Tag: Weather

Pomegranate — Book 2

It was partly cloudy Thursday afternoon. Marc was bored at work. He had some time to kill. He usually brings lunch and eats at his desk. He decided to take a walk to mincha services (Jewish afternoon prayers). He liked the spirituality of the services. He also loves the rituals he did in the scouts based on the Lenni Lenape Indians. He quickly walked over to the temple. He often wondered which he liked better and mean more to him.

He listened to the rabbi speak after services for a few minutes and left. He took a call on the walk back to his office. He strolled along Madison Avenue and made it back to the dump he worked in.

About two hours later he went to the gym. He trained and had his usual discussions with his fellow gym rats.

He decided to run to J.Crew after the gym. As he walked through Rockefeller Center to the store, he heard a little girl crying. He kept walking. But her screams got louder. He figured it was nothing. She must have tripped or didn’t get ice cream. It happens every day over there. The kids run around too much.

He went into the store and tried on a few pairs of pants. He bought two and went outside. He still heard the kid shrieking. He heard her saying, “Please mommy. No more. Not again. Leave me alone.”

He turned his head and saw the poor child in a corner near the ice skating rink being slapped around. He was never one to rubberneck. But he did look for a moment. He walked over and asked the kid if she was ok.

“Mind your own business,” shouted her mom.

“No., mister, please help me. I get hit a lot. Mommy is so mean. I miss my daddy. We tried so hard to be a family. But mommy wasn’t nice to any of us. She lied so much. Daddy left,” cried out the little girl.

“He was bad,” yelled the mom.

“No. He went to work every day and was nice to everyone. You spent your days drinking. He tried to ask you to stop. But you wouldn’t listen. I can’t wait to see him this weekend. We are going to Bronx Zoo and getting ice cream.”

“No, you’re not going. I won’t let you,” she blurted out as she punched the kid again.”

“I am going. Daddy gets to see me. And I am going to live with him. And you can never see me.”

The mom stared at Marc. “Why don’t you walk away? My daughter and I need to be alone.”

“No. Please help me. She’s only going to take me home and lock me in the closet. She won’t even let me out to go to the bathroom. The last time I had to go in my pants. And they were the new ones that daddy bought me,” she started to cry.

The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a makeup case. She lunged it at Marc. Onlookers were waiting for what was going to happen next. Someone called the police to report the woman. The 911 operator promised they’d get an officer over there right away.

Meanwhile, the enraged woman tossed more junk from her handbag at Marc.

Someone yelled over to him to see if she is ok. He didn’t hear that. His neck started bulging. His fingers got slightly longer, while the tips of them opened. He swallowed a few times. Then he began shooting date honey out of the openings in his fingers. The honey spattered all over the woman. He shot so much it was strangling her. She lost her grip on her daughter. The girl ran toward Marc. But he shot one more blurb of honey that knocked mom on her butt. The cops were arriving. The crowd made way for them to walk through. As they did, Marc walked away. They never even looked at each other.pomengrante

Bleach Monster, Part VI

Murray sailed the Staten Island Ferry with his brother-in-law, Robbie. This weekend was going to be a break from his usual life.  He had things to do on the old home front of Staten Island. He chatted with Robbie.  But he pretty much lost himself in reading material.

 

The boat sailed and they trekked to Robbie’s home via train and car.  It snapped back into Murray’s head how much he hated going to and from the Island.  It wasn’t a bad place to grow up. However, it was so damn inconvenient to travel to and from. Plus it is somewhat backward from the rest of the City.

 

But he was going to a farewell party and hitting his old health club in between.  Overall Murray was in a good place. He was back to handling his special powers well. His sister, Dani was doing well with hers. Danny was no longer getting bullied.  He was working hard to stop others from having this problem.

 

Murray had things to do. Dani was nice enough to lend him a car for the day or two he’d be on Staten Island.  As he jumped into the car his mind drifted back to his old days.  He thought of the crazies he hung out with then.  He wondered how different they are from the nut jobs he now spent his time with.

 

He had great pizza, worked out and slept in his mom’s house.  Next day he did similarly. Eventually, he made it over to the catering hall for the farewell party.  His closest friends were there. This party was a farewell to a place he grew up in.  It was being shut down and merged into another being.

 

Would it be a stronger one? Perhaps it would be.

 

Murray was wondering if this was the time to confront Dani about her powers. He knew she was trying to take a young lad under her wing to train him.

 

They were good friends as brother and sister. But he knew she wondered about him and how he’d control his powers.  He still had thoughts of going after the superficial people.  But back on his home base, he should be ok.

 

Everything was great. He was excited to walk into the party.  All of the people he grew up with were there. People came from all over the country to say goodbye.  Thankfully he got a ride home to Queens.

 

While at the party there were people he wanted to attack with bleach. They didn’t let the young kids, who the disbanding group was created for participate and lead the show. However, he took pictures, shook hands and ate lots of salmon.

 

Meanwhile, Dani was in the park with Tony the kid that got beat up a few weeks ago. She befriended his mom.  Dani was trying to figure out if he had any powers or if they could be created.  She saw Danny, the blubber boy and figured Tony may have potential.

 

But she had no idea how Murray fleshed out Danny’s magic.  She was struggling.  She got so hyped up. That was very unusual for her.  She ran off into the woods and shot out wine.  She was not in control.

 

After spraying the trees she sat on a rock and fell asleep for a few minutes. It was during this time that she figured out what to do with Tony.  But she had to break him apart from his mom.  She wasn’t going to take him away or hurt him.

 

But she saw how dependent he is on his mom. She knew if he was going to be strong he had to be independent.   What powers he could have were still open.

 

The park was quiet. Most people were relaxing. There were baseball and soccer games being played.  Little kids were on the see-saws and monkey bars.  The ice cream truck rolled in. People ran out to go get their cones and went back to what they were doing. All was well.

 

As the day got later people started leaving.  Dani looked up at the sky and saw that a storm was brewing. She grabbed Audrey and put her into the car. She said goodbye to Tony and his mom, Elise.

 

There were dramatic changes in the weather.  Tony was getting drenched on the way to the car with his mom.  The water was dragging him down.  But somehow he was fighting it. He was never a fighter. But since he got beaten up and then rescued by Dani he decided to work out a little. He was still a little kid. But he was getting stronger.

 

He struggled.  Elise was running after him. He was toughing it out. He almost got sucked down into a sewer.  But he managed to jump away from it.  He was soaking wet. Elise was screaming for him. He heard his mom’s screams. But knew he had to keep running. He got to the car and turned his head. Mom was only a few feet away.

 

His clothes were soggy. His feet were full of water. Elise, who was just as drenched as her son, helped him into the car. She pulled away.

 

Tony was shivering. But he was proud of his mad dash to the car. Elise was cruising down Amboy Road. The weather was clearing up.  A truck smacked into Elise’s Maxima.  She and Tony bounced around a little. However, they were ok.

 

They got out of the car and were ready to call the police and input the trucker’s info into the iPhone so they can call the insurance company. The truck driver was walking with a limp. It looked like he broke his foot. He came after them wielding an ax and screaming.  It turns out he has a bad safety record and this was his trial trip to see if he’d maintain his employment.

 

Elise threw her arms around Tony. But he broke free. He ran toward the trucker.  Elise screamed at him. Tony started waving his arms and kicking his feet up and down.  Elise was crying.

 

As the tears rolled out of her eyes, gusts of water shot out of Tony’s knees. The trucker was knocked 15 feet away. The ax flew out of his hands. Tony ran over to him and tied him up. 911 was dialed the police came and took the report about the accident. No one mentioned Tony’s heroics.

 

The trucker was handcuffed and carted off to a mental hospital for evaluation. They did a DWI test. He tested sober. The accident was likely due to weather. His ax-wielding was likely because of his fears of getting canned. That was in the police report. But the man couldn’t speak a complete sentence and seemed clinically insane.

 

Murray and Dani were stepping behind Tony.