The Vampire Brinstat

By Brind'Amour

Chapter 2
Sitting on the park bench, Brinstat thought Okay, maybe being a pastry chef wasn’t such a good idea. But how hard could being a security guard be?

Brinstat picked up the paper, tucked it under his cape, and headed back home. Thankfully, his mother was already in bed. He headed downstairs to his room and read the ad once again. “I can do this. I can be a security guard. I’m going to call first thing tomorrow night,” he said out loud.

The next evening when Brinstat woke up, he quietly came upstairs, and looked around for his mother. She was nowhere in sight. “Good,” Brinstat said under his breath. He picked up the phone and dialed the museum.

“Karloff Museum, Tara speaking,” said the lady on the phone.

“I’m calling about the Security Guard position.”

“Oh, you have to speak to the manager. Please hold.”

“Hello? This is Mr. Giles. Can I help you?”

“I’m calling about the Security Guard position.”

“Good, my nighttime security guard just quit. When can you start? Can you start tonight?”

“Oh, yes! I’ll be right down.”

As Brinstat hung up the phone and turned to write a note for his mother, he ended up face to face with her, the blood draining from his face… more than usual.

“Vhere are you going my beautiful boy?” his mother demanded.

“Um, I’m going downtown but I’m in a hurry. I’ll call you later Mama!”

Brinstat breezed out of the house toward the museum. He arrived there shortly before closing. The manager greeted him at the door and escorted him to the office.

“The only thing you have to do is make sure no burglars get in. That’s all there is to it. Check the doors hourly and inspect the outside perimeter on the half hour of every hour,” said Mr. Giles.

“No problem. I can do this!” Brinstat exclaimed.

He got his uniform and badge and was on his way to patrol the grounds. The doors were all locked and not a soul in sight. Everything looked secure. Until…

A few minutes after midnight Brinstat heard a faint tapping sound on one of the doors. He ran over to inspect and with his keen hearing picked up voices on the other side. Brinstat yelled, “Who’s there?” and quickly opened the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two figures quickly dive into the bushes. He rushed over to the bush with his billy club raised.

“Hey, what are you two doing back there?” Brinstat sternly asked.

“Uh, I was taking my girlfriend for a stroll, uh yeah, and she told me she never saw a museum before, and uh, I told her I could show her one but it was closed and um, I was only trying to impress her, if you know what I mean, so I tried to see if the door was unlocked but it wasn’t and then I tried to jimmy it open so I could show my girl how strong I was and then I could be all cool and everything and give her a tour of the museum but you know, not to take anything or touch anything, but just to show her around like you know, like a real cool guy would do but then you came out and scared us to smithereens and we just ran and flew into this bush here, you know what I mean?” said the guy.

“Why do you have that ski mask on? And why are you and your girl friend dressed all in black?” asked Brinstat.

“It’s a fashion statement. We’re like Goth people. So can we come in for a little stroll through the museum so I can show my girl what a fun guy I am? You would be such a swell guy if you let us in and then we could tell all our friends how great you are.”

“Well, I guess it’ll be okay. But I don’t want any funny stuff, you hear!” said Brinstat.

“Okay, no funny stuff. We’ll take a tour and be out in no time at all.”

Brinstat let the couple into the museum and continued on his rounds. The couple quickly walked to one particular area of the museum and left a few minutes later shouting, “Thanks dude!” as they ran out the door.

Wow. That was fast. I guess his girlfriend is easily impressed, thought Brinstat.

Daybreak was approaching and Brinstat’s shift was over. He waited for the next guard to show up and zoomed home before sun up.

“Vhere have you been Brinstat? And vhy didn’t you call me? Vhat kind of boy did I raise, Brinstat? You don’t care about your mother no more?”

“Mama! Stop! I took on another job but this one is really going to work out. You’ll see.”

“How many times I haft to tell you Brinstat, stop taking on these silly jobs. They aren’t for you. Do I need to remind you Brinstat, that you are a vampire? And a vampire doesn’t need a job.”

“No, mama. But I just wanted to make some friends. And I think I made two friends tonight, Mama.”

“Uh, my boy, my boy. You exhaust me, Brinstat.”

Just then the phone rang and Brinstat was happy to answer it just to be able to get away from his mother. “Hello?”

“Is this Brinstat?” said the voice on the phone.

“Yes, who’s this?”

“This is Mr. Giles. Our daytime security guard, Jake, said there must have been a break-in last night. He told me that the highly valuable, precious Anya Sapphire was missing when he went on duty. What happened to it, Brinstat? Didn’t you patrol the museum? Didn’t you see anything or anyone?”

“No, I didn’t see anything other than the cute couple who only came to the museum on a date. But they were in and out lickety split, Mr. Giles.”

“Brinstat, you weren’t supposed to let anyone in. It’s all over the news. A young couple was picked up trying to sell a large sapphire stone in the next town over. Brinstat, I’m afraid you haven’t done a good job and I’m going to have to fire you.”

“Oh no! Not again!” cried Brinstat as his mama came rushing over with a tissue.

Slowly, Brinstat hung up the phone and walked over to the couch, head hanging low.

“Brinstat, you have to stop trying so hard. Just be who you are. Now, cheer up and go get some sleep.”

“Okay, Mama.”

The next evening Brinstat was eating breakfast, watching television, when he heard the newscast. “A local casino is looking for a black jack dealer for immediate employment. Apparently, the previous dealer was an escapee from the Stoker County jail. Anyone interested, please call the number at the bottom. No experience necessary. Keeping customers coming back for more a must!”

Stay tuned for Chapter 3