Hippy Vampires Attack New York Chp. 3

THREE

The next morning we went to Sunday school and church. By the time we finished, went to lunch and got home it was past 1:00. As quickly as Nick and I could, we changed into our T-shirts and jeans. We were still pulling on our sneakers as we hopped down the stairs. We grabbed dad's hammer and the bag of nails we had salvaged from the fence, then headed for the fishing hole.
As we passed the encampment something looked different. In the middle of the clearing were the remains of a burned-out bonfire with several charred planks of fence wood. I tapped Nick on the arm and pointed down toward the compound.
"Those bastards." Was his only remark before he rushed down the trail leaving me staring at the remains of our lumber. When I reached the fishing hole I was astonished to find the fort of our dreams and Nick standing in front of it reading a note with his mouth open.
The fort was perfect. It was built against the cliff wall that ran along the back of the fishing hole, and raised two feet off the ground by cinder blocks. The floor was a sheet of plywood big enough for two people to lie flat. The windows had shutters that locked from the inside. Rubber tires tied across a sheet of corrugated tin made the roof. It looked like something right out of the Lil Rascals; the only thing missing was the "no girls allowed" sign.
"What does the note say, Nick?" I asked after I had reconnoitered our new domain.
"You gotta read it."
I took the note from Nick's hand and read:

You had some left over so we borrowed it. Hope you don't mind.

The note was unsigned and printed neatly in pencil. I looked at Nick and read the note again. I looked at the fort, looked at Nick and looked at the note. "C'mon," I said opening the door of the fort. "Let's check it out."
The inside was better than the outside. It was tall enough to walk around in without stooping (unless you were an adult, maybe). There were two milk crates to sit on and an electrical spool for a table. On the back wall they had put a shelf. On the shelf were a brass oil lamp and a box of matches.
"They must have done all of this last night." I said as I examined the lamp more closely. "but why?"
"Man, this is creepy. Creepier than that episode of the Twilight Zone when that thing came down..."
"Nick, maybe they were just being neighborly."
"Okay, Jethro, then why aren't they neighborly in the daylight? Did that cross your mind? Cause it crossed mine, and it can mean only one thing, my friend."
"Give me a break, Nick. Don't tell me you believe in," I paused for dramatic effect. "Vampires."
"I believe there are a lot of things on this planet that can't be explained."
"You watch too much TV, Nick. Besides, why would vampires build us a fort?"
"Maybe they are trying to make it easy for us to camp down here so they can attack us in our sleep."
"Maybe they're aliens. and our yellow sun hurts their eyes."
"This is no time for joking around, man."
"Or maybe they're mole people from the earth's core..."
"This is serious, Johnny!" Nick shouted with a little tremble in his voice.
My attention was drawn away from Nick's superstitious ramblings by something hanging over the door. What I saw changed my attitude toward my buddy's theory. Nick followed my gaze to the object over the door. Dangling on a nail from a delicate gold chain was a small cross that was also gold.
"Okay, so maybe they are vampires. Why would they put a cross over the door?" I was determined not to accept the concept that the undead had built the coolest fort I had ever been in. While I had to admit circumstantially everything pointed to vampires, my brain was unwilling to believe the night dwelling blood-suckers had any building skills, or that they would take the time to use them to build us a fort if they did. I couldn't see Bela Lugosi hammering nails or sawing wood, even if it meant a succulent repast of two energetic young boys, and virgins at that.
Finally I convinced Nick, and myself for that matter, that the people who lived in the encampment weren't vampires, just delightful eccentric folks who didn't like the daytime, and were anti-social. Although in the back of my mind something told me Nick was closer to the truth, as freaky and unbelievable as it sounded.