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.

RIP: Aquehongian Lodge # 112, June 1938-March 2013

I recently attended Aquehongian Lodge #112’s 75^th Anniversary Banquet. It was the final meeting for the Order of the Arrow Boy Scout lodge that I grew up in.  On April 1, the lodges in all five New York City boroughs will be merged into one.

The Order of the Arrow (OA) is an honor society for campers. In order to become a member, you need to be at the least a First Class Scout and meet several camping requirements.  Then you are selected from your peers.

Those who are voted in undertake an ordeal. In the old days, when I was selected, you slept on your ground cloth, were given a candle so you could read the pieces of the OA ritual. You ate little and worked the next day. Times have changed and thus, the ordeal changed with the times. 

I was an eighth-grader when I passed my June ’84 ordeal. I joined the ritual team that fall. That team is now called ICE (Inductions, Ceremonies and Events).  Again, times have changed.  I took my Brotherhood the next spring.  To obtain that honor you must have been an Ordeal member for 10 months, been on a committee, attended a few service projects and learned the OA’s obligation, handshake, song and admonition. 

As I moved along in my membership, I became ritual team chairman and used to write the OA Tap Outs for my Lodge. I called them “Tap-Mania”. I was copying “Wrestlemania”, something all of us 80s teens loved. 

In Sept. 87, I was elected Lodge Chief.  One of my best friends counted the votes.  The incumbent dropped out of the race minutes before the election. My opponent got two votes. I wasn’t supposed to know that. My buddy opened his mouth. I hope the kid I beat cast one of his two votes. I got like 50. The next year, I ran unopposed.

My dad was chief of the soon-to-be defunct Shu Shu Gah Lodge # 24, Brooklyn. I joined Scouting to emulate “my fadder,” that’s what a former Chappy camper, my summer camp called his dad. I think he still does.

While I was chief, I had to be publications chairman at the same time. I was somewhat of a dictator. But I loved my Lodge so much. I could not let anything go wrong. I was chief of our 50th Anniversary party.

In June 1988, I earned my Vigil Honor, the highest honor you can receive in the OA. In my mind, it is the highest honor in Scouting. I am Eagle. However, the Vigil is more spiritual. Those of you that know me understand how spiritual I am.

I was chief during the Ordeal weekend that I took my Vigil Induction on. Sadly, two Cub Scouts drowned during the afternoon. 

My friends and I were building the ordeal’s induction fires and went to the rededicated Berlin Lodge in Pouch Scout Camp to get lunch. The old one was torched about a year before my some kids.

 

The ritual team did not associate with anyone else. We were bound to each other. We formed a clique. We walked down the trail and saw a Cubmaster letting his Cubs swim in Orbach Lake, Pouch Scout Camp. No swimming was allowed at the time. We yelled at them and made them come out.

 

We ate and walked back. We saw the Cubmaster, who admitted he couldn’t swim was in the lake up to his knees screaming the names of two kids. I was wearing a bathing suit. I tossed off my shirt and sneakers. My other ritual team members did the same. We jumped into the lake and led the Lifesaving merit badge lost bathers drill. We pulled one kid out. The ambulance rushed him off to the hospital. Unfortunately, he didn’t survive.

 

We were told the other kid ran out of the lake. So we set up a massive search all day and night.

I did my Vigil induction that night. My dad came to the morning ceremony. He saw me get my Vigil sash, axe and name. “Alhaquot Aptonen” interpreted as “Stormy Speaker”. I was so proud. But he pulled me off to the side and said the FDNY pulled the other kid out of the lake. He drowned.

I made my best friends in my Lodge.  Many of the guys are now married with kids. Some are getting married. 

When I was chief, I gave out positions to be on my “Cabinet”. Man did I love playing politics.  I was not nice. I was only 17. So if you wanted a job and ate lunch with me in the Tottenville High School “liberry”, you got a job. Yes, I know it is library. But a teacher in I.S. 34, once said all my students think they are going to the “liberry”, not the library. So it stuck with me.

As ritual team member, I played many parts. We dressed up as Lenni Lenape, Delaware Indians. We wore war paint. I was Meteu, the medicine man of the circle in induction ceremonies. I was Allowat Sakima, mighty chief of the circle in the Brotherhood ceremony. The Vigil inductions remain secretive. I was in those too.

The kids that got their positions by hanging with me in the “Liberry” practiced and photo copied the rituals at lunchtime. We were a Tony-award winning team.  I was very dramatic. Once a helicopter was flying over our ritual site. I was doing the OA’s “Legend”. I stopped looked at it and raised my staff.  It circled and flew away. 

I can tell thousands of stories. My friends and I sometimes meet for a few beers and reminisce.

Jumping back to our final meeting.  They called up all the Vigil members to join the ceremony to call out the new candidates for this esteemed honor.

I’m happy to say that everyone was able to join us in the ceremony. Some of our older crowd had some trouble getting up there. But we made sure they were recognized.

The meeting ended all of us in a circle singing, “Firm Bound in Brotherhood,” the OA song. 

Our eyes were filled with tears.  I had an amazing time seeing people, I have not seen in over 20 years. I wish others were there.  Those that couldn’t make it because they had other plans live too far or are in the great lodge in the sky. We placed a sash on the fire for those brothers that were watching us from heaven. We walked out. Part of me died.

How Staten Island Makes You Stronger?

About two weeks before my eighth birthday, I was taken from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn to my new home in Arden Heights, Staten Island. I know, leaving Brooklyn is a sin. I had no choice. I left SI many years ago.

Before we knock Staten Island (aka “The Rock”) let’s talk about some cool things. It has an awesome Boy Scout program. I made Eagle on SI. Although, I credit my camp, Chappegat Hill, Ten Mile River Scout Camps, Narrowsburg, N.Y. for being the driving force in my scouting life.

Staten Island has the soon to be gone, Aquehongian Lodge #112. It is not really leaving. But in a few months the Order of the Arrow lodges from each of NYC’s boroughs will be merged into one. The best part of my SI life was being chief of the Lodge. I got my Vigil at Staten Island’s Pouch Scout Camp. My Vigil name is what this blog is named after, Alhaquot Aptonen, translated as “Stormy Speaker”. Sadly two Cub Scouts drowned during my induction weekend. I led the lost bather drill. Maybe, I’ll discuss in a future post.

So yeah, SI has some cool stuff. But then it has Tottenville High School. That place is a total dump. But let’s face it what is there to do on the Rock? Yeah, we have the mall. I was a mall rat. I’m not sure I had as much fun as T.S., Brodie and of course, Jay and Silent Bob.

As much as I was the crowned prince of the Rock, all I wanted to do was leave it. I spent many years working in the borough’s political machine. But I never concentrated on where I was. But always thought about where I wanted to be. My old master always said that was wrong. Not that I listened. I still don’t.

The problem with SI, besides it having nothing to do, is that it takes hours to get to the City, the Bronx or Brooklyn via public transportation. But I never let that stop me. I’d either drive to the Ferry or take the Staten Island Rapid Transit. That train is like an old trolley.

Perhaps this is why so many Islanders stay put. Not me. I would get up at the crack of dawn and take the crazy rides into the other boroughs. Or drive it. That sucked too. If something ended at around 11:00 p.m., I’d be lucky to be home by 2:00 a.m. The Ferry schedule is quite a challenge at night. Then I’d get up at the crack of dawn and start all over again.

It makes you stronger. The other day, I planned a gathering of old friends. Some were coming in from Conn., Jersey and Nassau. Although SI is closer, they have an easier commute midtown. But nevertheless, they all complained. I thought of my old days on the Rock.

I had wanted to go the Lower Eastside or Upper Eastside. I tossed out Brooklyn. They got scared. Not of the locations. But they were afraid of the travel. We settled on midtown Eastside. So we had a few people come in from the New Paltz area, a few from Nassau and East Harlem. A great time was had by all.

Bottom line, growing up on the Rock makes you stronger. You have some great youth activities and when you grow up and are ready to run you can. It just takes a little more to do that.

But life is about struggle and fighting to survive. SI can help you get through it.