Chet was dosing. Billy B. knew because he could hear him snoring. Soon he supposed that Mrs. B. would hear him too. He had been up late…for an 8 year old…planning the Halloween escapades in less than 2 weeks. He nudged him just as Mrs. Blackwell was looking annoyed in his direction. Chet suddenly sat bolt upright in his desk chair and said…don’t forget your grandmother’s cross. Everyone laughed accept Mrs. B. At recess Billy B. asked Chet what he had meant by the unusual cross statement? He responded that most people understood that vampires could not stand to look at the cross due to its religious symbolism. He asked if Billy B. had not noticed the actor, Peter Cushing, fight Dracula with either a ready made cross…or crossing 2 candle sticks…or even fashioning a wooden cross. He knew that Peter Cushing was Billy Bumps hero in the many Hammer Films of Gothic Horror. Hammer Films was a film company based in England that filmed Dracula and Frankenstein movies in vivid color. There seemed to be 1 or 2 new ones each year. When Dracula was just about to vanquish the good vampire hunter…he revealed the christian cross…and the evil vampire recoiled in fear and trepidation. So…Chet had been dreaming in class of the Halloween Play that they were going to perform before the school at Assembly…on Halloween.

Play practice was tonight…and Sally and Jane and Buddy and Daryl…along with Billy B. and Chet would be the performers. Chet was going to be Dracula and Jane and Sally were to be the innocent women that the undead was attempting to transform to vampires. Billy B. would be the Vampire Hunter and Buddy…Dracula’s assistant…who ate bugs… Play practice was at Billy B.’s house. Of course he lived in a haunted house. Sally asked if she could be ‘Sally from Peanuts’ and Billy B. said that he thought that was an innovative idea for a Vampire Halloween Play. Chet heard Sally’s request and noted that his famous Halloween character of the Lost In Space Robot…would be a nice twist on the rather tired Dracula theme. Buddy asked, ‘Where is Daryl?’ No one seemed to know. Buddy then noted that his mom had purchased some candy bugs…as he was not going to eat real ones. Billy B.’s dad had roaring fires going in the massive old house’s 5 fireplaces. The dancing flames and the prevailing warmth was a nice setting for a vampire standoff…

‘Did you bring the cross,’ Chet asked. ‘Yes I did…it was my grandmothers who lived in Romania,’ Billy B. answered. Suddenly there was Daryl floating down the stairs. He had on a black cape and he almost looked like a bat as he glided into the living room. The roaring fires were snuffed out by a cold wind… ‘I am glad that you could make it, Daryl,’ said Billy B….’would you like to see my grandmother’s cross?’ Daryl jumped back in fear and ran out of the front door into the strange beauty of the setting Sun…