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«What about Mary? What if she decides to try this 'juice'? What should I tell her? What a dilemma! We have to think of something before she comes back!» – I thought.

After all, it's so natural: Mary might see packets of fat-cheeked red tomatoes with the Polish inscription «Sok pomidorowy» on them, decide to try it, open one of the packets, pour the juice into a glass, and instead of juice it will pour out…

What can I think of?

I tapped my fingernails on the fridge, thinking of something plausible: I couldn't let Mary see that blood and find out I was drinking it. In the end, after much deliberation, I decided that I would just ask her nicely not to open my «juice» packets-she was a decent girl and wouldn't poke her nose where it didn't belong.

While Mary was away, I decided to move my clothes from her wardrobe to my room, but it didn't take me long, so I had to sit by the window for about an hour, waiting for my neighbour to arrive and listening to what was going on around me: all the English conversations gave me a pleasant feeling of something new and unusual.

At last I saw Mary walking hurriedly towards our house, and I sighed with relief: it is very boring to wait for someone.

The door opened, there was a commotion in the hallway, and then Mary came into the living room with a large bag in her hands.

– I'm home! I went to the supermarket to ask if you'd been in, but they said you hadn't» she said, setting the bags on the floor. – I bought everything!

– Oh, I think I really forgot to go in there! – I pretended to be embarrassed, but I was immensely surprised by Mary's enthusiasm: she had bought the groceries herself! How embarrassing! I had absolutely no intention of buying anything!

– That's what I thought, so I bought it all myself. Don't worry, you too: tomatoes, cucumbers and apples, only you have to give me the money for that.

– Thank you for your concern, Mary! – I exclaimed, but in my heart I sighed unhappily.

I took a hundred pounds sterling out of my purse and put it on the table.

– I won't have change» Mary said, surprised.

– Change? – I asked.

– Well, yes, it's a lot more than you owe me.

– How much do I owe you?

She smiled.

– Nine pounds! – Mary laughed merrily. – I'd forgotten that you came from Poland! Is everything so expensive there?

– Yes, very expensive» I said, though I had no idea if it was true.

I had never bought groceries and didn't even know how much they cost. And I had never had much to do with paper money; I just transferred money to bank accounts.

– I'll give it to you when you change it. – Mary grabbed the bags and headed for the kitchen.

I followed her.

– What's that empty box in the hallway? – She asked, taking the groceries out of the bag and putting them on the table.

– I was just going to tell you about it: my parents sent me a parcel with a very important medicine» I said, helping her take out the groceries.

– Medicine? – Mary froze for a second with a baguette in her hands. – Are you sick?

– Yeah, I told you I'm allergic to almost everything. So I take a special medicine, and it's really nasty.

– I feel sorry for you. They used to give me castor oil when I was a kid, and it was disgusting!

I went to the fridge and opened the door.

– You see, these packets contain my medicine» I explained to Mary.

– Why do they look like tomato juice cartons? – she wondered.

She walked over to the fridge and picked up one of the packets.

«What a sight! Mary is twirling that packet in her hands and has no idea that it contains human blood and that her neighbour is a vampire!» – I giggled.

– I asked for it to be sent to me like that. It's simple psychology: I drink the medicine from this packet and I don't get so disgusted» I lied in a serious tone.

– Really? I didn't know you could do that. – Mary put the bag in the fridge and went back to the groceries from the shop.

– Yeah, I've been tested since I was six» I sighed.

– It's really sad when you can't have a festive treat at Christmas» she said thoughtfully. – It must be frustrating to watch everyone eating the goodies when you can't touch them yourself» she said thoughtfully.

– I was offended at first, but you get used to it» I lied desperately. – Mary, can I ask you something?

– Sure, what? – She looked at me.

– Don't open those packages even out of curiosity. Never» I said with a smile.

Mary's face stretched: of course I had asked her so 'politely'!

– Okay, whatever you say» Mary said, and shrugged her shoulders.

– Please don't take offence, I'm just very sensitive about these things» I hastened to justify myself.

– Me? Offended? Not at all! – she snorted. – I have my little quirks, too. For instance, I only wash my hair with one shampoo, and when I don't have it, I don't wash my hair at all until I buy it.

– Oh, wow! Oh, my God! – I exclaimed, politely marvelling at her «obsession».

– Yes, or another thing: sometimes I have insomnia, and I get scared to be alone in the room, and then I wake someone up. So be prepared for that.

– Oh, you're welcome: I often have insomnia too» – I was happy to hear her say that.

We began to put the food away, but I felt awkward the whole time. But Mary didn't take offence; she began to tell me about the tricks she'd done at school.

– Now let's cook something! – Mary opened the tap, washed her hands and took a piece of meat out of the fridge.

When I imagined the smells in the house, I hurried away, citing an urgent trip to the shop to get notebooks and pens for my studies. I grabbed my purse, quickly put on my sneakers and jacket, and stormed out of the house without even asking Mary where I could find the shop. But I found it quickly: there was a big bookshop in our street. I took some notebooks, two notebooks, eight pens of different colours to write the titles of topics and sections, some simple pencils, a ruler, a sharpener, an eraser, and took all this to the checkout. The cashier was a nice young man who smiled at me.