “How come you’ve never been outside before?” she wanted to know.

  “Oh, I have been outside,” Jonathan told her, “every time we move. But I just have not been out during the day.”

  “Didn’t you ever look out your windows?” asked Tobi.

  “Not during the day. We sleep all day. Besides, it is against the rules.”

  “Whose rules?”

  “Ma’s and Pa’s. And Mr. Saginaw’s.”

  “Who’s Mr. Saginaw?”

  “Our—our—I do not know what you would call him. He lives with us, and tutors me, and fixes my meals, and gets me books.”

  “Sort of a governess,” said Tobi. “A man governess. I wonder if a man governess is called a governor.”

  Jonathan laughed. At last—a joke he understood!

  “Mr. Saginaw taught me to read,” he said.

  “Oh,” said Tobi, “is that how you know about TV and school and stuff?”

  Jonathan nodded. “But my parents told me those things were made up.”

  “I wonder why,” Tobi said thoughtfully. Then she added, “Do you believe everything they tell you? Do you follow all their rules?”

  “I always have …”Jonathan replied. “But … oh, well. Do most kids go to school?” he asked.

  “Only all of them.”

  “My goodness! How about friends? Do you have friends? People in books always do.”

  “I’ve got lots of friends! Rusty and Eric and Sharrod.”

  “All boys. Are they your boyfriends?”

  “No way! We’re only nine. In fourth grade. You don’t have boyfriends until you’re much older.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s just that girls are dumb. I never bother with them.”

  “Oh,” said Jonathan again. “By the way, why were you in our yard today? I am most glad you were there, but what were you doing?”

  Tobi blushed. “My brothers,” she said sheepishly, “dared me to go to your house after you moved in. They said—Well, this isn’t very nice, but since it’s not true, I guess I can tell you. They said that only, like, monsters would move into the old Drumthwacket place. And then you moved in in the middle of the night, which was kind of strange, so I decided to go look around for myself. And I did. And I met you. And you’re … well, you’re not a monster.”

  “Am I strange?” asked Jonathan.

  “A little,” Tobi admitted, “but I like you. You’re okay. I like anyone who breaks rules sometimes. And you’re breaking a big one right now, aren’t you?”

  “Definitely.”

  Jonathan and Tobi had been tramping along the edges of fields, following well-worn paths. They came to the corner of one field and found themselves facing a grove of trees.

  Tobi marched straight into it, and Jonathan followed her. When they reached the other side, they came to a school playground. Jonathan had no idea what it was. He saw only silvery poles and long red boards and a roundish red thing.

  “What is all this?” asked Jonathan.

  “It’s our playground, dummy,” said Tobi. “Swings and seesaws and the merry-go-round. Oh, and over there are the monkey bars.”

  Jonathan nodded. “I have read about these things, but I have never seen them.” He walked slowly toward the seesaws.

  �
��Hey!” shouted Tobi. “Sorry I called you a dummy! I forgot you haven’t seen any of this before. Want to go on the seesaws?”

  “‘Go on’ them?” repeated Jonathan. “I do not—”

  “Here, I’ll show you how,” said Tobi.

  Tobi ran to the seesaws, and Jonathan followed her. She lowered the end of one to the ground and told Jonathan to sit on it. Then she scrambled onto the raised end.

  “You climb like a monkey!” said Jonathan.

  “Thanks,” said Tobi, “I know. Now, listen, I can show you how to swing, too, and how to climb on the jungle gym.”

  Tobi and Jonathan played for over an hour. “Goodness me,” said Jonathan when they stopped to rest, “school certainly is fun.”

  “Ha,” said Tobi, “this is hardly school. This is recess. Real school is math and reading and workbooks and teachers and sitting at your desk for hours.”

  “Where are the desks?” asked Jonathan.

  “In the classrooms.” Tobi pointed to the school building. “You want to see the room I’ll be in when school starts?”

  “Certainly,” replied Jonathan.

  “It’s Miss Lecky’s fourth grade,” said Tobi as they walked across the playground. “Oh, here’s the water fountain. Want a drink?”

  Jonathan looked blank.

  Tobi made a face, then showed him how to press the button and drink from the stream of water that shot up.

  “My heavens!” exclaimed Jonathan.

  “Hey, can I give you a tip?” asked Tobi. “Don’t say ‘My heavens’ in front of any other kids. Or ‘My goodness’ or ‘Goodness me.’ Kids don’t talk like that.”

  “All right,” said Jonathan, wondering when he would ever see other kids.

  Tobi took a drink, then peered through a window of the school building. “Okay,” she said to Jonathan, “this is Littleton Elementary School, and this” (she rapped on the window) “is Miss Lecky’s fourth-grade classroom.”

  Jonathan put his hands to the glass. He peered inside and saw neat rows of desks and chairs, and one big desk.

  “Who gets that big desk?” he asked.

  “Miss Lecky, dum—I mean, it’s the teacher’s.”

  Jonathan continued to peer inside. “I see a science chart,” he said, “and a lot of books … I like books. School looks like fun, Tobi.”

  “We-ell … I guess it can be. Sometimes. Our class had a spelling bee with Mr. Proctor’s class last year and we won a pizza party. That was fun. And seeing movies or videos is fun.” Tobi saw Jonathan’s blank look again, but she didn’t feel like trying to explain what movies and videos were. “Hey,” she went on, “do you know about gym?”

  “Jim?” said Jonathan.

  “You know. PE. Phys ed. Physical education.”

  “Oh! Physical education. Yes, I have heard of that.”

  “Well, gym is fun,” said Tobi. “It’s my favorite class. You get to play soccer and baseball and basketball and volleyball.”

  “I would like to try those games,” Jonathan told Tobi. He looked thoughtful. “Tobi? Do you and the children—”

  “Kids,” Tobi corrected him.

  “Do you and the kids spend the day together when you are in school?”

  “Sure. From before eight-thirty until almost three o’clock.”

  “And school always happens during the day? Never at night?”

  “Right.”

  “And do you eat lunch together?”

  “Yup. In the cafeteria.”

  “I know you do not like everything about school, Tobi,” said Jonathan, “but I would like to go to school. Right here. Right here at Littleton Elementary School.”

  “Well,” said Tobi, “how old are you?”

  “Nine. I turned nine in May.”

  “Then you’d be in fourth grade. Like me! Maybe you could even be in Miss Lecky’s class. Miss Lecky is pretty cool. For a teacher. And for a girl.”

  “Miss Lecky is a girl?” said Jonathan incredulously.

  “Well, no, she’s a woman, a grown-up. I just meant she’s cool for a—a female.”

  “Oh. I would like to go to school with you, Tobi. What do you have to do?”

  “You mean to start school?”

  “Yes.”

  “Register, I guess. And buy some pencils and a notebook. But no pens. Miss Lecky doesn’t let fourth-graders write in pen. Ink is too hard to erase if you make a mistake.”

  “All right,” said Jonathan. “Register. Notebook, pencils, no pen.”

  “You want to see the gym?” asked Tobi.

  Jonathan looked at his watch. “I better not,” he said. “I ought to go home. If I do not get some sleep today, I will be exhausted tonight. And I want to be alert. I must be alert, because I have decided to talk to my parents.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes. I am going to ask Ma and Pa—No, I am going to tell Ma and Pa that when school starts, I will be going. When does it start?” he asked Tobi.

  “In two weeks.”

  “And I will be there. I hope,” added Jonathan.

  “Great!” exclaimed Tobi. “I guess I better walk you home, huh?”

  “Yes, please.”

  So Jonathan and Tobi tramped back to the old Drumthwacket place.

  By the time Jonathan was home again and ready to go back to bed, he had come up with a long list of questions to ask Ma and Pa and Mr. Saginaw.

  4

  Ma and Pa Dracula

  JONATHAN’S TRIP TO SCHOOL had been like a great middle-of-the-night adventure. He thought he would be exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep at all. His room suddenly seemed so bright. He tossed and turned. He watched the numbers on his digital clock change … and change … and change.

  At last Jonathan’s clock read ten minutes before his alarm was set to go off. Surely he could get up now. Maybe his parents were already up. He could talk to them for ten extra minutes before they left for work.

  Jonathan tiptoed into the hall. His parents’ door was closed. Too bad. Jonathan must be the first one up. He tiptoed through the hall and down the stairs. Just as he reached the bottom, the door to the basement opened and out came his parents.

  “Jonathan!” cried his mother. “You gave us a fright!”

  “Excuse me,” he replied, “you startled me, too.”

  Jonathan dashed back upstairs. Cautiously, he opened the door to his parents’ bedroom. He peeped in. Their bed was neatly made. It hadn’t been slept in!

  Everything is getting stranger and stranger, thought Jonathan. But he would have to worry about his parents and the basement later. Right now he wanted to talk to Ma and Pa about school … and several other things.

  Jonathan ran back downstairs and into the kitchen. Mr. Saginaw was just starting breakfast. Ma and Pa were standing by the back door.

  “You are up early this evening,” Pa said to Jonathan.

  “I know,” Jonathan replied. “Ma, Pa, I need to talk to you. It is very important. Could you eat breakfast with Mr. Saginaw and me? Just this once? You never eat with us. And you look like you could use some food.”

  Jonathan could not understand why his parents never ate breakfast. They always looked so thin in the evening. And pale. Almost, well, bloodless. And their eyes were so dull. Surely Mr. Saginaw’s oatmeal would perk them up.

  “I am sorry,” answered Pa. “Your ma and I must go the blood bank.”

  “No,” said Jonathan firmly, “not yet.” He drew in a deep breath. “Look,” he began, “today I could not sleep. So I got up. I went for a walk outside—”

  “Outside?” asked Ma with a gasp. She sat down at the kitchen table. Pa followed her. So did Jonathan and Mr. Saginaw.

  “Yes,” answered Jonathan. Ma and Pa looked horrified, but Jonathan continued: “I met a girl named Tobi. She was very nice. And guess what? Her family sleeps at night. She goes out-of-doors during the daytime. She says TV and telephones and stereos are real.”

  “Oh, well,” scoffed Pa, “just because she says so—”<
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  “And then she took me to her school,” Jonathan went on. “I saw it with my own eyes. Tobi and I rode on the swings and the seesaws. We looked through the windows of the school. We saw Miss Lecky’s room. That is where Tobi will go to fourth grade. I saw the little desks and the big desk. Tobi said all chil—I mean, kids—go to school. Why do I not go? And why did you tell me school is not real?” Jonathan glared at his parents and Mr. Saginaw. He waited for their answer.

  Ma frowned. Pa glowered back at Jonathan. “You broke the rules,” he reminded him sternly.

  “You lied to me,” Jonathan replied.

  “Harrumph,” said Mr. Saginaw.

  Ma and Pa looked crossly at Mr. Saginaw. Everyone was tired of hearing him harrumph.

  “I want to go to school,” said Jonathan flatly.

  Ma and Pa gasped. Ma patted the coil of hair on her head. She smoothed her filmy gown. At last she turned to Pa. “We knew this would happen one day,” she said to him. “But I did not expect it this soon. He is still so young.”

  Pa nodded. “I suppose we will have to get used to the idea, though.”

  “Going to school would be a big change,” Ma told Jonathan. “You would have to start sleeping during the night and getting up in the morning. You and Pa and I would hardly see each other.”

  “Why cannot you and Pa sleep at night, too?” asked Jonathan. “Tobi says that is what everyone does.”

  “We are not everyone,” Pa informed him. “But we will let you go to school. I suppose,” he continued wearily, “that Mr. Saginaw would no longer be your tutor.”

  Jonathan nodded.

  “But he can help you with anything you need during the day,” Pa went on. “He will buy you a notebook and whatever you need for school. He will drive you to the library. He will be here to help you with, well, anything.”

  “But where will you be?” asked Jonathan nervously.

  “Oh, we will be here, but we will be asleep,” Pa spoke up. “As we told you, we will continue to sleep during the day and, um, work at night.”

  “You might have some trouble changing your sleeping habits,” said Ma. “Learning to sleep when it is dark and going to school when it is light. However, if you start to switch now, you should be used to the new routine by the time school begins. We certainly will miss you, though.”