Raisins – Mitchell's thoughts, photos, etc.

The Match is Set. Or is it?

Alana, Anat, and Marc were hanging out at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in St. George. Why did they choose to hang there? They loved Staten Island. They felt it was exotic.

Jay was on the incoming Newhouse boat. Christy A. was across the street from the terminal near Staten Island Borough Hall. She was relatively calm for herself. She had a couple of slices at the nearby pizza place. She quenched her thirst with water.

The boat docked, and the passengers got off. Some walked around to the section for the NYC-bound boats. Several headed to Empire Outlets, the bus stops, or the Staten Island Railway. It was a weekend. So, it was not running express. The fact that it was running at all is a shocker.

Christy was heading towards Empire Outlets. Jay was approaching the Old Navy outlet. His cousin was also approaching it. The good heroes split up. But were in sight of each other.

All of a sudden, glass was flying everywhere. Pieces of moldy bread were knocking it down. Some missed, and the glass hit people. Alana, Anat and Marc furiously texted each other. They wanted to wait before they jumped in. But didn’t want to see people get hurt.

Sadly, a piece of glass hit a little girl in the face. She started bleeding. She screamed. Her mother held her and started pressing herself against her to stop the bleeding. As she squeezed her child tighter, a piece of bread smacked her in the left eye. She fell.

The three had enough. Anat was standing on top of the roof of the Gap Outlet store. Dried fruit was deflecting the glass and bread. Alana raced out of the front door of the Guess outlet and began flooding the area with wine. From the Hagen Dazs store, pomegranates were flying. One nailed Christy A. in the head. Jay fell in a pool of wine. Christy tripped over a few raisins.

Apple seeds hit Jay in the eyes. Barley landed in his mouth. Apricots smacked Christy in the eyes. Some wound up in her nose. People were running to get away. Many jumped onto the departing Senator John J. Marchi boat. Pretty soon only the fighters were at Empire Outlets—those who didn’t get away sheltered in the stores. Anat jumped off the roof. As she landed, she kicked Jay in the head with her Timberlands. Marc pounced on Christy and poked her eyes with pomegranates. Alana kept the wine flowing.

A Quiet Day. Not

It was a pleasant sunny day. Thankfully, the heat wave ended. People were back outside and enjoying the beach and parks. David Benjamin and Sarah were in their joint stroller being pushed by Marc. Alana was humming music from the Bauhaus, the Cure, Depeche Mode, and, for kicks, she tossed in some Bon Jovi. She and Marc saw him the night before at the Garden. Sometimes they needed good, fun rock. It is not as deep as the goth and new wave scene. But has its needs.

All was going well. The kids were enjoying themselves in Prospect Park. They had spent a few minutes at Grand Army Plaza and walked over. Alana and Marc are not the biggest fans of zoos, but they planned to take the kids to park’s zoo. One day, they’d take them to an African safari. But at this point, they knew their younglings would enjoy the sea lions, some wild felines (Alana and Marc are allergic to and hate cats), and maybe even try feeding some of the animals. They are still a little young to understand everything. But we are quickly getting there.

They walked down Flatbush Avenue in the direction of the zoo. They gazed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden across the street. They wanted peace. They sipped their water and made sure the two kids had their milk in their NY Yankees thermos. They were both wearing Yankee t-shirts, shorts, and hats.

They saw the usual crowds on Flatbush – The Homeless, the mentally ill, other families, the street performers and salespersons, and the ice cream trucks. Alana’s phone buzzed. She had no desire to answer it. But it was the blasting of the emergency ringtone by Siouxsie Sioux.

Alana’s eyes lit up. Marc’s phone was on vibrate, and it was vibrating. There was an attack in New Springville near the Staten Island Mall. Glass was flying everywhere. The NYPD was trying to defuse the situation. Dan’s emergency response team was on the scene.

Anat jumped into her Porsche and was making great time on the FDR Drive to the heliport near the South Street Seaport. Dan alerted the police that his wife would be able to negotiate. Although Anat worked in investment banking her negotiation skills were well known in NYC. Dan often had her counsel his staff.

She exited her car and headed into a chopper, and in about five minutes, she was at the mall. Glass almost hit the chopper. Dan knew Anat was not going to use her powers on demand. She and the others kept their secrecy. It has been getting harder. But they’ve been getting smarter.

Jay was in rare form. The officers fired at him. But his glass deflected all the bullets. Alana and Marc were entering the zoo and deciding what to do. They knew they couldn’t get to Staten Island in the manner that Alana did. However, they thought they could be useful. Anat went without Gili and Jerry. So, there’d be no jelly, latkes and olives flying. Dan was getting worried. The NYPD was making some strides but needed something extra.

He looked at his wife. She smiled. She got onto the microphone and asked Jay to stop. More glass flew. Anat said she had to use the ladies’ room. She made that up.

She walked towards Richmond Hill Road and used her senses to sniff out Jay. She fired prunes and apricots at the glass. She knocked most of it down. One piece came awfully close to her. She ducked just at the right moment. She heard Jay’s gravelly voice. She was able to fire in that direction. She stunned him when a raisin hit him between the eyes. He thought he was in total control, and his enemies weren’t gonna get to his location. Wrong he was. Anat fired several more times. Jay fell to the ground. The NYPD closed in. Anat walked away.

Anat Relaxes

Anat was seated on the couch in her Upper East Side penthouse, thinking about giving birth. She knows she’s a little older than most pregnant moms. That didn’t scare her. She was thinking about her grandmother. Whether the baby was a boy or a girl, it would be named in her grandma’s memory. Once again, she thought about how her grandmother got her hooked on dried fruit. Especially raisins. She remembered when she returned to Stanford after the funeral, and a platter of it was waiting in her room from her grandma. Obviously, it was sent before she had that awful fall. Anat was dreaming about when she rubbed the fruit all over herself. But she also thought back to her younger years.

She remembered eating dates with her grandmother on Rosh Hashanah. Her grandmother came to the US from Israel a few years before her daughter and son-in-law, Anat’s parents did. Grandma quickly assimilated. Her kids did not. She wasn’t surprised. Anat remembered when her grandmother asked her to eat the dates and say a blessing. She did and ate some raisins, too. She loved raisins. On another note, Marc had a friend who was into raisins. But for different reasons. He also had a friend who was into reasons. That’s another story.

Back to Anat. She munched on raisins all the time as a little girl. One day, she almost choked on them. She coughed it out and was fine. She was a little scared. She had some water. She heard her parents fighting in their bedroom. They were loud as usual. She went to her front stoop and sat. She was feeling better. She saw a few little girls skipping. She wanted to be friends with them. But they shut her out. She started breathing heavily, and her throat felt weird. She fell down the steps off the stoop. No one saw her. She skinned her knees. She got up and, opened her hands, and reopened her eyes which closed when she fell. She felt her hands feeling thick and weird. They were red and bleeding. She went to the hose to wash her bloodied hands and knees. She cried when the water was turned off. She decided she would go into the kitchen to clean up. As she walked up the steps, she opened her hand on the doorknob and noticed her hand was discolored, probably from the fall. She shut her eyes and squeezed her hands. When she opened them, raisins and dates flew out. She was confused. She went into her kitchen and washed her hands.

Over the next few weeks, the dried fruit continued to appear. Anat learned how to shoot them as projectiles.

Jerry and his mom

Jerry and Anat went out for a walk. Anat was feeling good. She was having a healthy pregnancy. She is a little older. Her main concern was using her arsenal of dried fruit before the baby was born. She didn’t want to make crazy movements that could harm her future child.

She knew Jay was out there. Jerry’s biological mom, Diane, was cleaning herself up. She knew Jerry was no longer hers. She knew she should have never married Jay. She was in a bad spot several years ago. She liked him and got hooked on his alcohol and drug-fused lifestyle. She wasn’t innocent. She tried plenty of drugs on her own and with friends. But she was more controlled than Jay. He was utterly out of control. Jerry knew Jay was his dad. They fought in Central Park. He had no real memories of Diane. Remember, he was abandoned when he was three. He spent the first few years of his life being abused. When he got to the child center, he pushed his parents out of his mind.

Anat and Jerry were strolling down Third Avenue in the nineties. All was calm. Diane walked by and noticed the two of them. Jerry gazed at her. He made some connections. Tightly, he squeezed Anat’s hand. Anat remembered the battles she had with her and Jay. She was easy to defeat. She has no powers. Jerry was getting ready to launch his olives at Diane. But he wasn’t sure why. Anat pushed him across the street.

Diane wept. She knew she had no business being his mom. She was doing well in her rehab program and hoped to start over. It was a long way off. But doable.

Meanwhile, Jay was around the corner. Jerry heard him on his iPhone. Their eyes met. Jay was still embarrassed that his then five-year-old son beat him. It was a glass v. olives fight. Jay shot glass at Anat. Jerry jumped in front of it and knocked it down with green olives. Black olives smacked Jay in the head. Anat did not want the two to fight. She didn’t want this to get out of control. She took a deep breath and showered Jay with raisins and dates. Jay tried to fight back with jagged glass. He missed.

Anat and Jerry felt they had done enough damage and walked into Brooks Brothers. Anat had Jerry try on some clothes while wondering if the baby inside her watched this episode and was figuring out his or her powers.

Wedding plans continue

Anat woke up with a splitting headache. She knew she was fine. It was just jitters about her wedding. She and Dan set a date. But she had so much work to do. As smart as she is, She’s completely clueless about wedding planning. They knew they’d honeymoon in Israel. That was about all she was able to plan.

She was still ruminating over talking to her parents. She wanted them to see how she cleaned up. Ann suggested she give it more thought. She knew what Anat had been like. She remembered their first meeting when the police brought Jerry to the children’s center.

Anat sat at her desk and cranked Bauhaus. She wasn’t sure what her wedding song would be. She thought it’d be cute to dance with Jerry. The kid was just getting into Joy Division. So, she’d pick one of their tunes. The only argument she had with Dan was over the dress. He was hoping for her to be all dressed in white. She wanted all black with black make-up and nail polish. She won. But decided to just excite him she may wear white panties.

She stepped away from her desk and went outside. Jay was standing right in front of her building. He was ranting about getting Jerry back. He didn’t see her. She snuck up behind him and unloaded raisins and apricots. They smacked right into his neck. He turned around and tried to launch glass at her beautiful blue eyes. She ducked and refired. She plugged the dried fruit up his nose. He opened his mouth to breathe.

She filled his mouth with raisins. He started to choke. She kicked him in the knees. He went down. She texted Dan that he was at her building and acting crazy. She kicked him a few more times. She heard sirens.

A squad pulled up and they saw him on the ground. The officers assumed he was stoned. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had dried fruit all over him. They cuffed him and shoved him into the car. Anat was pleased. But knew he’d escape.

Alana to the rescue

Jake was sifting through Jen’s phone. He couldn’t believe he had to call his wife’s ex to save her. However, the circumstances were unusual. He texted Marc. No answer. He was being pelted with prunes, raisins and apricots. Many landed on Jen’s tummy. Hospital security was knocked out by the dried fruit.

All of a sudden, Alana and Tzipora were walking by. Alana met Tzipora at the hospital to go over Tzipora’s wedding. Eran and she were going to wed. Every now and then Tzipora still convinced Alana to jump into bed.

They heard people screaming. Tzipora said the yells were probably an accident victim. Alana didn’t think so. She heard these screams before. They were different. She saw Anat attacking Jen. Jake was down for the count. Alana looked at Tzipora and smiled.

“Anat leave her alone. Let bygones be bygones. We were all messed up when we were young.”

Anat sneered. “I’d love to. But I can’t. She should know what it felt like.”

Alana had enough. She unleashed red wine. It splattered all over Anat. She hit her right in the eyes. Some went up her nose. Funny thing is it didn’t do anything to remove her dirt. It just caked on. But it did slow her down.

Jen was raced into the delivery room. Jake followed. His box of cigars was destroyed. But he could care less.

Anat got up and pelted Alana with cannonball sized raisins. Alana ducked. This time with Anat, she was clearly in control. She sprayed Anat again and again. White and red.

Anat jumped back. She started to walk away. But Alana unleashed her full arsenal. She hadn’t fought with apples and figs for a while. But knew you can’t count Anat out. Alana was going for the kill.

All of a sudden all stopped to the sound of a babies’ first cry.

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The ninth month

The ninth month

Jen was getting big. She was healthy. She went on maternity leave, as she was due any minute. But she still checked her work email. She is too good.

It had been a quiet 9 months. Anat left her alone. Her mom and sister planned a beautiful bridal shower. She received lots of gifts. Alana was invited for protective purposes. She even wore pink. But it was quiet. Real quiet.

All of a sudden she started feeling contractions. Jake was in their kitchen. He heard her yelling. He grabbed their bag and hopped into the car.

They raced toward Mt. Sinai. Traffic was light for midday Saturday. They pulled up to the hospital.

They rush in. Jen was anxious. But handling everything well. Jake was crazed. But he knew in a little while he’d be a dad.

She was checked in. Jake calmed down. As he sat down he smelled a foul odor. He was worried. He wasn’t sure if it was a patient or his worst fear, Anat.

Jen was being brought into the delivery room. The woman attending to her was a typical hospital garb with a pair of boots. Anat looked Jen right between the eyes and smiled. Jen shivered. She screamed for Jake.

Anat smiled. As Jake got up and ran toward his wife, Anat unloaded huge raisins. They pelted him in the head and was knocked down. Jen started screaming, Marc. He was nowhere to be found.

Jen threw her phone to Jake and said get Marc.

Jen’s pregnancy

Jen announced her pregnancy to the world via Facebook. She was worried not about how she’d handle this stage of her life. But would she be safe? She was doing fine with her married life, her job as a social worker was going well. But she was scared Anat would come after her baby.

She hadn’t heard from Marc for a while. She wasn’t sure if he’d be able to protect her for the whole 9 months. And during her child’s life. She was grateful he and Alana saved her engagement, wedding and honeymoon. But she knew there had to be a limit.

The two of them had their own lives. Eventually, she figured they’d forget about her.

Turns out Marc and Alana were having dinner at City Winery while waiting for Max Weinberg to take the stage. They saw Jen’s announcement. They just looked at each other and clinked their glasses, as Weinberg opened with Thunder Road.

Naturally, Anat saw the post. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want Jen to be happy. But she was wondering if it was time to let bygones be bygones. She was just so upset with her loneliness. She knows she’s a bit off. But there had to be something that could break for her.

Anat sat on a bench in Central Park with a box of Sun-Maid raisins. What could be better? She was fairly calm.

Alana and Marc were walking hand in hand down Spring Street. As usual, Weinberg finished with Glory Days. They knew they’d never wed. Or seriously date. But just be each other’s partners in everything.

Marc’s phone buzzed. He had no desire to look. He was doing well with breaking his addiction to it. But it was nonstop. So he figured he should take a peek.

It was a note from Jen. He gave it a quick read, congratulated her and told her he and Alana had her covered. She’d be fine. But told her to be watchful.

The Honeymoon

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Jen and Jake were enjoying their Aruba honeymoon. They did nothing but lie on the beach, swim and read. They were so relaxed. After the mayhem at the wedding, they deserved some peace.

Marc and Alana were lurking around and following them. They didn’t want them there. But needed the security. Marc and Alana were amazed at how people have seen them in action. Yet there’s been no mention on social media or elsewhere. They hoped it stayed that way.

The two of them went SCUBA diving and chilled on the beach. But for the most part, their attentive eyes were on Jen and Jake. Marc was happy for them. He figured he’d never marry. He would just bounce around with Alana. Deep down the two of them enjoyed it.

Jake and Alana were enjoying breakfast at the hotel. Normally they just grabbed Dunkin Donuts and orange juice at ate in their beach chairs. But Jen wanted to sit and have a real breakfast. They ordered hotcakes with blueberries and strawberries, juice, milk and bowls of Frosted Flakes. The waitress came out. with their meal. Their hearts sank. Loaded on top of their hotcakes and in their cereal bowls was dried fruit. Lots of raisins were floating in their cereal. The two lovebirds started to shake. They still breathed in whiffs of the beautiful ABC Islands air.

The waitress came over to see how they were doing. They asked why their order was wrong. The waitress said they just got a new chef from the Middle East and she must have made a mistake. The waitress said the new chef has been there about three days.

The two began to shake. Jake whispered to his new wife, “I hope your ex-boyfriend and that woman he hangs around with are here keeping watch”. “Trust me, Jake, they are here. Marc won’t let anything happen to us. Neither will Alana. “

Anat raced out of the kitchen with a special platter for the newlyweds.

The kitchen staff tried to stop her. But they were pelted with raisins

Anat Wrecks Havoc in Flushing Meadow Park

Finally, Jake was able to place the ring on Jen’s finger. The two were still shaken after the melee that nearly killed them.
They began wedding planning and wondered if they needed to add security to the list of things they needed to have in place. The two lovebirds went about their business.
Meanwhile, Alana and Marc were together nearly 24/7, as they drew up plans to take out Anat.
Tzipora, on the other hand, was getting closer to Eran. But still spending time with women. She knew she had to run this by him. She feared he’d either leave him out fear that one day she’d dump him for a girl. Or be so turned on that he’d want to watch and/or join in. Tzipora was a one woman/man at a time girl. To her, it was love not some guy fantasy thing.
Alana was pounding the pavement at Flushing Meadow Park. The park was somewhat busy. But not packed. People were doing their usual things, barbecuing, kayaking on the lake, playing soccer and just having fun.
She stopped her run by the World’s Fair Globe to stretch her legs. Little kids were running through the sprinklers at the globe. All was well. As Alana broke out of her stretch, she was pelted in the head by rock hard raisins. She ducked down and started spraying wine all over. Anat was hit right the eyes.
“Why are you starting with me? We don’t even know each other. For heaven’s sake, Jen did what she did when she was a kid. Let it go.”
Anat bounced up and nailed Alana with a prune. Alana fired back with figs.
“She was brutal. There was no reason for her to act the way she did. Yeah, it was like 30 years ago. But payback is payback.”
Alana shot more wine. She shot so much that the whole park was getting intoxicated. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. So she retreated.
Meanwhile, Anat kept firing prunes and apricots at anyone that got in her way.

World’s Fair Globe, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park