Post by mina on Jan 11, 2020 11:58:43 GMT
New home "Flat north" from Germany
This day was Count Duckula, very unusual for him, rather bad
mood. He went around in a circle so that his cloak shrank behind him.
"How did my lord sleep?" asked Igor.
"Bad. Very bad!" answered the count irritably.
"Oh, how enjoyable!" whispered Igor.
Count Duckula gave him a sour look.
"Have Mylord dreamed of how he got in necks ..." Igor didn't get any further.
"NO! I haven't! I'm angry! Denying a family to a child! What meanness is that? What kind of
Insolence! "Igor did not understand.
"Vladimir ... they didn't allow him to come back then! What a bottomless insolence towards Duckula to allow yourself such a thing! To take away your offspring! Just ... just to pay us back! I mean ... what could Vladimir do for it !? " Count Duckula didn't seem to want to calm down.
"Where's Vladimir now?" Igor asked politely.
"Upstairs in his room, playing the violin ... he said he always does that when he wants to process something." Count Duckula considered.
"Maybe he's right, there's nothing to be upset about - it only damages blood pressure ..."
"Oh my lord. That you care about blood pressure."
Count Duckula slapped his forehead and groaned. "Oh Igor!"
Vladimir only came down for a while. He looked more relaxed. "How is Vladimir? Is it better?"
Vladimir nodded. "It's going quite well."
"Does the young man want something to drink?" Igor asked conscientiously.
"Thank you Igor ... but just a little glass. Nothing more." Igor seemed happy about the fact.
"It's nice to have at least one real vampire back in the house."
"It's nice that you enjoy it, Igor. Since I never want to be one!"
"You will never be able to deny your origin, my lord." Igor replied cheerfully.
When the butler was gone, Vladimir and Count Duckula watched him go. "What do you mean Vladimir, am I a vampire or not?" He frowned. "I think it depends on what makes a vampire so special for the individual. If you make it dependent on drinking pure blood ... clearly no. If you make it up based on your abilities ... Yes."
"What skills?"
Vladimir grinned and leaned forward. "Let's compare the two of us through a test or two?"
"Which?" Count Duckula crossed her arms. "Which of us is faster? Do you have a stopwatch? We're running
both a few laps around the castle. Let's see who is faster. Do you accept the challenge? "
He called her on.
A short time later Vladimir was the first to start. Igor with a stopwatch in his hand. Emma as a witness. Which, however, she didn't really understand. "Well, 10 laps around the castle as agreed."
"Igor counted off." 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... go! "
Vladimir ran as fast as he could, counted the laps and braked when he was through with the 10th lap. Igor noted the time. "A good performance, young sir."
"Thank you, Igor ... you do what you can. Now it's your turn, Fridolin."
"Fridolin ... Bläh!"
"Spare yourself the comment, count!" the count asked him.
"As you wish ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ..." And Count Duckula ran so fast that you could only see a cloud of dust.
Vladimir crossed his arms and nodded contentedly. Now in this case, his brother was more of a vampire than himself!
When Igor looked at the stopwatch, he noticed that it was only a fraction of Vladimir's time.
Vladimir patted Count Ducklua on the shoulder, "Well in this case, one to zero for you!"
He raised an eyebrow. "I think the phone just rang ..." It was a lie, but part of his plan.
From one moment to the next, Count Duckula had disappeared in the middle of a small flash of lightning - only to reappear in the same way.
"No phone rang at all? Why did you lie to me, Vladimir?"
Vladimir looked at him with a challenge. "Two to zero for you?"
"How ... what do you mean?"
"What you just did, I can't."
The count considered.
"So when it comes to the characteristics of a vampire, now it's between the two of us at the moment. But only because I feed on blood."
The count did not like this victory at all. He didn't want to be the vampire in the house!
"But you're stronger than me ..."
"In the case two to two." confirmed Vladimir.
"And your saliva makes wounds close!"
Vladimir looked at Igor questioningly. "Is that a special characteristic of a vampire?"
"No, young man. To be honest, I heard it from you for the first time."
"So it doesn't count," he said to Count Duckula. "As I said ... it's a matter of perspective. Which of us is the more real vampire!"
"If I may express my opinion, it is you, Young Sir Vladimir." Igor commented on the whole thing.
"Thank you Igor." This time it was meant by Count Duckula honestly.
"Well ... I don't want to limit being a vampire to drinking blood alone." Vladimir replied. "I find that
Thoughts ... humiliating. "
"I know who you are. Duckybootz and our chick Flea!" Nanny replied. The two vampire ducks looked at each other. While Igor started to argue with Emma over the name of the young gentlemen, Vladimir and Count Duckula looked down at the village.
"Do you already know that there are two of us?"
"I don't know, the relationship between us and the villagers ... is ... very tense."
"You don't know you're vegetarian?"
"I don't know ... if you don't know ... or if you just don't want to know?"
As they went back into the castle, the count came up with the question. How was Vladimir doing in the village? How had they received him? Would he have any advice to improve the relationship here?
"I don't know if you can compare it ... their opinion here has been shaped for centuries. For the people with me back then, it was something completely new, although I have to say that in general you fear what you don't know ..."
*
Northern Germany 1948
They had only been home a few days when Karl received a visit from the village mayor. The latter invited him into the living room. The first conversation was about how happy they were that he was still alive and had returned. And that they were also looking forward to opening his practice again.
"Give me some more time ... I have to fix everything. I am missing a lot ..."
"Take your time, boy. You also have to recover from your exertions. We are all so happy that you are still alive!"
Their conversation went over what had happened over the years, who had died, who had disappeared, how the women and children had fared. When it became quiet between the two men for a moment, the mayor came up with another topic. One, as Karl suspected, would come sooner or later.
"I know that people sometimes tell crazy stories, maybe even more so after everything that has happened over the years ... but Karl ... please don't think I'm crazy ... it is rumored that you brought a vampire with you." The mayor laughed. "May also be where you finally came from!"
Karl leaned back in his chair. "No, I didn't bring a vampire with me."
"I knew it ... all fantastic things, please excuse that I asked ..."
"He's not a vampire, he's a bastard vampire."
The laugh stuck in the man's throat. "Karl! Please don't make stupid jokes!"
"I do not do."
"You went crazy! I can't explain it otherwise ... totally freaked out ... poor boy after everything you've experienced it's no wonder."
"I'm neither not crazy. Ask Martha. Vladimir is in the kitchen with her and helping with the household."
The mayor's mouth remained open, he rubbed his hair. "Even if there was anything true about it, I had to explain to you that it is insane! Such a being would be a danger to all of us!"
Karl couldn't help laughing. "Vladimir? He's more at risk than the others." He got up "I think I have to go to the kitchen and get Vladimir so you can get to know him. He ..." Karl stood at the door. "... he has problems with the doorknobs - he can't get them."
With that he went out and left the amazed mayor at the table. He went to the kitchen where Vladimir was standing on the kitchen table while he was drying the plates.
"Martha ... I just have to kidnap your little kitchen boy." Vladimir looked at him questioningly. He was wearing a little white shirt that Martha had sewn for him. Vladimir was particularly proud of it, as it was the first item of clothing in more than 40 years. With this he distinguished himself again as a special duck.
"Is it because of the visit?" asked Vladimir. "I heard you talk ..."
"Our little Vladimir, listens like a ... vampire ..." He took him in his arms. "Yes, it's because of him. I think it's better if you get to know each other now that you live here with us."
When Vladimir was carried into the living room, he noticed a look that couldn't have been more funny. A mix of
Stunned, horrified and an impending laughing fit. "A duck!"
"A vampire duck to be precise." Karl put Vladimir down on the floor. Now its small size became even clearer: "May I introduce it to you, Vladimir! The" Great "threat to the population!"
The mayor stared at Vladimir stunned, what he saw in front of him was a being, which might have the size of a 2 or 3 year old child.
Since the man had apparently lost the language, Vladimir held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Vladimir Duckula."
The next moment Vladimir wondered if this man had really listened to him. He bent down to him and started talking to him in baby language. "Yes, you are a little sweeter ..."
Vladimir made an insulted face. "I'm already 12 years old! I'm not a little chick anymore!" replied indignantly.
Karl laughed involuntarily at the sight of both.
"Vladimir really isn't a little chick anymore, even if he looks like that."
Vladimir snorted.
"And if he means 12 years, it's 120 years for us. For him, it's 10 years, 1 year."
"Indeed ..." The mayor was amazed. "... then I apologize to Vladimir. My name is Albert Bruns". He sat up and looked at Karl. "May I ask if Vladimir is already grown up?"
"I think no. He still has the plumage of a young bird."
"You have to know."
Then the mayor turned back to Vladimir. "Say little one. What do you feed on?"
Vladimir knew that this was a catch question. "Blood. I'm hunting mice and rats." he replied truthfully.
"Rats? Is that pretty dangerous for you? I mean ... a rat is very defensive?"
"It is not without risk," said Vladimir. And he thought of how many times they had jumped and bitten him. You had to be very skillful to hunt them. And it was actually not without risk. Especially if you were a duck. "But I've learned it throughout my life." Vladimir finished his sentence.
The vet nodded. "Vladimir can do it, and quite well."
"What if he grows up, what will he hunt for?"
Karl had expected this question sooner or later. "Well, for the first it grows very ... very slowly. For the second, as a veterinarian, I have enough options to feed him. In the camp, he helped me by licking the wounds, which then closed."
"Really? All right ... then welcome Vladimir!"
With that he said goodbye. Vladimir went back to the kitchen, but not without stopping to listen to the conversation between the two men at the door.
"If there are no complaints about Vladimir, no one can prove an attack, I will put my protective hand over him."
"Thank you."
"And if you need Documents for him, get in touch, I'll see what can be done."
For Vladimir, this was a completely new life, a new world. Not just the fact that he lived with mortals, but also the circumstances. They didn't have much like everyone in the time, but they shared what they had. When Martha gave him the shirt, Vladimir had tears in his eyes.
During that time Vladimir mostly played in the garden, chased mice, ran (accompanied by his new foster parents) across the fields, helped with the household. If time allowed, he was taught reading, writing and arithmetic.
Vladimir's days were filled, and not just with the struggle for survival. It was good that he was allowed to be a child again.
Some time later, Karl reopened his practice. Some resources were still missing, but it did it as well as it could. If somehow Vladimir helped him. He was watched with curiosity, some of them were delighted by the little guy. Others were suspicious of him. Karl simply advised Vladimir to overlook this and
stay friendly. "It's best if you want to convince people. There's nothing better than that."
One day an elderly lady came in with her dog, her aversion to Vladimir was all too obvious because her face spoke volumes. Vladimir felt hurt, but Karl's gaze simply advised him to leave the room.
After treating the dog, Karl gave the woman a medication and a small piece of paper that he had written. "Here is a note of what she had to consider."
Thankful but reserved, she accepted the note. Vladimir, who looked out the window, looked sadly after her.
"Don't worry about it, flea. I wrote her a recipe."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Wait it out ... if I have to, I'll give everyone this recipe along the way."
Vladimir looked at him questioningly.
A few days later, the woman came back, rang the doorbell, apologized to Vladimir, and gave him a ball. Vladimir looked at her in amazement. What happened?
Vladimir discovered the secret of his question a few days later, a notice that hung in the message window of the municipal offices. Vladimir had to be lifted up to read it.
How do we want to be seen? Everyone wants a chance no matter what has been in the past. Everyone deserves this!
Let us give others this chance, no matter what. Then they are given to us in the same way!
Peace only comes when you find a new beginning! With ourselves - and with what is foreign to us.
When he had read the words, he ran his fingers over the glass. Now he understood what had happened. He turned to his foster father and smiled at him. "Thank you!"
When winter slowly came into the country, Martha Vladimir knitted another sweater, a small jacket, and a hat and scarf.
Vladimir could hardly believe his luck. In general, that he could wear clothes again after all these years, which characterized him as an extraordinary duck. Even the shirts that he got little by little delighted him immensely. Even if his foster mother thought that it hardly made any effort for her, because the little material that she needed for it was given as leftovers that you would otherwise throw away. I pleased her with the little guy who hugged her every time.
Her husband had been right, vampire duck or not. Vladimir could warm your heart.
Slowly ... slowly he got in touch with the other children in the village.
It helped him when he found out that he wasn't the only one who had lost parents and home. He was not alone with his grief. So for Vladimir was shared suffering, half suffering.
However, what caused problems was its small size. Because the children who matched his aging were much taller and didn't take him seriously at first. But this also subsided quite quickly, Vladimir showed a lot of courage and strength, which impressed her. When the first snow fell, they wanted to build a snowman with him. Vladimir had no idea what that was all about. He couldn't imagine anything like a "snowman"
and asked them if they meant a "snow monster". Which made everyone laugh.
"You really don't know what a snowman is?"
Vladimir shook his head.
"I think you still have a lot to learn ..."
When he rolled snow globes with them, they were again impressed, since they were much larger than himself. Finally, they looked at the work.
Two pieces of coal as eyes to put the nose in Vladimir was lifted up so that he could use the carrot.
One of the girls put stones in her mouth. During this time, one of the boys broke off two small, pointed branches and stuck them as canines into the snowman's face. "Now it's true!" he grinned at Vladimir.
"A snowman monster ... a vampire!"
Vladimir crossed his arms and snorted. The other children laughed at the sight of him.
"You are so funny, flea!"
The day before Christmas Eve, Vladimir met other members of the family. Karl's mother (the father had died in the war) and Martha's parents came to visit. Valdimir held back a bit and watched them first
Distance. Whereby he stood almost shyly next to his new parents.
Karl leaned down to him. "Why so shy, Vladimir?"
Vladimir sighed. But didn't really know what to say. It was one thing to call Karl and Martha Papa and Mama, but would they accept him as a "grandson"? He was a duck and a vampire too.
Martha took him by the hand and gave him a gentle shove. "Now we would like to introduce our little Vladimir to you."
All eyes were on him. There was an awkward silence for a moment.
Karl intervened. "A lot of people owe their lives to this little guy. Because they didn't let him go home, we took him in."
Martha smiled and stroked Vladimir's head. "Charity shouldn't end with your own kind."
So they went into the house.
Here the parents got to know Vladimir better during the day. He was polite, helpful, and ... he was acting like a kid. Vladimir was somewhat astonished when Karl and his father-in-law carried a fir tree into the living room and then he was no longer allowed to enter it. And completed this. Vladimir looked questioningly at his foster mother.
"This is part of the tradition. You can only get in again for giving presents.
Karl will ring a bell when the time comes. "
Vladimir frowned. He hadn't quite understood the meaning yet, but he decided to be surprised. He now lived among mortals and with them many things were so different. They did so mysteriously during this time ...
So Vladimir was in the kitchen with his new mother and helped prepare for the Christmas dinner. It was very humble. Drawn from the time of hunger. But since Vladimir didn't know all of this yet, it was quite big for him. Only in the course of the years should he get to know much bigger Christmas celebrations. But this was his first.
Martha's mother and mother-in-law were amazed at the eagerness of the little vampire duck to help. How curious he watched everything and was on hand when it came to work. Little by little they warmed up for this little creature.
He wasn't even that different from a normal child, only that he had feathers and flippers - and canines.
One question, however, unsettled Vladimir.
"The best gift this year is that we got Karl back alive. We can thank the Lord for that."
Vladimir considered. Karl had told him that it had to do with the Christmas story that his foster father had told him about.
"I am infinitely grateful for that," Martha resumed the thread of conversation. "I got my beloved husband back. And I even got a son."
She looked down lovingly at Vladimir.
"And?" Asked her mother-in-law to Vladimir. "Will you come to Christmesse tomorrow?"
Vladimir's beak remained open. Fear grew in him, a fear that didn't really come from himself. It was deeply rooted in him, from all his ancestors. He backed away.
Martha smiled wistfully. "He is a vampire ... I think ... this is too much for him."
The next day it became even more mysterious for Vladimir. He smelled the fresh fir in the living room and candles.
Karl and his father-in-law brought a small box into the living room. And his foster mother told him that they would decorate the tree now. Because he was so restless, the women decided to go for a walk with the little ones. Vladimir had so many questions on his mind, but all the new impressions concerned him so much that he hardly
there were also only a few of these questions to ask. It was cold and snow covered the ground, but Vladimir came
Winter mild before. He was used to worse through all these years in the wild. The season had threatened death there, and would not have sought protection from a wolf pack.
Eventually, at some point, they went home with him because Holy Mass was about to begin.
"Can you leave Vladimir alone?" one asked his foster parents.
But they trusted him, even if Karl decided to take the key to the good room with him for security.
Vladimir sat in the kitchen for a while and turned on the radio. This technical achievement kept captivating him. He got up and sucked in the smells. He did not know what the individual tasted now and yet it was fascinating for him what all the smells were. And what mortals made of it. Finally he got tired, turned off the radio and lay down in his cot.
It felt like he had been sleeping for hours when a gentle voice woke him up. "Vladimir ... Vladimir ... wake up ... we are back ..." Vladimir turned around and looked sleepily into the face of his new mom. She smiled at him. "Get up little darling, the Christ child was there."
Vladimir sat up wearily and followed her. The parlor was still locked, but his foster father stood in front of it with a bell and rang it, now Vladimir was allowed to enter the room again ...
What he saw was indescribable for him. He saw a decorated Christmas tree lit with many small candles. The light from the candles made the jewelry shine and shine. He had never seen anything like it. There were a couple of packages underneath. For each one and one bore his name.
Vladimir carefully opened this ... what he found was a crocheted teddy bear.
Vladimir stood speechless, he felt tears in his eyes. He, a vampire, had actually got a Christmas present! This
Teddy was all alone for HIM!
He turned with the teddy in hand and fell into his foster parents' arms. "Thank you."
He couldn't get any more out of it.
After the gift giving, the family sang Christmas carols together.
Vladimir could hear the happiness in their voices that they had Karl in their midst again.
Would it be like that when he came home? That same evening, he was sitting on his lap with his new grandfather
while reading it from Herman Melville's book "Moby Dick".
At some point Vladimir's eyes closed more and more. So his foster father carried him back to his bed. Vladimir clutched his new teddy in his sleep.
Finally he was just allowed to be a child again, which he was after all.
"We hadn't imagined our first grandson with feathers - or with canines. But we have to admit ... he's a wonderful boy."
Vladimir heard these words softly as he fell asleep.
*
"It was the first Christmas present in my life."
"The teddy ... is it the one you still have?"
Vladimir nodded. "He and my violin are my most valuable possessions."