“Yeah. Sure.”
We parted civilly.
Hardin was a good person. I felt grateful for her open-mindedness and her professionalism through all this. I just wished I hadn’t been the focus of her efforts.
I didn’t even have a picture of T.J.
I was closing in on Austin when NPR aired a report. I cranked up the volume when I heard a key phrase.
The reporter said, “. . . Paranatural Biology, releasing findings to Congress in response to questions that have been raised regarding unusual appropriation requests. Doctor Paul Flemming, an assistant director of the National Institutes of Health overseeing the Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology, offered this statement at a press conference held earlier today.”
Then Doctor Flemming spoke:
“I am authorized at this time to announce the formation of the Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology within the National Institutes of Health. In conjunction with the British Alternative Biologies Laboratory, we are prepared to release findings recognizing the existence of alternate races of Homo sapiens, races that were once considered only legend . . .” Blood rushed in my ears. This was the government, a spokesperson for the government. They were blowing my world wide open.
More than that, I recognized the voice. Deep Throat. My secret government spook. I stifled a laugh as he went on to explain the report in terms of taxonomy and science.
“These conditions are mutations brought on by as yet unidentified infectious agents. The following conditions have been identified . . . Homo sapiens sanguinis . . . commonly known as vampire. Homo sapiens lupus . . . commonly known as werewolf. Homo sapiens pinnipedia . . .”
I had his name. As soon as I stopped for the afternoon, I was going to find his phone number and give him a call.
At a gas station somewhere in West Texas, I went into the store to stock up on road trip munchies. On my way to the cash register, I passed a rack of newspapers and stopped cold. I stared. I smiled. I bought a paper, the latest issue of Wide World of News.
I would frame it, and as soon as I had a wall, it would go up. Th
e headline read:
“Bat Boy to Appear as Guest on The Midnight Hour.”
About the Author
CARRIE VAUGHN survived the nomadic childhood of the typical Air Force brat, with stops in California, Florida, North Dakota, Maryland, and Colorado. She holds a master’s in English literature and collects hobbies—fencing and sewing are currently high on the list. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, and can be found on the Web at www.carrievaughn.com.
More Kitty!
Please turn this page for a special preview of
Kitty Goes to Washington
Coming in Summer 2006.
* * *
We have Beth from Tampa on the line. Hello.”
“Hi, Kitty. I have a question I’ve been wanting to ask for a long time. Do you think Dracula is still out there?”
I leaned on the arm of my chair and stared at the microphone. “Dracula. As in, the book? The character?”
Beth from Tampa sounded cheerful and earnest. “Yeah. I mean, he’s got to be the best-known vampire there is. He was so powerful, I can’t really believe that Van Helsing and the rest of them just finished him off.”
I tried to be polite. “Actually, they did. It’s just a book, Beth. Fiction. They’re characters.”
“But you sit there, week after week, telling everyone that vampires and werewolves are real. Surely a book like this must have been based on something that really happened. Maybe his name wasn’t really Dracula, but Bram Stoker must have based him on a real vampire, don’t you think? Don’t you wonder who that vampire was?”
Stoker may have met a real vampire, may even have based Dracula on that vampire. But if that vampire was still around, I suspected he was in deep hiding out of embarrassment at being associated with the book.
“You may be right, there may be a real vampire who was Stoker’s inspiration. But the events of the book? Sheer fabrication. I say this because Dracula isn’t really about vampires, or vampire hunting, or the undead, or any of that. It’s about a lot of other things: sexuality, religion, reverse imperialism, and xenophobia. But what it’s really about is saving the world through superior office technology.” I waited half a beat for that to sink in. I loved this stuff. “Think about it. They make such a big deal about their typewriters, phonographs, stenography—