1. Country Air Country Air "Isn't it nice here?" exclaimed Tony's mother, putting her suitcase down on the dusty ground. Tony couldn't help but notice that she had plunked it right next to a dried cow patty, and he stifled a laugh. "Very nice," he grumbled, looking unhappily over at the farmhouse. He couldn't believe he was going to have to spend a whole week at this dumb farm with his parents. A vacation on a farm--how boring! Of course, his parents hadn't bothered to ask him if he wanted to share his few vacation days with cows, chickens, and pigs, going for walks, riding in fields, breathing in fresh country air. "Well," he said to his parents, "you're certainly wrong about the fresh country air. It stinks out here!" "I think the air is wonderful," his mother replied.
"So fresh! Very different from what we breathe in the city. Don't you think?" she asked his father. "Yes, absolutely," he said. "Still, it stinks," Tony insisted. "The air may be healthy, but it smells awful." His mother gave him a mocking look. "I didn't know you had such a sensitive nose. When I think of your friend Rudolph Sackville-Bagg.
" "Why, what about him?" "Don't you remember how terrible his cape smelled?" Tony couldn't help but smile. "The cape's a hundred years old," he said proudly. "Maybe even older." He added exuberantly, "That's just the way it is with vampires." He knew that his parents didn't believe in vampires. Everything he told them about his friend the little vampire they took to be pure invention. That's why it was always better for him to tell the truth about anything to do with vampires, because his parents wouldn't believe him. As was the case now.
"Yeah, yeah, vampires!" said his mother, irritated. "Thank goodness we're in the country now. At least we'll have a break from your eternal vampires--vampires on TV, at the movies, and in your horrible books." "Um, yeah," Tony said, biting his lip to keep from smiling. If only they knew that the little vampire had been at the farm since last night. "I'll bring the luggage in," Tony said happily. He grabbed a suitcase and two bags and carried them to the farmhouse door. "Tony suddenly seems eager," he heard his father say.
"It's all because of his vampires," he heard his mother reply.