“We’ll go out on snowshoes you said said. It will be fun you said. Holy shit James. This reminds me of that book Into the Wild,” said Andy.
“I guess, but not really,” his friend James answered as they looked in through the door of the small cabin.
Five young people wrapped in sleeping bags sat in the cold around a woodburning stove that had obviously burned out hours ago. Four miserable looking young men, and one pissed off young woman.
“The guys brought beer and Southern Comfort. That is IT,” said the young woman.
“We brought food”, said a sad looking guy with sort of long wavy brown hair.
“You guys ate ALL of it. They even stole my stash of granola bars when I went to the bathroom. It is only Friday morning and they ate everything,” yelled the woman.
“Is that true?” Andy asked.
The young men said nothing.
“We came up yesterday and were supposed to stay until Monday morning. I feel like I’m in the Donner party,” said the young woman.
“How do you all know each other. How are you related?”
“My family owns the cabin,” said a young man with short beard over a boyish face. We’re all 4th year students at UC Davis. We’re friends. We all work in the campus bike repair shop.”
“Next generation,” said Andy. “I know your family.”
“Um, I grew up in Southern California so I just came up here when I was a kid. My mom sent me the lock combination and said we could come up here, you know, for a long weekend.”
James wanted to start laughing, but showed a serious face. “The four of you are here with an incredibly attractive and obviously smart young woman. She took the risk to come up here with you. Did none of you think that maybe, just perhaps, after this trip that she might become interested in one of you?”
The young men said nothing but I could tell they were thinking.
“They didn’t even save me a Mandarin Orange,” said the woman.
“Were the local Mandarin Oranges?” Andy asked.
“Yeah, from Loomis,” she said.
Andy shook his head. “Wow. Those are like gold. Guys, you didn’t even save her a Mandarin Orange?”
“We have a few apples”, said the young man who looked like he’d come out of an old fashioned Arrow Shirt advertisement. Andy wondered how he’d managed to keep his hair looking so good while the other three looked like hell.
“We’re saving them for tonight,” said the Arrow Shirt guy.
“We were starving,” said the guy with the beard.
“I’m Andy and this is my friend James. We’re staying at my brother’s cabin nearby.”
The young woman introduced herself first. “I’m Katie. Katie Nguyen.”
“Who are your friends?”
Caden Billings, Connor McCleary, Lee Davis, Justin Nguyen.
“No relation,” said Justin.
What are you studying?
Caden: Art
Connor: Genetics
Lee: Enology
Justin: Fermentation Science
Katie: Chemistry
“Are you in the big cabin by the river The one called Fox Hall.”
“That would be the place,” said Andy.
“My grandfather told us that Vampires lived up there.”
“Why did he think Vampires lived there?”
“I don’t mean now. But you know, vampires, blood, bats, cobwebs, no light may enter or we’ll all burn up.”
“Right. That’s funny.”
.
“What is even more funny is that we’re taking you there right now. We have food, and it is warm, and safe. You can call your mom if you’re unsure. I know her.”
Andy and James led the young people on a twenty minute hike up to Fox Hall. It was a five bedroom cabin, more of a mountain mansion, in built in an Arts & Crafts style, with a lot of wood and windows with spectacular views.
The group of young people were visibly impressed when they entered the place.
Andy’s brother Val came down the stairs and welcomed them all in.
“This is my brother Val,” said Andy. “He is the owner of Fox Hall.”
Val was tall with chestnut brown hair and looking like he’d just come off the spread of fashion magazine’s “best winter styles” issue. Everyone noticed that when Andy took off his jacket his brown hair, the same color as Val’s came down to the center of his back. James just looked like James – a nice looking guy with a touch of both boredom and amusement in his eyes.
After they’d all settled in with hot coffee, tea, and cookies, of course in front of a grand fireplace made of river rocks, next to a window with a view of a waterfall, Val came in and sat in a large red leather wingback chair.
“So, my brother Andy tells me you’ve heard tales of Vampires living here, at Fox Hall.”
“I don’t know,” said Caden. “My grandpa used to tell us crazy stories. I bet it was because he didn’t want the kids bothering the neighbors. My mom always said it was because my great grandmother was beautiful and fun, and everyone always suspected there might have been an affair with the owner, you know, before she married my great grandfather. She said everyone here was always nice. It was just stories, and you know, a love affair concerning a respectable woman.”
Val smiled. “You never know.” Of course Val did know. “I know the story. Do you want to know?”
Of course they all wanted to know the story.
“Before she met your great grandfather, your great grandmother Helen was married to a man named Joseph Salt. Everyone called him Ollie. I have no idea why. Anyway, to make a fairly short story even longer, Helen was working as a file clerk and girl Friday to the big boss at the Grand Valley Canning Company. Their main stuff was tomatoes, pears, and peaches. The big boss had a son called Ollie who’d just graduated from Harvard. His five brothers went to Yale, and his two sisters went to USC and Berkeley. The sisters stayed in California because at the time Ivy League schools didn’t allow women to have an education.
As soon as Ollie noticed Helen, he knew he had to have her as his own. Within two months they had married. The first time he hit her was a week after their wedding. He promised her he’d never do it again and begged for her forgiveness. After that it the violence was a regular occurrence, and he stopped asking for forgiveness.”
“I never knew this,” said Caden.
“You wouldn’t Caden. Helen never told anyone. Well, one summer Helen’s father offered them the cabin for a few weeks, to help them have some romantic privacy to start a family. Ollie jumped on the opportunity. Helen wasn’t allowed an opinion, so she just went along. She also knew there would be rich friends with cabins, including this cabin.”
“Who owned this cabin?”
“Funny you should ask. His name was Valentine. Just like me. This cabin has also been in the family for years.
While Ollie was off fishing, Helen would spend time either painting with Valentine, or going on short nature hikes. Eventually she confided in Valentine about her abuse. One night Ollie accused Helen of cheating with Valentine.
No. They were not. The next morning, she had a black eye. Valentine told Helen that she could stay with him, and that he’d take her home, or wherever she wanted to go. The cabin had five bedrooms so there would be no intrepidity. Aside from that Valentine’s sister, and his brother, and his brother’s friend were all staying there as well. Ollie told everyone at the local bar…”
“Wasn’t probation going on?” Asked the kid called Lee.
“Not up here in the mountains. People pretty much did what they wanted. So, Ollie told everyone he was going to get Helen and show her who was in control. Ollie went to Valentine’s cabin and pounded on the door yelling for Helen to come back to the cabin and do her wifely duty. Valentine greeted him at the door and told him to go away.”
“Did he?” Katie asked.
“He did,” said Val.
“So what happened next?” Caden asked.
Val rolled his shoulders, then smiled. “Nobody ever saw him alive again. He was found at the bottom of a cliff. His body was seemingly drained of blood. He’d had a long fall and over the next 48 hours quite a few animals had picked over the body, the loss of blood, and the fact his throat was torn to shreds was no surprise. None the less, his friends started the rumor that we, I mean, my family members and friends who were here at the time were Vampires. It was 1932 and the film Dracula had come out in 1931, so people had Dracula on their mind.”
“Why Valentine?” Lee again.
“He’d just come back from an elegant party and was formally dressed. No cape, but with his hair slicked back people might have thought he reminded them of Bela Lugosi. He didn’t look any more like Lugosi than I do but you know how people get when they need something weird to explain something they don’t understand,” said Val.
“So what happened to my great grandma? Did she and Valentine, you know?” Asked Caden.
“Yes, for the rest of the summer. She didn’t mourn Ollie. We, they, excuse me Valentine. Helen and Valentine knew it was temporary. Luckily for Helen she met the love of her life a month later. That was your great grandfather. In fact, Valentine and your great grandfather Will became fast friends.”
“So why did my grandpa tell me there were Vampires?”
“Helen told her kids there were Vampires here to keep the kids from bothering Valentine. Of course, they did come by all the time. But honestly, I don’t know why the rumor continued. There are more likely to be bears or racoons sleeping in my basement than Vampires.”
“What about all of the other stories about Vampires and strange things that have happened over the years up here?” Asked Caden.
“Scary campfire fun. That’s all it is,” said Val.
They stayed up and talked with us for the rest of the night James made made several salads and a big pot of beef stew.
“You aren’t eating much and you did all the cooking,” said Katie.
James smiled. I’ll have something later.
By the end of the evening Katie was sitting close to Caden, and he had his arm around her, and her hand was on his knee.
There were enough beds for everyone to sleep comfortably without sleeping bags or cold feet.
The next morning, which by the way, was Saturday, the five young friends slept in late. In fact, they slept until noon. James had coffee and a big breakfast complete with homemade cinnamon rolls waiting for them.
A few hours later after snowman building, lively conversations by the fire, and a few rounds of Yatzee, Andy came out with several bottles of extremely nice wine, and an assortment of nice cheeses and fruit. Andy, James, and Val were thanked profusely by their young guests.
Then Val put his hand on Caden’s shoulder and said, “Come with me.”
Caden found himself with Val in a room that was set up as a comfortable library/office. On the large oak desk were half a dozen photographs.
“These are of Valentine and Helen. You can see the family resemblance. There is a lot of her in you Caden.”
“You look just like him,” said Caden. “They look like they were in love.”
“We, they were.”
“You said we. We were.”
“Sorry, the wine went straight to my head.”
“Is that you in the photographs?”
“I loved Helen, but she had a future with someone else. I was the one who introduced your great grandparents to each other. I’ll have to tell you, it was love at first sight.”
“You’re a…”
“Yes. So is my brother Andy, and our friend James.”
James could hear singing coming from the other part of the house. It was the most beautiful voice he’d ever heard.
“It sounds like…wait, Andy is Andrew…”
“Yes, that is my brother. Famous singer, and my elder brother.”
“How old are you?”
“One hundred and sixty six,” said Val without hesitation.
“You look about thirty.”
“Pretty cool isn’t it. Now, Caden my man. You are not to tell anyone about what you figured out about me. You and your friends will always be safe, and our community will always protect you and those you love.”
“What about the stories? Was that you?”
“Nobody who was ever found dead in the woods around here didn’t deserve their fate.”
Caden took a drink of wine. “It is going to take me a bit to process this.”
“You know I’m telling the truth.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“If she’d asked you to would you have turned her into a Vampire?”
“No. I wasn’t the one for her. Plus, if I had, you wouldn’t be here now would you?”
Late the next afternoon, before Andy drove the young visitors back to their car, Val had a few final words for them.
“If you see a woman wearing a red jacket hitchhiking close to here, do me a favor and give her a ride back here,” said Val.
“Who is she?” Lee asked.
“Just your standard issue ghostly hitchhiker,” said Val.
“Boys, next time you bring a woman up here bring something other than beer to drink, and don’t smoke a pound of pot and eat all the food in one sitting,” said James as he gave them all hugs.
After they’d left Val put away the photographs. He knew that one day Caden would be back, no doubt with Kate and their kids, maybe fifteen years from now. Maybe the others would be back as well.
They always come back, thought Val. They always come back to Fox Hall.
~ end
Vampire Maman 