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….