SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
THE DAY WAS HOT AND SUNNY, but the elements no longer bothered her. Old Annie was new again. She wore a polo-style blue top with matching pants as she carried her red purse. She wasn’t exactly dressed to kill, but it was comfortable. The day was pleasant and inviting, with plenty of things to ponder. Life had had plenty of twists and turns and had taken an unexpected one. It was the beginning of a new adventure.
Annie gazed at the Burnett Fountain in Central Park, thinking it was beautiful. The fountain, standing at the center of the conservatory garden’s south garden, was a tribute to the author of The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett. The beautiful sculpture was a young reclining boy playing flute with a girl standing over him holding a bowl, with the bowl being a birdbath. Annie remembered the story of The Secret Garden and thought that the statues were supposed to be the characters Mary and Dickon. The place was landscaped with benches, green hedges, and colorful pink flowers in the background. The statue was on the edge of a small concrete pool, with water lilies and reflections of the flowers and greenery in its water. It was a most contemplative place to be.
That’s what Annie was doing, thinking of things in general and her life in particular. Her being a vampire would take some time for her to adjust. Time shaped everything like flowing water formed boulders, so she wondered what time had in store for her. The seasons of her life were now expanded beyond her imagination. What on earth was she going to do with such a stretch?
She had retaken control of her finances. Her daughter Lacey wasn’t exactly happy with her mother regaining control of her bank account because she had plans for that money, but those were the breaks. Her daughter was a retired doctor and didn’t need her money; she simply wanted it. The world could have done without greed. Annie didn’t need to be taken care of any longer. Unfortunately, all of her friends were dead and gone. Her only child never produced any grandchildren. Her husband of fifty years was long gone as well. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do with herself. She had moved out of the home into an apartment, and the place was no longer the proper atmosphere.
“Oh, you cute little darlings,” Annie observed the chickadees bathe in the bowl and then fly off in search of food. She sat on a bench and watched the people go by, paying specific attention to all the vampires. It seemed to her that one out of every fifty or so was a vampire, and that was surprising. She hadn’t considered that there were that many of them around. Although it was thought there were more in New York than elsewhere. She could enter and read the vampires’ minds but not the humans. It was strange not to think of herself as human anymore, but the things she could now accomplish were a great reminder. Annie had held her bed up with one hand that morning as she had swept under it.
She considered again that being a vampire gave her a new lease on life, but how she would occupy her time. It repeated itself over and over. Maybe she had not thought this vampire thing through well enough. What if she lived another hundred years? What if she lived another thousand? Annie could not wrap her mind around that as it was unfathomable. Boredom may turn out to be her biggest problem. She knew that some vampires were over a thousand years old. What they must have experienced in their lifetimes and who they could have met were almost beyond comprehension. They could have been present at the building of the Great Wall of China and perhaps even helped build it. They could have been there when construction began on the Leaning Tower of Pisa on that August morning in 1173. That was a peculiar fact to remember, another side effect of being a vampire, although she could not remember where she had read it or if it was indeed a fact. She might have the strength to straighten that thing up, although such force might knock it down.
Annie watched a blue jay taking a quick bath in the bowl and thought it must be a popular place for the birds. The jay had only just departed when a black bird flew into it. How wonderful must it be to take flight like a bird? Good God, could she or could she not turn into a bat? Preoccupied with so many other things, she hadn’t considered it until now. She must be able to, as all vampires could. She assumed it would be instinct but didn’t know how to do it, and she wanted to experience flying. She flapped her arms and concentrated, but nothing happened. There must be some trick to it. Was it something that could only be accomplished after the sun went down?
A young man passed holding a soccer ball and stopped briefly to stare at Annie. “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know when you will run into a nut.” With that, he continued on his way.
Annie would have to figure out the bat thing later; too many curious people around. She considered that she was old and young at the same time. Being a vampire hadn’t done much for her looks. It tightened up a few wrinkles, but that’s about it. She continued to resemble a ninety-year-old, yet she was a brand new vampire; she shook her head at the thought. Her mind was so full of wonder that some of it were spilling out. She had already figured out a few things; she knew how to purchase blood for her personal consumption, which tasted better than anything she had ever savored. That taste was unbelievable. No matter how hard she tried, it would be impossible to describe it to a human. One had to be a vampire to appreciate it.
Annie was overwhelmed in a sense with too much information to process.
She could now defend the helpless instead of being one of them, which was more satisfying than she would have ever believed. She had met Dracula in person, and he was a handsome fellow. Annie wondered if the king of vampires was attached. Of course, she wasn’t good enough in the department of looks to snatch such a handsome fellow. She’d be on one of the back shelves in that department covered in dust.
Her mind was higgledy-piggledy.
Annie could go back to nursing, but that didn’t appeal to her.
A young man in shabby clothes with hair like Mr. T and an actual bone through his nose took notice of Annie and her red purse. He was laughable, but she managed to control herself with some effort. Who knows what the poor fellow had gone through in his life? He sat on the middle bench as Annie was on the one to his left. Although the old woman couldn’t read his mind, she was getting weird vibes from him, it was only a guess, but she figured that he was up to no good. In fact, Eric needed a fix and would do pretty much anything to get the money to satisfy his hunger for heroin. He had almost killed a senior a week ago for his wallet, and he remained in the hospital, broken and battered. Annie looked him up and down as he looked the other way to show his disinterest in her, and she smiled at that. When she looked the other way, he stared at her purse as he nervously shook his right leg. He waited for what he considered the proper moment to attack. He would grab the frail old woman’s purse and be off. That was the thing with seniors; they were easily manhandled.
Annie thought she could adorn herself with a red cape and become Super Senior; she laughed out loud at the thought. “What a silly thought.” Her brain continued to get accustomed to her new condition.
A chickadee landed on Annie’s left shoulder, and she remained perfectly still as she thought it was adorable, but that was when Eric attacked. He grabbed her purse and ran for it but ended up on the ground as she wouldn’t let go. It was like trying to steal a bag from a tank. Annie let him punch her in the face, and it was like hitting a boulder. She picked him up as someone would a football and kicked him over the hedge.
Then Annie stood on the bench and watched as he limped away, barely able to walk. Perhaps she had broken something in his heroin-contaminated body, but it was good enough for him if she did. The moment Annie had touched him, she discovered that she could, in fact, read his mind, but because he was human, she had to be touching him. Was it some strange vampire rule? Eric was a nasty piece of work and had hurt dozens over the years, some seriously. The way his mind worked was quite confusing to the old woman.
Annie heard an awful scream, turned her head, and tried to orient; she took off like a bolt of lightning.