Vampire Lodge by Edward Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

do everything else.”
    “ It’s true,” Jimmy said.
“We saw him out there about an hour ago.”
    “ You did not!” Becky
exclaimed.
    “ We did too,” Kevin
said.
    “ What’s this about digging
holes?” Aunt Carolyn suddenly remarked, appearing from the kitchen.
She set down steaming dinner plates before each other them: t-bone
steaks, baked potatoes, buttered lima beans.
    Becky smirked. “Kevin and Jimmy said
they saw Wally digging in the woods a little while ago.”
    “ Not just digging,” Kevin
corrected. “He was digging a big oblong hole. Coffin
shaped.”
    “ There you go with your
stupid vampires again,” Becky scoffed.
    “ Hey, I didn’t say anything
about vampires,” Kevin came right back. “All I said was that the
hole was shaped like a coffin, and it was your big lover boy Wally
who was digging the hole.”
    “ Kevin, shut
up!”
    “ Now, kids,” Aunt Carolyn
interrupted. “The dinner table is no place to argue.”
    But Becky grumbled on, “All Kevin ever
talks about is stupid vampires, I’m sick of listening to
him.”
    Aunt Carolyn looked up very slowly and
smiled. “So Kevin’s interested in vampires?”
    “ Well, sort of,” Kevin
admitted. “I think they’re pretty cool.”
    Aunt Carolyn’s smile seemed to hover
before her face. “Well, then, tonight, before you go to bed, remind
me to tell you about the local legend.”
    “ What local legend?” Kevin
asked over his steak.
    “ The local vampire legend,” Aunt
Carolyn said.
     

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    Kevin could scarcely think
of anything else all throughout dinner. A
vampire legend? Here? What could it be? And
could it have anything to do with the strange painting he’d seen in
the foyer? The painting of the men in the rowboat, with the box of
gold bricks and—
    And the coffin? he wondered.
    Kevin felt charged up with excitement.
He couldn’t wait to hear about it.
    “ That was a great dinner,
Aunt Carolyn,” Kevin said when they were all finished
eating.
    “ Yeah, thanks,” Jimmy
said.
    “ Well, I’m glad you liked
it,” Aunt Carolyn said.
    But just then, something occurred to
Kevin. The big meal they’d had was very good, but—
    Aunt Carolyn didn’t eat
anything at all, he thought now as they
were taking their plates out to the kitchen.
    And she hadn’t drunk
anything. And this morning, when she
served everybody the spiced cider, she didn’t drink any of that
either.
    “ I have some things to do
around the lodge,” Aunt Carolyn said then. “Would you kids mind
doing the dishes?”
    “ We’d be happy to,” Kevin
said. “But—”
    Aunt Carolyn stopped. “But what,
Kevin?”
    Kevin knew he shouldn’t bug her about
it, but he couldn’t help asking. “When are you going to tell us
about the local vampire legend?”
    Aunt Carolyn smiled to herself. “Later
on. Tonight.”
    Then she disappeared down the hall,
leaving the three of them in the large country kitchen.
    “ I shouldn’t have to wash
dishes,” Becky complained. “I’ll get my brand-new dress all messed
up.”
    “ Fine,” Kevin said, turning
on the hot water. “Go find something else to do then. Go haunt a
house.”
    “ I’d need your ugly face to
do it,” Becky came back.
    “ Go look for your lover boy
Wally,” Jimmy chuckled. “You can help him dig holes in the woods,
in your brand-new dress!”
    Becky glared at them both. “I just
can’t believe how stupid you two guys are.”
    “ You’re still here?” Kevin
asked sarcastically.
    Becky stomped off, frowning, as Kevin
and Jimmy laughed out loud.
    “ Boy,” Jimmy said. “You
sure got rid of her in a hurry.”
    But that’s exactly what Kevin had
intended to do. “I can’t talk around her,” he said. “Wasn’t that
kind of weird?”
    “ What? Your
sister?”
    “ No, no, she’s always weird,” Kevin
said. “I mean Aunt Carolyn.”
    Jimmy dried each plate that Kevin
passed to him from the sink. “Well, she does dress weird,” Jimmy
admitted. “Those long,