We were sitting in the basement, Danny and me. Tv's on. Hockey game. Upstairs ma and pa is fighting again. Bills. Or pa's philanderin'. Didn't know. Didn't care.

"Hey," Danny says. "Let's make a mix tape."

I roll my eyes a little but I don't say no. The two-deck tape player is in the basement as is my whole cassette collection. I know Danny doesn't like most of my music but he does like some songs (The Beatles' Birthday, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again, The Pointer Sisters' Neutron Dance.)

So we start making a mix tape. Danny, who is 8, picks the music. What the hey... it's HIS tape. I'm not gonna listen to it.

He gets Side A done and starts on Side B. He records the theme to Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Run DMC's version of Walk This Way and half of Debarge's Rhythm of the Night when suddenly we hear this nasty scream upstairs. Ka-thump. Something heavy falls to the floor. Ka-thump. Something else falls. Then the basement door swings open and there is Count Dracula. His face is white and his lips are scarlet red.

"I am here to drink your blood," says Dracula, who starts down the stairs.

I look at Danny who has ripped out the cassette tape ribbon and fashioned it into a crucifix. "Go away, Dracula," Danny screams and Dracula, upon seeing the crucifix, shrieks and disappears.

Danny looks at his wrecked tape and cries. Me, I just give him a hug and we go back to the hockey game.