JACK BEGAN TO LAUGH. He laughed so much, he stared to feel tears trickle down his cheeks.
The last time he had laughed in such a way was so long ago; he could no longer remember it.
"What are you laughing about, young man?" the stranger's angry voice demanded.
"I told you; I am no longer a gullible boy." For almost a minute he did not reply, but stood there, deep in thought.
"Tell me..." he trailed of. "How about a compromise? You ought to keep the stake, for now. And I shall give the seeds three days to grow."
Jack stopped laughing and instead frowned. He have done much farming in his life... But he knew very well that three days was nowhere near enough time for a garlic plant to grow.
"That is enough, is it not? Enough to prove them to be magical?" What was the man playing at?
"And?"
"Well, if it grows I recieve my stake. If it doesn't, you may keep it. Either way, you get to keep the garlic, don't you? What do you have to lose, anyway?"
It was true, the boy realised. If the stranger was telling the truth, he was at gain both ways. Only the man was at loss.
But that was wrong.
Why would the stranger give him such a good offer? He knew there was something wrong about it.
"Where's the catch?"
"There isn't one," the strange man said flatly. "Why would there be?"
"Why are you acting for my benefit?" he demanded. "It does not make any sense..."
"I thought my offer quite straight forward, young man," the stranger raised a confused eyebrow.
"What is in it for you?"
"Must there be something?"
Jack hesitated. He wasn't sure if it was best to trust a stranger... But like he was told, he had nothing to lose.
"I accept your offer," he answered.
"Very well, Jack," the man said, quickly placing the seeds in his palm. "Plant them when you get home; I shall see you in three days time."
He looked down at the clump of seeds and glanced back up as he realised that the strange man had known his name.
And Jack hadn't told the stranger his name.
HIS MOTHER MET HIM AT THE DOOR. With her narrow frame, untidy blonde hair and blank brown eyes, it was clear that Jack inherited much of his features from her.
"Did you manage to get anything?" she asked weakly. "The wooden stake ought to have been worth something."
"I did not sell it." Her face fell at his statement.
"Come inside, Jack," she sighed, quickly recovering from her shock. As he stepped into the small, ebbing house, he placed the wooden stake on the table. "I don't understand," she muttered, pouring murky water from a chipped jug. "Many people believe in the Vampire... Yet they fail to protect themselves." Jack was hardly paying any attention to her. His mind was still spinning from the stranger,who he had made the agreement with. "And a boy with as much spirit as you... It is shocking that no one was interested..."
"There was a strange man at the market," the boy told his mother. "He made a compromise with me and gave me this." He opened up his fist, revealing the clump of garlic seeds. His mother's face brightened slightly at the sight of it. "He claims that they are magical... If I find that this is true in the three days to come, I must present him with the stake."
"Did he tell you what to do?"
"He mentioned..." Jack trailed off. "I believe he mentioned something about planting it."
"Then we shall try that, Jack" she smiled sadly. "And we shall give it our all."
Jack couldn't help but think that he had misread his mother. He had believed that losing his father had left his mother deranged; and possibly insane.
But in moments of hardship, it appeared that his mother had more spirit than himself.
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