A Vampire's Christmas Carol by Karen McCullough Read Free Book Online Page B

parents.
The year Christmas fell apart was about five years ago. I was in
college at the time, but home for the holidays. By then, my sister
Laura was married and had two small children, a three-year-old
toddler, Matthew, and the baby, Sally. Her husband was in the
military, deployed overseas. She missed him and worried about him,
and sometimes she would lose track of where the toddler was.
    “Anyway, some things don’t change much. My
mother bakes up a storm before Christmas too—cookies, sweet breads,
rolls. Unfortunately she’s not very good at it. She’s kind of
forgetful and easily distracted, especially when she’s working on a
project. She’s a game designer—does scripts for video games.
Sometimes she’ll have an idea while she’s got something in the oven
and just goes ‘to jot it down’, and the next thing you know, you
can smell it burning all over the house.
    “Anyway, this particular year, Laura’s kids
were all over the place. My mother burned at least three pans of
cookies and cooked a loaf of banana bread so hard it could double
as a paving stone. I tried to help out as much as I could, but I
kind of had my hands full too, since I had to do all my shopping
and wrapping as well—and shopping and wrapping for my dad, since he
won’t venture near a retail place in the month of December. Or just
about any other month either, unless the place sells electric
trains.
    “Trains are his hobby, his passion, and
December is when he really puts it on display. Remember when it was
all the rage to set up a train set under the Christmas tree?”
    Michael shrugged. “Not really.”
    “Well it was,” Carol said. “In the fifties or
sixties, I think. My dad never quit. In fact, his under-the-tree
layouts have gotten bigger and more elaborate each year. It now
takes up almost a third of the living room. So, anyway, the day
before Christmas I go out to do some last-minute shopping, with a
pretty long list for both my dad and myself, plus a couple of
requests from my sister. I’m gone most of the day and get back
right at supper time. I don’t know how to explain to you what it’s
like to go shopping the day before Christmas. Trying to find a
parking place, the crowds, people pushing and shoving to get
things, empty shelves, long, long lines at the checkouts… Anyway, I
was pretty frazzled by the time I got finished.”
    A tight smile curled his lips. “I’ve seen
movies. I have some idea.”
    “By the time I got back to the house, I
wasn’t in a great mood, but the chaos at the shopping center didn’t
begin to prepare me for what I found at home. I got there right in
time for the show.”

Chapter
5
    Carol smelled cookies baking the moment she
struggled in the door, trying to hold onto three plastic bags in
each hand. The noise hit her at about the same time. Yells, cries
from the adults, screeches from the kids and a sound that explained
some things and mystified her even more at the same time. A series
of barks.
    She glanced into the living room where her
father leaned over the tracks of his train layout with a bemused
look on his face. Everyone else was down the hall, attempting to
squeeze into the guest bedroom. Three-year-old Matthew toddled on
his own toward them. Squeals, shouts and several voices yelling
directions continued back there, along with more sharp barks. The
baby bawled her own demand for attention.
    “Who got the dog?” Carol asked.
    “Laura decided Matt was ready for a puppy.”
Her father’s dry tone told her exactly what he though about Matt’s
readiness.
    “She’s kind of lonely without Mark. Maybe she
wanted the company.”
    Her father shook his head. “Can’t keep up
with her own kids. Don’t see how she’s going to manage a dog
too.”
    “Maybe it’ll help her learn a bit more
responsibility.”
    “You think a dog will, when the—“
    The action down the hall took a sudden,
dramatic turn, when a small, fast-moving mop of brown fur rushed
out of the guest room