BY GANDALF C.
The Essence of the afternoon was pale and somber. Cloud cover had smothered my beach location’s bid for a sixth sunny day. With the sky being so dark I was blindsided when I saw my phone…1:17. “Holy Hell” , I glanced down to notice my white shirt was now soaked in a dark red crimson. A plenitude of Bloody Marys were on the menu lately , but only in the morning to begin the day along with eggs and avocados. No incisions were to be found as I perused my body,
“What had I done?”
Hastily I whisked around the beach house to figure it out. No evidence was to be found inside , but as I stepped on to the porch and saw sandals I recalled they were left outside because I had strolled by the water last night to inspect yelling I had heard. It had been Vodka and Vinyl last night so if someone is caught in earshot over the sound of my record
player , its imperative to investigate. Everything was coming back to me , Down by the waves two figures were contending in a heated political quarrel. I guessed I was right about the median of their ages. The first looked to be in his late fifties, a tad frail with salt and peppered hair in an all black sweat suit with his mask on. “Get the damn mask on son!!!” , he remarked.
“Screw You Pops!!” ,the younger of the two shot back. At first he seemed to be snickering but as I drew closer the intensity picked up. This location was in a southern state , most didn’t wear masks, let alone outside on the beach.
However, it’s to be kept in mind that it was in a vacation town so locals were few and far between. The younger of the two looked just over the drinking age, wearing boarder shorts and a long sleeve golf shirt, and very well built.
As I approached with caution I debated whether to side with one of them, or just try to break this up altercation below my beach front property. I told myself I go here to get away from the tension not to observe it firsthand. Out of respect for my elders , I decided which side I was going to take , so engulfed the last swig of my Grey Goose, and pulled my shirt over my face.
Once I got closer I noticed the younger one’s eyes were wide open, not wide open intent on the conversation, wide like a fucking 1950’s cartoon character….eyes popping out of his head. This probably meant cocaine, and cocaine and anger can equal violence. Second thoughts creeped into my head. “Why do I have to choose a side anyway ?!? ,
I want them off my land, It’s not like I am the covid police.” I had no horse in the race, Out of respect to others
I wore a masked when expected , but haven’t been to a doctor in over 20 years. I avoid the media like the plague, or nowadays I guess you would use Covid in that figure of speech. But if I did that, I guess I would be getting political myself so let’s say I avoid it like a bloody “Viral Menace.” My head is cloudy again where the story went next. The blood has not been explained. As I finished my avocado
I debated bringing the knife I was slicing it with down to the beach, but thought better of it. There would be a better chance of an officer inspecting the scene than those two being there. As I walked down I saw the older man’s black hoodie washed halfway up the beach from high tide early that morning. Instantly the haziness went away , as it is very rare that I am in a complete blackout. It does take visual evidence or funny stories from friends to remember some nights though.
“You two ass clowns need to get the fuck off my beach now.” “Get bent, this is a public beach.” the younger one shouted back. He had somewhat of a classic surfer accent, so perhaps not from the area. The older gentleman definitely wasn’t or at least not originally. He had a distinct Brooklyn accent. Granted I spent some time in Queens as well but I have been settled in at the beach a good long while at this point. Anyway back to the meat of the story that happened late last night. As the great late Hunter S. Thompson said “I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.” “I don’t give a damn you see that?”…..” you see that ?” I yelled after I pointed in both directions of miles of empty beach in each direction. “Go stand in front of those beach houses!!” , I continued ” You are arguing over a virus when you never even had to get close to each other.”
All of a sudden the older man started coughing and choking , he stumbled towards grasping on to my shoulders to keep himself up. Blood gushed from his throat all over me….Why the fuck didn’t I just turn up my music and ignore this nightmare of a night? Junior helped pull off his hoodie and threw it on the sand. Everything was put in to perspective. We were all just humans again. Politics were thrown aside just like that hoodie and the mask that had washed out to sea. As Junior got the man settled down and relaxed I brought several bottles of water from the house as the medics pulled up. Whether this gentleman had the virus or not or if the “Viral Menace” of a media scared him into wearing a mask that cut off his breathing when he was in a stressful situation , I looked at the medics and realized what they have to face everyday of their lives, for whatever reason people are collapsed on the ground they have to keep doing their job every day as lives are created and ended.
I walked back up to this house now that I uncovered my intense night and thought about what is going on.
Last night politics were thrown aside for those two and they became humans in a life or death situation. I am sure that has happened plenty of times on an individual basis of the last year of the pandemic , and I predict and hope you acknowledge as the reader that there will be a defining moment in the near future where we will all have to be humans together as one. I have a hard time fathoming that happening but here is to hope. That’s better than to let the “Viral Menace” scare you into fighting with one another and live in fear and loathing until the end of our days.
