Bleach Monster, Part IX

April 24, 2013

Danit woke up and hopped on the Staten Island Railway with Tony. Audrey stayed home with her dad.  They were en-route to Murray’s meeting place. 

She was not pleased that he requested their presence in front of the Yankees’ store at the South Street Seaport. He did that on purpose.  Nothing in his mind topped the Bronx Bombers.

She had been a Yankee fan. Then she converted and began to root for the Mets.

 Sad.

Very sad.

The train pulled into the SI Ferry Terminal and they boarded. She hoped the boat was not laden with roaches. She meant in terms of the real ones and the riders that often resembled them.

The ferry sailed along. All was quiet. The usual preachers were preaching.  The deckhands were drinking coffee. People were reading their papers and chatting away with their friends.  It docked.  They walked off and headed down Water Street.

People seemed distressed. The market was not doing so well.  As they approached Wall Street they noticed several people acting crazy. But not in a sense that the usual NYC crazies acted.   Danit wondered if it was the market downturn or something else?

Despite Tony’s new found tear-water power he was nervous. He is still young and hasn’t spent much time in the city.  He clutched Danit’s hand. She smiled and told him this is the norm for the City.  It is packed with a lot of crazies.

A religious crazy approached them and started preaching and begging.  Danit pulled Tony away. She told him not to go into defense mode.  She further explained that most of these people are harmless. They just need to be institutionalized.  Such a shame these people are free to walk the streets and disturb an otherwise peaceful spring day.

Murray and Danny were in the store buying Yogi Berra t-shirts, World Series collector baseballs and some other stuff.  “Uncle Sam” and the “Statue of Liberty” were standing outside the store posing for pictures and begging for money.

Murray and Danny sat on a bench and sipped bottled water.  A few minutes later Danit and Tony arrived.  They exchanged greetings.  They began walking toward Pier 17. They planned to sit out by the boats and discuss life. Murray was pleased it looked like his plans were finally going to come to fruition.

As they were walking past the GAP and getting ready to cross the street a crazed cyclist was riding through the crowd. She was slamming into people.  A few elderly people got knocked down.  A group of people started to chase her. But she cycled away.

Murray kept his eyes fixed on the route she took.  He pointed in that direction.  Despite Murray’s dark leanings, he still has a lot of good in him. One day this mix of good and evil will kill him.

They picked up their pace and walked near J. Crew. They saw the crazy biker picking up so much speed. However, she was no longer attacking anyone. She was just cruising at a speed too fast for her surroundings.

She started pedaling even faster.  She tried to turn left. But her wheel got caught in the sidewalk and she flipped off the bike and landed on her knees.  Murray and his group surrounded her. She started screaming out words. Not in English of course. But none of them could decipher the language she was speaking. They didn’t think she was an alien. They figured she was just a nut.

Danit asked her if she was ok. She nodded, yes.  They didn’t want to leave her. They walked over to her and tried to help her out.  As Danny moved forward, she pulled an axe out of her bag.  Danny ducked and shot pieces of blubber.  She went down. 

Murray’s gang retreated.  They found a nearby bench to sit on.

Murray began addressing why he called them together.

Bleach Monster, Part VIII

Danit woke up. Today is her birthday. She was pondering the text from Murray. She knew it was cryptic for a reason.  She expected him to call with birthday greetings. He always called early. He is not vermin.

On Murray’s 18^th birthday not one friend or family member called to say happy birthday. He spent the day with his parents and Danit.  No one called. Not even his grandmother, who’s notorious for calling at around 6:00 a.m. on big days in one’s life.

Back to the text, she knew she had to meet Murray. He offered two choices. There was no way she was going to 161 Street.  Sadly her days of going to the Stadium ended. She became a traitor and rooted for the Mutts. 

She knew Murray hated coming back to the Island. Not sure it was that he hated that place so much or the harrowing commute to get there. A train, to a filthy ferry, another train and then being picked up in Annandale took longer than going to Boston. Our hearts are with them today.

So she said she could meet him in two days at Wolfe’s Pond Park.  Murray loved that place. He learned to inline skate there. Audrey came running into her room with a homemade birthday card and a cupcake. It was a little early for the cupcake. But Audrey was wearing such a loving smile when she handed it over to her mom. So Danit ate it.

Audrey was excited that she got to spend the day with her mom. But she was more excited that she was going to the zoo.  She loves animals.  Unlike her mom she isn’t afraid of snakes. Of course, that fear is Murray’s fault.

The trip to the zoo was easy.  Everything was calm. They had pizza for lunch, watched Disney DVDs and got ready for a birthday dinner with Robbie, her husband and an ever doting father to Audrey.

The day came. Murray stood in front of the restrooms at Wolfe’s Pond Park waiting for Danit. He decided to take the SI train or trolley as he called it to Huguenot.  He walked down Huguenot Ave. to Hylan Blvd. to the park. He barely looked at Tottenville High School, the dump he wasted four years of his life in.  Boy did he hate that place with a passion.  Has no care in the world about that institution now. It was a faded memory of one’s past.

Danit drove in and parked in Murray’s traditional parking spot.  He is very ritualistic and always parked in the same spot in the park and just about anywhere else. She knew he’d be standing by the park’s latrine.

April 16, 2013

He smiled and pulled a bottle of Segal’s Fusion Red out of his knapsack. He opened, decanted and poured.  He was laughing and smiling every step of the way.

L’Chaim.

She reluctantly sipped her wine.  She knew exactly why he did this.  Even he though fought with bleach. He was a sith at heart. The Force was always strong within him.

They chatted for about an hour. The bottle of Segal’s was finished and tossed in the recycle bin.

The two siblings agreed to get their little “weapons,” Danny and Tony together to start their “empire”.  They would meet in two weeks at the South Street Seaport.

Over the next few days, Murray and Danit worked out and made sure Danny and Tony followed suit.

All were anxiously awaiting the rapidly approaching meeting date.

Bleach Monster, Part VII

Murray woke up to a lovely spring morning. Before he went to bed he watched, Andy pitch a great game and was happy that Cano was beginning to hit well. All was right with the world. 

Stacey was out of the picture.  Murray was upset. But not terribly depressed. She is cute.  But she wasn’t right for him.  Perhaps he’d find a new crazy before the end of the season. 

Anyway he brought his laundry off to the Laundromat. He no longer did his own laundry. He had to be careful with his use of bleach for him to continue to be the “Bleach Monster”.  He hopped on the R-train and headed to Columbus Circle.

As he sat on the train he began to read, Revan. He was obsessed with the Old Republic. He felt he was part of it. He loved the battles and knew he had to fight many more.

He knew he had to form an alliance.  Of course he had to be in control. He was a little confused about how to get Danit, “the Wine-Girl,” Danny, “Blubber-Boy,” and Tony, “Tear-Water Boy” together under his domain. His sister, Danit would be the toughest.

He got off the train and grabbed a hot dog and Pepsi from a street vendor. He began to walk through Central Park.  It was the usual park scene.  Murray went to his rock.  He’d been sitting on that rock and meditating for more years than he can remember. He was good at it. He turned his iPhone off and immersed himself in his thoughts.

About an hour later he jumped off his rock and bought bottled water. He hiked over to the lake.  A cute couple was in a rowboat. They were smiling. He dreamed that it was he and his new nut job.  The couple seemed happy.

But then he heard sharp words coming from the woman’s mouth about the status of their relationship.  She really liked him. The guy liked her. But she always seemed to spend her time with other people.  But she said she had known her other friends for many years and was having trouble squeezing in space for him. He was tired of being the second banana.

They rowed back to the boathouse and docked.  They were holding hands.  Murray didn’t hear all of their argument. So he figured they must have made up. 

He tuned out for a moment or two and sipped his water.  His ears awoke to a shriek. The guy from the rowboat was rolling on the floor in excruciating pain. His girlfriend slashed his hand with a razor blade. She kicked him hard in the chest when he tried to clot the bleeding.

She was now running wild through the park. The NYPD tried to stop her. But were no match for her.  Little kids were screaming. Her boyfriend was being tended to by EMS.

Murray was not in the mood to deal with her. He was still figuring out how to create his republic. But there was still some good in him and he didn’t want anyone else to be injured.

He kicked his legs into high gear and approached her. The two of them exchanged words.  Her eyes were blood red.  Her twisted smile was beyond big. She came at Murray with the razor blade.

He didn’t move a muscle. She got within inches of him. Her hand was in attack mode.  As she readied herself to slash his face his eyes shot gallons of bleach.  She was drenched. She went down for the count. She started screaming.  Murray poured some water over her. He didn’t want to kill her.

He figured she needed to go to the hospital and then the psych ward.  An EMS technician came over to her. Thankfully, the usual rubber necking crowd was forming.  This gave Murray an easy escape. He meandered through the crowd unnoticed.

No he wasn’t interested in dating this woman even though he had a high tolerance for the mentally ill.  In recent months a young kid broke him away from that.  He finally recognized he needed to stay away.   His breakaway was a slow and enduring process.

The sun was blazing. For some unusual reason no one was around the lake.  Murray jumped in. Did he care if the water was clean? In his neat freak, OCD, GAD mind he did care. He was going rogue.  The water felt great.  After a few minutes of the butterfly and side strokes he climbed out. As he emerged a pigeon flew right at him. He has a little friend who hates pigeons. He’s not found of them either. But he didn’t plan on hurting the bird.  It came within inches of him and flew away.

Murray grabbed some napkins from a food stand and “toweled” himself dry. His shorts and Gehrig t-shirt were damp. But wearable. 

While in the water he only thought of forming his republic. His crazed, but good and caring mind had lots of ideas.  He sent a strangely worded text to Danit and requested her presence at a gathering….