Amos and the Vampire

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YEARLING BOOKS
are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author of numerous books for young readers.

For a complete listing of all Yearling titles,
write to Dell Readers Service,
P.O. Box 1045, South Holland, IL 60473.

Duncan—Dunc—Culpepper sat in the back of the school library across from his best friend for life, Amos Binder. Dunc was working on a social studies report. Amos was trying to find a comfortable position on the library’s hard wooden chair while reading a comic book he had hidden inside an upside-down encyclopedia.

The bell rang.

Amos nearly tipped his chair over scrambling to stand up. “Come on, Dunc. That was the sound of freedom. It’s Friday. We’re outta here.”

“Hold on. I’m almost finished.”

Amos picked up one of Dunc’s research
books,
Dracula of the Night
by Bertram Watson. “You’re doing your report on Dracula?”

Dunc shrugged. “Mrs. Burnbottom said we could do it on anything that had to do with Halloween or its customs. Dracula’s kind of interesting. In fact, his whole family has a fascinating history.”

“Right. A history of borrowing other people’s blood.” Amos opened the book and read a couple of lines: “ ‘The vampire feasts on any warm-blooded creature he is able to snare. Then he returns to the safety of his coffin before the light of day can catch him unaware.’ ”

“It’s only a myth.” Dunc took the book and slid it into his backpack. “What are you doing your report on?”

“Candy.”

Dunc raised one eyebrow.

Amos shrugged. “She said
anything
that had to do with Halloween, didn’t she?”

Dunc tried not to smile. “That’s what she said. And speaking of candy, we need a better plan for trick-or-treating this time than we had
last
year.”

“I don’t want to talk about last year.”

“I understand. If I had talked my best friend into something impossible like covering the whole town in one night, I wouldn’t want to talk about it either.”

Amos headed for the door.

Dunc followed him down the library steps. “And if I had been responsible for that same best friend being chased all over town and nearly getting swallowed by a huge man-eating wolf, I’d probably just want to forget all about it.”

Amos unlocked his bike.

“And if I, personally, had been bitten by that wolf and had run around acting like a werepuppy in front of the whole world, I’d
really
try and put it out of my mind forever.”

Dunc watched Amos roll his bike out of the rack and head down the street. “By the way, did you hear what James Morton told Justin Smeltzer about Melissa Hansen?”

It worked. It always worked. Amos turned around, pedaled back to Dunc, and stopped. “What about Melissa?”

Melissa Hansen was the only girl in the world as far as Amos was concerned. He was her devoted love slave—or at least he
wanted to be. His knees turned to jelly and a large knot caught in his throat every time he saw her. Once, when he thought she was actually going to sit by him in the cafeteria, he got so excited he threw up on her shoes.

Dunc shifted his backpack to one shoulder. “It’s only hearsay. You probably don’t want to know about it.”

“Are you going to tell me, or do I stuff that backpack up your nose?”

“It’s nothing really. James just heard that Melissa is throwing a big costume party on Halloween, and she’s inviting practically the whole school.”

Amos sat back on his bike. “That explains why she called last night, to personally invite me to her party.”

“Are you telling me that Melissa Hansen called you?”

Amos nodded. “I’m pretty sure it was her. Her ring is sort of in a class by itself. It has that distinctive pulse to it.”

Dunc sighed. Amos had convinced himself that one day Melissa would realize that he was the only man for her and call him. To be on the safe side, Amos tried to answer every ringing phone he could get his hands on.

Amos went on, “I’m not positive it was her because I never quite made it to the phone. My sister Amy has this boyfriend named Clyde or Clod or something. He’s a wrestler.”

“I don’t get it. What does Amy’s boyfriend have to do with Melissa Hansen calling your house?”

“We were all in the family room watching
Bowling for Groceries
when the phone rang. The second I heard it, I was up and moving. You know how Melissa likes for me to get it on that all-important first ring?”

The logic of that statement always got away from Dunc, but he nodded anyway.

“I jumped over Clod, who was on the floor with his face about three inches from the television. I guess he didn’t want to miss anything. Anyway, I cleared him and had my hand on the phone when it happened.”

“What?”

“Clod. Like I said, he’s a wrestler. When the phone rang and I jumped over him, his reflexes went berserk. When the sound of that ringing bell finally penetrated his brain, he grabbed me and tossed me across the room. Then he fell on me like a ton of
bricks and pinned me in a full Willie Nelson.”

“It’s called a half nelson, Amos.”

“Not the way he did it. I’d probably still be there except my mom bribed him with a platter of fried chicken she’d made for my dad’s company picnic.”

“That’s too bad. I mean about the phone and everything.”

“Yeah. But now that I know what she wanted, I better get busy and start working on a costume.” He turned his bike and started back down the street.

Dunc thought about mentioning the fact that Amos hadn’t actually been invited to the party and that maybe he was jumping the gun a little.

He didn’t. Instead he just shook his head, got on his bike, and followed Amos home.

Dunc pushed the doorbell a second time. Finally the door opened. Amy stood on the step chewing a huge wad of pink bubble gum. She blew a bubble and let it pop. “What are
you
doing over here at this time of night?”

“Hi, Amy. Nice to see you too.” Dunc squeezed past her and started up the stairs. He was halfway up before he noticed somebody else standing in the hall. An older boy, tall and thin, with slick black hair and a pale complexion, stared at him with dark, smoldering eyes.

“Hi.” Dunc smiled and waved.

The boy turned without a sound, took
Amy’s arm, and led her into the next room.

Dunc pushed open Amos’s door. “Your sister’s boyfriends are getting weirder every—” He stopped short and his mouth fell open. Amos was standing in the middle of his bed holding a sunflower and wearing a long brown wig, sunglasses, a wild Hawaiian shirt, and bell-bottom pants.

“Peace, man. Can you dig it?”

“You called me over here at this time of night to show me this?”

Amos nodded. “Yeah. I wanted to get your opinion. I thought if I wore something from the seventies, Melissa would think that I was into that whole hippie love thing and be impressed with my sensitivity. What do you think?”

“I think you better keep trying.” Dunc looked for a clean spot to sit down on. There wasn’t one, so he stood. “Who’s the jerk downstairs? I said hi and he didn’t answer me.”

“He probably didn’t understand you. I don’t think he speaks much English. His family just moved here from somewhere in
Europe. They bought the Van Helseg estate out on Hanover. Amy calls him C.D. I guess he likes music or something.” Amos rummaged through his closet. “What about a groom?”

“What?”

“You know, like on a wedding cake. Maybe Melissa would be motivated if I came as a groom.”

“Too pushy.” Dunc kicked aside a pile of dirty clothes and plopped down on the floor. “That guy downstairs gives me the creeps. Do your parents know she’s seeing him?”

“They don’t care. They were just happy she dumped the biker with the snake tattoo on his upper lip. Besides, they’re gone. They went to visit my uncle Alfred for the weekend. You remember him, the one who picks his toes through his smelly socks?”