[Narrative] 03: In the kitchen + Every cloud has a silver lining; Another Idea

"Every cloud has a silver lining" Every bad situation has some good aspect to it. (phrases.org, 2014)

3. The Veggie Vampire
A lonely old lady vampire with a love of cooking / baking who's chosen to live the simple life, trying to live like a human --at least, as much as a vampire can, of course-- she doesn't eat meat and in order to make up for her need for blood she's grown a little addiction to popping red iron tablets* to replace her lack of blood drinking. She has long since lost her will to leave her home and fly around in her bat form. 

Drawing of a smiling old lady

One sunny morning, after applying her Factor-∞ (Factor-infinity) suncream in her basement bedroom, she can be found baking cute bat cookies in the kitchen. Just as she is pulling the finished cookies out of the oven - while wearing her novelty oven gloves - a young crow** hits the kitchen window directly in front of the oven, making her throw the tray of cookies in the air, in surprise - some of which remain stuck to the ceiling.

Concerned for the poor bird's health, to keep herself cool beneath the sun's unrelenting glare she turns on the powerful garden sprinklers and heads outside to retrieve the bird, all the while being sprayed with sprinkler water.

She then lovingly nurses the poor bird back to health as if it is the first bit of company she's had in 100 years, all the while feeding it bat cookies which the crow seems to love.

When the day comes to set the crow free, the crow does not leave and just sits on the threshold of the open kitchen window, moving its head as if urging her to come with it. 

A young crow

After hesitation, she convinces herself to do it and proceeds to transform into a bat and appearing to have the time of her life, flies above the clouds with the crow - if time allows the vampire could meet the young crow's family in the sky, however this is not an important part of the story.


What does this have to do with "Every cloud has a silver lining"?
The cloud here is the damage to the young crow and the seeming waste of the cookies, as well as the mess the flying cookies make. The silver lining however comes in the form of the crow's love of those very cookies, which appear to help it get better, and the old vampire being inspired to leave her home and fly again.


*Human blood holds a large amount of iron, which binds to a protein called transferrin. The normal transferrin / blood iron level is between 20 > 50% [source], so both the iron tablets real life crimson colour as well as blood's iron content support the idea that a vampire could use them as a blood substitute.

**Crows are a very intelligent black feathered species of bird, with which negative superstitions have been long since attached - namely they are considered evil or have a connection to death. The fictional vampire is also considered evil, wears black and is associated with death; so the crow makes the perfect bird species to take part in this story.