Finally it was time to get the mail. Amos took no chances that this plum job might be taken from him. If anyone else saw Tangerine, he’d never be allowed to go to the mailbox again. So he put on his bracers, coat, and hat without being asked and went to tell his mother he was going.
She looked at him over her loom but didn’t stop her work, the shuttle clacking backward and forward as she trod the board.
“You be back by five,” she warned. “Theodore says the fog today will be even thicker. It is a shocking month for vampire weather.”
“Yes, Mother,” said Amos. He planned to run to the mailbox as soon as he was out of sight of the village. That would give him a little extra time with Tangerine. If she came. He was already starting to wonder if he might have imagined her.
He also made sure to wave and nod to Young Franz, who was working on the roof of his father’s house again. But as soon as he was around the bend, Amos broke into a run, pounding along the road as if there was a vampire after him. He didn’t notice Young Franz standing on the chimney, watching him run.
Tangerine was at the mailbox, but so was the post truck and a postal worker, a man. He was chatting to Tangerine while he put the letters in the slot, and they were both smiling. Amos scowled and slowed down, but he kept going. Since he’d already talked to a girl, talking to a postman wasn’t going to be any bigger transgression.
They both turned around as he approached. Amos had seen this same postman before, in the distance, but up close he saw details he’d never noticed before. Like the fact that the postman didn’t wear crosses either, and there were no wrist bracers under his uniform coat. It also looked too light to be sewn with silver wire or set with coins.
“Hi,” said Tangerine. She had a different dress on, but it was just as revealing as the one the day before. Amos couldn’t take his eyes off her, and he didn’t notice the postman winking at him.
“Howdy, son,” called the postman. “Good to see you.”
“Brother,” replied Amos stiffly. “We don’t call each other ‘son.’”
“Fair enough, brother,” said the postman. “I guess I’m old enough to be your dad, is why I said son. But I’d better be on my way. Plenty of mail to deliver.”
“And the fog is coming down,” said Amos. He was trying to be friendly, because he didn’t want to look bad in front of Tangerine. But it was difficult.
“Oh, the fog’s no problem,” said the postman. “I’ll drive down out of it soon enough, and the road is good.”
“I meant it is vampire weather,” said Amos.
“Vampire weather?” asked the postman. “I haven’t heard that said since. well, since I was no older than you are now. I doubt there’s a wild vampire left in these parts. With nothing to drink, they just wither away.”
“My great-uncle’s wife and daughter were killed by vampires, not eight years ago,” said Amos hotly.
“But that’s. ” The postman’s voice trailed off, and he looked at Amos more intently, tilting his head as he took in the necklace of crosses and the bracers. “I knew you folk were old-fashioned, but you can’t tell me you’re not vaccinated? That’s against the law!”
“There is no law but the word of the Lord,” said Amos automatically.
“I gotta get going,” said the postman. He wasn’t smiling now. “Miss. uh. Tangerine, you want a lift down to your dad’s?”
“No, thanks, Fred,” said Tangerine. “My grandma’s coming past a bit later, I’ll go back with her.”
“Well, say hello to your dad from me,” said the postman. “Good-bye. brother.”
Amos nodded, just a slight incline that if he’d done it to an older man back home would have gotten him into serious trouble.
“I’ve been waiting for a while,” said Tangerine. She leaned back against the mailbox and tilted her head, so that her hair fell across one of her eyes. “I thought maybe you’d come early.”
“Everything’s got its time,” said Amos gruffly. He took out his key and held it nervously, his mouth weirdly dry. “Uh, I have to. to get the mail. ”
“Oh, sure,” laughed Tangerine. She moved aside, just enough that Amos could lean forward and open the lid. She was so close he almost touched her arm with the back of his hand. He reached past and quickly took out the mail. Just two buff-colored envelopes today.
Tangerine moved behind him as he locked the mailbox, so that just like the day before, she was blocking his way.
“I have to get back,” said Amos. He jerked his thumb at the fog that was once again eddying down the hillside.
“Can’t we just. talk awhile?” asked Tangerine. “I mean, I’m curious about you. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“What do you mean, like me?” asked Amos.
“Nothing bad!” exclaimed Tangerine. She came closer to him and gave a little tug at the lapel of his coat. Amos took half a step back and almost didn’t hear what she said next, the blood was rushing so in his ears. “I mean, you’re a really good-looking guy, but it was kind of hard to tell at first, with the big hat and the coat and everything. And I never saw so many crosses — ”
“I told you, it’s for. to protect us. against the vampires,” said Amos.
“But you don’t need them,” said Tangerine. “Like Fred said, there’s no wild vampires left. When most everyone got vaccinated, they just died out.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Amos. “People see them, in the fog, through the windows.”
“Have you seen them?” asked Tangerine.
Amos shook his head. He’d looked, but all he ever saw were drifts of fog, occasionally spurred into some strange eddy.
“There you go then,” she said. “Besides, if you did think they were still around, you could get vaccinated, too.”
Amos shook his head.
“But it’s just like getting a shot for polio, or measles,” said Tangerine.
Amos shook his head again. His little sister had died of measles, but everyone said that it was the Lord’s will. Amos had taken the measles, too, at the same time, and he hadn’t died.
“If the Lord wants to take you, then that’s it,” he said. “No amount of vaccinating can stand against that.”
Tangerine sighed.
“I guess you hold to some pretty strong beliefs,” she said. “Do you even get to watch television?”
“Nope,” said Amos. “That’s just a door for the devil, straight into your head.”
“My dad would kind of agree with you on that,” said Tangerine. “Not enough to stop me watching, thank heavens.”
“You watch television?” asked Amos.
“Sure. You could come down and watch it too, sometime. My place is only half a mile along the road.”
She pointed, and Amos suddenly realized that the fog was upon them. Tendrils of cold, wet whiteness were undulating past, weaving together to make a thicker, darker mass.
He looked up the mountain and could no longer see the sun. The two arms of the fog had already joined, and he would be in darkness all the way back to the village.
He must have made a noise, a frightened noise, because Tangerine took his hand.
“It’s only fog,” she said.
“Vampire weather,” whispered Amos. He tried to look everywhere at once, peering past Tangerine, turning his head, then spinning around so that somehow he ended up with Tangerine’s arms around him.
“I can’t get back,” Amos said, but even in the midst of his panic, he was thinking how wonderful it was to have Tangerine’s arms around him, and then out of nowhere her mouth arrived on his and he supposed it was a kiss but it felt more like he’d had the air sucked out of his lungs, but in a good way, it wasn’t something horrible, and he wanted it to happen again but Tangerine tilted her head and then settled her face into his neck, all warm and comfortable.
He patted her back for a little while, something he’d seen his father do once to his mother, before they’d seen that the children had noticed their embrace. Tangerine said something muffled he couldn’t hear. Then she stepped away and disentangled herself, but she was still holding his hands.