Kalpana's Dream by Judith Clarke Read Free Book Online

imaginations, to listen to the heavenly music of their souls . . .’ Ms Dallimore, seeking sympathy, gazed into Vladimir’s dark glasses and saw only her own face mirrored there. She loved him dearly, but– ‘Vlad, isn’t there something you can do about your glare problem? So you don’t have to wear dark glasses all the time? And so we could’, she waved at the shadowy corners of the room, ‘have a little light in here?’
    Vladimir sighed. ‘I fear not. Mine is a hereditary affliction, about which nothing can be done.’
    ‘But Vladimir, surely, in this day and age–’
    ‘Ah! “In this day and age”, ’ repeated Vladimir. ‘That sounds like a good title for one of your essays, my love. Or even, simply, “Day and Age”.’
    ‘Why, yes!’ Ms Dallimore exclaimed excitedly. ‘It – it’s wonderful, Vladimir. “Day and Age” – why, they could write about almost anything.’ In her enthusiasm, Ms Dallimore dropped her fork again, as Vladimir had known she would, and when she returned from the kitchen, the pockets of his smock were bulging, and the potatoes on his plate were gone . . .

    Outside the window, Ivy Stevenson and Danny Moss crouched among the bushes, trying to catch a glimpse of their Year Seven teacher’s mysterious boyfriend. It was difficult because the room was so dark, full of flickering shadows from that single tiny candle. Dimly they could make out Ms Dallimore’s pale face, but her companion’s back was turned towards them.
    ‘Can you see him?’ whispered Ivy.
    Danny shook his head. ‘Nah.’
    And then, almost as if he’d heard them, Vladimir swung round in his chair to face the window.
    Ivy and Danny saw a long white face beneath a shock of thick black hair; they saw full wet ruby lips and the spooky gleam of Vladimir’s dark glasses.
    ‘Geez, he’s wearing shades in the middle of the night!’
    ‘Oooh, look at his mouth, his lips are really red, like – like blood!’
    Danny grabbed Ivy’s hand. They scrambled from the bushes and ran – ran with their hearts thudding, across the lawn to the gate, out into the street, down the road, and they didn’t stop till they’d rounded two corners and were hidden in the prickly safety of old Mrs Peterson’s hedge.
    ‘Think he saw us?’
    ‘Nah – too dark.’
    ‘He might be able to see in the dark. It’s the light that bothers them.’
    They crouched together, listening. After a few more minutes Danny said, ‘He’s not coming after us, anyway. There’s no footsteps.’
    ‘He mightn’t have footsteps.’
    ‘Ah, come on!’ said Danny. ‘Let’s go down the reserve.’
    ‘Do you think he is?’ asked Ivy a few moments later as they hurried on through the streets. ‘Do you think he really is–’
    ‘Count Dracula?’ Danny thought for a moment. ‘He does look a bit like him, with that spooky white face, and those shades–’
    ‘And those lips, ’ shivered Ivy.
    ‘Except, ’ said Danny, ‘Count Dracula’s not–’
    ‘Not real, ’ finished Ivy, with a little sigh.
    ‘Yeah. He’s only someone from a fairy story. Know what? I reckon it’s all coincidence, see?’
    ‘Coincidence?’
    ‘That Ms Dallimore gets round with some weird guy who happens to look like a vampire, and that she’s so pale. Red-haired people are pale.’
    ‘And getting paler, ’ whispered Ivy.
    ‘She’s probably got some kind of vitamin deficiency.’
    ‘Iron, ’ said Ivy knowledgeably, ‘or maybe B12.’
    They walked on a little further. ‘He’s handsome, but, ’ said Ivy.
    ‘Handsome? That weirdo? You think so?’
    ‘Sort of – distinguished. Romantic.’
    ‘Romantic!’ scoffed Danny, but a moment later, he put his arm around her. ‘Hey, Ive, guess what?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I’ve found this really romantic place that no-one else knows about. How about we go there one day?’
    Ivy smiled. ‘Where is it?’
    ‘The zoo.’
    ‘The zoo ?’ Ivy wrinkled her nose.
    ‘Not in the zoo, exactly. You know that bushy bit,