The Neck-ed Truth

My first exposure

to the danger of vampires

came at a very impressionable age.

I was staying overnight

with my grandparents.

My cousin and I were watching

a vampire movie

hosted by a man who claimed

that the only known protection

against vampires was

garlic, a crucifix, or mosquito repellent!

Since Granny didn’t have any garlic, or 

a crucifix to wear around my neck,

I applied a copious amount of

anti-vampire spray on my neck
before going to bed.

She played along with my fears.

For good measure

I dispersed mosquito spray

throughout the bedroom.

The last thing I remembered was gripping the blanket and pulling it close to my young chin, wishing I had an easy-to-be-seen crucifix to rest on my chest.

When morning broke

I rushed to the mirror

to see if I had been bitten.

To my relief,

there were no marks on my neck.

It really worked!

After telling my mother

about my experience

at the farm the night before,

I was informed that

vampires don’t exist.

Ever since then

I saved my repellent spray

for mosquitoes,

and that is

the neck-ed truth.