Ran-Dy Va-Mpy
Ran-Dy Va**-**Mp Visits his Friend
by Ruwen Rouhs
Mam_-Y Va-Mp´s_ blood was up, "Ran-Dy Va-Mp, you lazy knurd, your are nearly half a year old now, go out and hunt down the crunchy beetles you like! You are old enough not to rely on poor Dadd_-Y Va-Mp_. You don't have to fear the owls. The sun is still up and the murderous birds are still asleep."
Ran-Dy Va-Mp was sorely disappointed. "Look Mam_-Y Va-Mp_, I want to know why we have flaps and can fly and the church mice, our relatives, have four legs! I do not want to go out hunting!"
"Look at your brother, big Bud-Dy Va-Mp, he always outside, hunting for food and for Girl-Y Va-Mp´s."
Ran-Dy Va-Mp poked out his tongue at his mom, left his hold at the ceiling of the belfry and began to flutter around the bells in the church tower while his mom chitchatted along with her bosom pals.
When he passed the arched belfry window for the fifth time, Ran-Dy Va-Mp decided to have a look down into the small park, surrounding the old church. The former churchyard was a pleasure ground now with high elms and chestnut trees spreading their dense foliage over small footways, children's playgrounds and the circle of benches surrounding a little fountain. While the evening sun of the early Indian summer still gilded the tree tops, the footways were already obscured by the twilight. "Why are the leaves yellow and red in the fall and not green anymore? Why have we to fatten ourselves in fall and sleep all winter long." Ran-Dy Va-Mp asked himself, "And what does snow look like and how does snow taste?"
"It's still not dark under the mighty trees down there! No need to be afraid of owls!" Ran-Dy Va-Mp contemplated. "I fly out and check why the leaves turn yellow and red! This stupid mother wants me to be a bully like my bro!" He poked his tongue out to his mother and her friends again and then, with a swift move, he dived out of the window and down into the park.
Out there under the trees the air was much softer than up in the narrow belfry. Thick beetles were cruising along, bees where leaving the flowers carrying nectar and pollen to their apiaries. A fat Hummingbird Hawk-moth left its hideout. He was looking for his bride attracted by her pheromones. "I have to get it, that fat piece of meat and then I ask the leaves why they change color" Ran-Dy Va-Mp decided and started a high speed pursuit of the moth!
A fat Brown Owl was sitting on a thick tree branch, was spreading his wings to get rid of the day tiredness. "That nosey bat looks like a good appetizer!" the old Owl said to himself, "Lets start the chase!"
Ran-Dy Va-Mp had a good ear! "Dammed, there an owl!" his sevens sense warned him, "Mam_-Y Va.-Mp_ was wrong! The owls are out already" He speeded up, zigzagging along the footway, trying to outfox the owl.
"Ouch! Damned!" Ran-Dy Va-Mp collided full speed with a giant creature, racing the opposite direction along the small path also. Ran-Dy Va-Mp lost his consciousness and tumbled to the ground.
*.*.*
Slowly Ran-Dy Va-Mp regained his consciousness. His head was spinning! His nose hurt and was bleeding. He felt funny, because he was on his back reclined on a soft, cozy bed.
Ran-Dy Va-Mp was neither used to be on his back nor to be fondled by a big warm finger at his fury belly, was he used to the croaky voice of a boy in late teens greeting him, "Hey little Vampy! Are you alive? I bet you are, because you heart throbs like a high speed engine!" Then a big face with still bigger eyes was coming closer and closer The eyes focused on Ran-Dy Va-Mp curiously. When the little bat twitched with his flaps and bared his teeth, the teen smiled, "Don't be afraid little Vampy. You are alive! I am so glad! Look, I carry you to the belfry to your parents. There should be no greedy owls!"
Ran-Dy Va-Mp was still in a shock. The giant was carrying him head up and he was used to hang head down. This made his brain sluggish. He tried to figure out what kind of species this monster was who was carrying him so softly. Was it one of these creatures his mother called "Humans"? Mam_-Y Va-Mp_ had warned him many, many times, "Humans are malicious creatures. They use big brooms and try to shoo us out of our home, our belfry. They are so bad. The worst humans are the young ones, the kids, the one they call boys! They always try to catch us! They torture us! They try to spread our flaps! Throw us into the camp fire. Maybe they even want to eat us!" His mother was really upset because these creatures. "This is our tower, our home! Granp_-Y Va-Pm_ has lived there and all his forefathers down to Ad-Am Va-Pm."
So, according to his mother Mam_-Y Va-Pm_ this creature was a kid human, one of these dangerous boys. Ran-Dy Va-Mp closed his eyes and contemplated a moment. "This kid is different, he doesn't hurt me; he carries me like my mother did, when I was a baby!"
"My name is Sean." The boy suddenly said to him, "What's yours little bat? It's so nice to hold you! I like you, your fur is so soft!" Sean cuddled the little bat, spoke to him, and breathed at him to keep him warm.
Ran-Dy Va-Mp sized up Kenny. "The boy looks funny!" he assessed, "The color of his hair is sandy like mine, but his face is bare, no hairs, no whiskers and his nose, it's so small and turned up." Turning his head, Ran-Dy Va-Mp tried to get the full picture of Sean, "His body! Sean's body, he doesn't have fur! His whole body is wrapped in something smooth and shiny. He is half red and half blue!"
Ran-Dy Va-Mp tried to concentrate on Sean's eyes. They were brown with yellow freckles and deep dark pupils, nearly like his own. He looked into Sean's eyes and suddenly knew he could he trust the teen and he wanted to know more about this teen, this special teen! The little bat relaxed.
Ran-Dy Va-Mp hadn't time to contemplate any further. The boy entered the church and climbed up into the belfry. In the bell cage Sean took Ran-Dy Va-Mp with two fingers and put him down on a wooden slate, "Bye, bye Vampy!" he said, "Be careful next time! And tell me your name when we meet again!"
Ran-Dy Va_-__Mp´_s mother was upset. She was upset and over anxious, "Bloddy, dumb Ran-Dy Va-Mp!" she scolded, "Didn´t I tell you, you bloody knurd..." and on and on she raved. Soon Ran-Dy Va-Mp didn't listen to her anymore. He wanted to know only one thing, "Who was this boy called Sean? Will I meet him again? He likes me, but do I like him also? "
The end of October came faster along as expected. Ran-Dy Va-Mp had caught sight of Sean two or three times, but he never was fast enough to meet the teen, because Sean was always riding on a glittering thing called bike thing with two fast spinning wheels. How could he such a small being bring such a big teen to a halt. November came and Mam_-Y Va-Mp_, Dadd_-Y Va-Mp_ and Ran-Dy Va-Mp together with all the other members of the Va_-Mp-family_ went to sleep. Like bunches of grey grapes they were hanging head down on the ceiling of the belfry. They were hibernating and not even the sound of the bells announcing Christmas or the fireworks announcing the New Year could arouse them from sleep.
*.*.*
When the Palm Sunday bells announced the beginning of the Holy week Ran-Dy Va-Mp was the first to wake up. His first thought was "I have to find Sean! I know he will be in the little park soon. This time I will follow him to his house, to his belfry. No owl, no crow, no hawk can prevent me from visiting him. For days Ran-Dy Va-Mp lay in wait for Sean.
At nightfall he searched the park for insects and foremost for Sean. With flapping his wings he cruised around the church, checked every playground, the fountain and did not miss out one single footway. Finally on the evening before Good Friday, Sean turned up at the fountain. He leaned his bike against one of the benches and searched the sky. After a while Sean began to call, "Vampy, Vampy, where are you my little Vampy?" Sean tried to imitate the twittering of bats, "Twitter, twitter, twitter. Are you still alive, Vampy? Twitter, twitter! You must be big boy now, my Vampy!"
Ran-Dy Va-Mp circled Sean head, but some of his brothers and sisters, some of his cousins and uncles did it too. Ran-Dy Va-Mp dived down and nearly touched Sean's hair with his flaps, but the others did it too. Because of the many bats Sean wasn't sure if Ran-Dy Va-Mp was around. He twittered a last time, mounted his bike and left the park.
Ran-Dy Va-Mp decided to follow Sean. The teen cycled fast along a main road, then turned right, entered a side-road and then a next one and at last cycled into a small private road with trees along the sidewalks. Some trees were covered bright green new leaves, other were in full bloom and covered with white or pink blossoms.
The main-road was well lighted by street- lamps, the bigger side-roads also. Myriads Moths were circling the lights and Ran-Dy Va-Mp was tempted to fill his empty stomach with the delicious prey. But Sean cycled too fast and the little bat had to follow him. In the small private road Sean entered a small two storey house, put up in the back of a garden full of blooming trees. While Ran-Dy Va-Mp still reflected if he should follow Sean into the house, the teen had already passed the entrance and closed the front-door. "Too bad! You stupid!" the little bat twittered, "Locked out! You are stupid Ran-Dy Va-Mp!" Frustrated he circled the house. Then lights went on in a room and the bat settled down on a tree branch just opposite the window. Head down he studied carefully what was going on in the small room.
Sean was busy. He moved around in the kitchen, went from the fridge, took a bottle and some food, then went to the cooking-stove and began to prepare his evening meal. Ran-Dy Va-Mp was hungry also. "What was it this Sean was eating?" he asked himself. "He doesn't eat insects, no! Instead he put a piece of something red into the pan on the oven. Was this meat? It looked like the meat of a church mouse the church cat had killed? Why didn't he eat the meat like a good bat or a good cat?" Ran-Dy Va-Mp shook his head! "That boy is funny, real funny." he twittered to himself. But his stomach was growling. "I have to enter the room and try Sean's food. Maybe I will like it also!" When Ran-Dy Va-Mp tried to enter the room through the window, but overlooked the window glass. He hit the window and went down with a plop. Sean didn't even look up and went on eating. Ran-Dy Va-Mp was dizzy from the crash and he was disappointed, because Sean didn't care!
A little later a light went on in the second storey of the house. Ran-Dy Va_-__Mp_´s stomach grumbled more than before. He was frustrated and decided to fly back to the belfry and to his family. "Sean and I, we never will become friends. He is locking me out! He is eating stuff I may not savor! He even does not look up, when I knock at the window!"
He was already some strokes of flaps away on his way back home, when he decided to have a final look at Sean. The teen came just from the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed only in a pair of boxers. It was the first time Ran-Dy Va-Mp saw Sean without a dress. "Humans are funny? They don't have a fur. Sean's body is bald! His body is pale! Disgusting! Why doesn't he look like I do? Why doesn't he have such a nice soft brown fur?" However Sean bare body made him curious. "How does it feel to touch such a hairless body? Is his skin smooth or is it coarse?"
Sean went to bed, switched on the light on the night stand, while Ran-Dy Va-Mp suspended himself head-down on a branch full of pink blossoms. The teen began to read in a book. After a while Ran-Dy Va-Mp felt bored, because Sean was reading on and on, flipping over one page after the other. But suddenly the teen became restless. He shuffled with his feet, his face went pale, tears trickled down his cheeks and he began to sob uncontrollably. He dropped the open book to the floor beside the bed, curled up like a baby, his upper body shaking in cramps. After some long minutes Sean calmed down, switched of the light and crawled away into the cover.
Ran-Dy Va-Mp was full of fear! "Sean is in despair. He is sick! He may die. I have to rescue my friend!" the little bat twittered, "I have to rescue my Sean, my dear Sean. He saved my live last year, now I have to save him!" Feverishly he began to search the window for a crack to enter Sean's bedroom. Just when the teen turned out the lights, the little bat found a tiny gab between the wings of the window and the frame. He squeezed through and flew to the bed. Sean had buried inside the cover, breathed deeply and satisfied. He was already soundly asleep. Ran-Dy Va-Mp was relieved; Sean was well that showed the peaceful and happy grin of his face. "Does he smile because of me? Does he feel I am around and care for him?"
Hanging head-down at the cord of the ceiling light the bat felt another bout of hunger. Looking around in the dimly lighted room he couldn't spot a single prey, no moth, no beetle, no fly, just nothing. "Stupid folks!" he twittered, "locking out all food!"
Eying the sleeping Sean, he remembered a story told to him by Gran_-Y Va-Mp_. "Once upon a time bats liked to drink the blood of humans." His gramp had told him.
"I don't believe this! They are so much bigger then we!" Ran-Dy Va-Mp replied.
"Yes sure they did and down south they still do it today! Why do you think we have these pointed and sharp teeth? These fangs are puncturing the skin of a sleeping human and when the blood oozes out you just lick it up."
"Bah! I can't imagine human blood tastes as good as a crunchy beetle!" Ran-Dy Va-Mp griped about.
"In old times bats didn't drink human blood just out of hunger." Gran_-Y Va-Mp_ continued. "Sometimes a boy-bat fell in love with a human girl. In the dark of the night he punctured the girl´s skin, drank her blood and the next morning the human girl was the loveliest bat-girl you can imagine! They got married and lived happy from there on."
"Should I, should I not?" Ran-Dy Va-Mp racked his brain. "But Sean is no girl, he is a boy! What will happen when I suck his blood? Will he transform into a girl?" Restless he fluttered through the Sean's bedroom. His stomach was growling so loud he though the noise would arouse Sean.
It was far after midnight and Ran-Dy Va-Mp knew he had to decide now. "It's dangerous!" he twittered, "I need a boy-friend and not a girl-friend. If he turns into a girl and not into a boy, I ask Bud-Dy Va-Mp to marry her. He will do it. He marries every girl around! I do not like girls!"
Ran-Dy Va-Mp circled around Sean, "If I don't bite him and lick his blood, I will die of hunger! But Sean is so much bigger than me. A thousand times at least or even a ten thousand times." Finally he touched down on the pillow besides Sean's head. The boy was snoring, his mouth slightly ajar. "Should I try to bite into his lips? They are looking so red. They sure are full of blood."
Just when Ran-Dy Va-Mp was about to puncture Sean's upper lip with his sharp eyeteeth, the Sean opened his mouth and bared his teeth. "No, I have to look for a saver place. This one is too close to his teeth, he may bite me."
He moved up to Sean's left ear. "This earlobe looks soft and delicious also!" and hungry as he was, he sank his fangs into the warm lobe. Small droplets of blood trickled out of the fine puncture. He sniffled, "His blood smells sweet!" he stated it. Then he started licking, "It tastes sweet! I think I like it. I haven't tasted anything sweet like this!" And Ran-Dy Va-Mp began to lick up the droplets of blood seeping out of the puncture till the blood flow stopped.
*.*.*
Suddenly Ran-Dy Va-Mp was tired, terribly tired. "What shall I do? Leave the room? If Sean turns into a bat, I have to be with him and welcome him in the world of bats, my world." Ran-Dy Va-Mp just settled down beside Sean, just at the spot where Sean's breathe was warming up the pillow. In no time he fell into a deep sleep.
When the grey morning light filtered though the window, Sean woke up. With still closed eyes he stretched his arms to greet the new morning with a healthy yawn. "Oh hat a night, I was dreaming so sweetly! But I cant remember." Suddenly his right arm touched something warm, something strange, something that wasn't in his bed the evening before. He startled up and was fully awake just the other moment. "Heaven, who's that? He yelled. "Who's that strange boy in my bed? How did he come into my room, into my bedroom, into my bed? I locked the house the night before!"
He began shaking the boy. "Who are you? Get up! Get out of my bed!" Sean was anxious and in a strange way happy also. "Who are you? What do you want in my bed?"
The strange boy opened his eyes, slowly as if coming from a land far away, very far away. He sat up straight and looked around in the bedroom disbelievingly. Then he turned to Sean and an intense joy began to spread over his fine features. He opened his mouth as if to say something. At first only a funny twitter came out of his throat. The strange boy closed his eyes for a moment, cleared his throat and then told Sean with a hoarse voice, "Don't you recognize me Sean? I am your little Vampy, your little bat. Last year you saved my life. And now I am here to tell you my name and to thank you. My name is Randy Vampy and I am yours for ever.
Sean and Randy embraced each other and hugged and hugged. Maybe they are still hugging today.
*.*.*
Stories by the author:
Ruwen Rouhs:
Buzzards, Hawks and Ravens (2007 still going on; posted on nifty.org, awesomedude.com, storylover.us)
Fate and Fortune (2008 still going on; posted on nifty.org; awesomedude.com; storylover.us)
Palm Sunday Magic (2007, posted on awesomedude.com; storylover.us)
Sean E & Ruwen Rouhs:
Terry and Sam, a Christmas Story (2008, posted on nifty.org; awesomedude.com; storylover.us; codeysworld.com)