Blind As Bat
“Brick-Honey, will you run to the post office with my letters before the 9 o’clock pick-up?” said the forty-ish Jacelyn, Brick’s mother, as she walked up to Brick’s newly-sudsed, red LeBaron convertible.
It was 7:15a.m. Saturday morning—Brick and his mother were early risers, even on the weekends. Brick was shining-up his ’86 mint-condition auto for the concert and late-night pool party, to take place that evening. Brick was squatting down by a wired wheel cover—as he looked over his should at the approaching voice of his mother, he scrambled clumsily to his feet. Jacelyn’s shoulder-length hair was gently rippling in the morning breeze…the early sun, picking up the golden highlights that shimmered throughout her bouncing curls.
Brick was awe-struck by the daisy-fresh, and downright pretty moving portrait of his…own mother! He shook his head in disbelief. If he was only twenty years older! He sensed his mother studying his reaction to her presence, only eight feet away. He blushed, rather noticeably—and Jacelyn caught it. Mother and son strongly resembled each other, despite the twenty-year difference and opposite sexes. His thick, somewhat wavy auburn hair replaced her golden-red curls, and both were quite tanned by mid-summer. And a suntan always enhanced the appearances of the two in the driveway.
“Big date tonight?” she asked him.
“Yeah, Elyse and I are going to the Rolling Stones concert at eh Arena tonight. A lot of people from school will be there—I want to know their socks off with my gorgeous car and girlfriend. Know what I mean?” he finished with a grin.
“You’ll be able to break away from this,” Jacelyn motioned to the dripping car, “and get there by 7:55?”
Brick had begun hurriedly to mop up the water, headed-up on the surface of the hood. “What’s it worth to you?” he good-naturedly teased her. “Oh, I’ll relive you of the lawn-duty today—your father needs the exercise anyway. I’ll break the news to him, when he gets up. He’ll love me for it!” she finished with a chuckle.
“I’m leaving right now—and THANKS, Mom!? he grinned.
As he would through the streets of the Village to the post office, he has only cheery thoughts of the day, and the evening of fun ahead. He pulled up to the entrance of the post office, and bounced out of his car. Right by the entrance door to the lobby, was a man, fifty-ish—who was apparently blind, with a bunch of brooms next to him, that were banded together by a frayed piece of rope. ‘Funny,’ Brick thought ‘haven’t I seen him around here before?’ He tried to slide right by the blind man “unnoticed.” He did not know what to say to a blind person.
The blind man spoke, “Nice morning! Yes?”
Brick mumbled something awkwardly and slipped into the post office. As he dropped his mother’s letters into the box, his ears perked up to the sounds from the outside. The blind man had a battery-operated radio playing a Led Zepplin song of about seven years ago, he noticed. A fifty-year old blind man who likes Led Zepplin?
Brick continued to watch the man from inside the post office. A mother and her young teenage daughter were climbing out of their car, parked new to Brick’s. The daughter giggled as she witnessed the blind man bumping and grinding good-naturedly to the rock beat. But malicious laughter, it was not.
The mother only shook her head and smiled, rather hesitantly. “Sweeping to music surely makes the chore less tedious, Ma’am,” said the blind man, as he was really getting into the music with his movements. Mother and daughter only looked at each other, and then broke out into big grins of their own. “Sure, why not?” said the mother, “how much?” The blind man had made a sale in less than sixty seconds, in less than thirteen paces walked by the two females. “Five dollars – and they’re really durable brooms,” was the blind man’s reply.
Brick observed the scene through the glass of the window before him. “Why am I spending so much time watching this blind man? And why do I car--?
“Hey, Tanner! Brick!” Brick turned his head towards the back of the post office lobby. His friend Jake came towards him, pulling two full carts of mail
The two friends and football squad teammates greeted each other with their usual macho, locker room greeting. “I forgot you have the graveyard shift this week,” Brick remarked to Jake. “You going to be able to rest up for the concert tonight? When do you get off?”
Jake, looking pretty beat, replied, “Eight thirty—and I’m going straight home to bed! Don’t want to sleep through the concert? Pam and I will meet you guys at the gate—7:30. Okay? Gotta go! ‘Bye!” And Jake was off.
Brick slowly sauntered back to his car, hoping to be undetected by the blind man. The blind man was re-bundling his brooms—now Def Leppard was blaring from the radio. “Pretty good quality sound coming from a radio,” Brick remarked to himself, as he slowed his steps. The blind man turned from his brooms and said in Brick’s direction, “Going to the concert tonight at the arena, Bud?” the older man queried of Brick.
The teenager thought he was hearing things, and felt a little weak at the knees; “How could you know that about me? You don’t even know me! How did you do that?” Brick blurted out the questions before he could stop himself.
The blind man then spoke, “Really simple to know. Just used my head,” he went on, “ I could tell it was a young man driving when you pulled up few minutes ago by the way you gassed it up ‘til you parked – then you stopped on a dime. You had the radio or cassette player up kinda loud.” He paused, and waited—expectantly. With no reply from the young man, the blind man continued.
“You slammed your car door sorta hard—more than a girl would. When you walked by, I could detect a faint scent of aftershave. Several people have come and gone from this post office in the last several minutes—but I didn’t hear YOUR car start up, nor did I detect your aftershave on any of the people who came out of the post office in the last fifteen minutes….Hi! I’m Bat Kramer—and you’re--?”
Brick was stunned, yet faintly amused at the blind man’s approach in the initial greeting. He was speechless, but his mind was clicking. Again, he was amazed at the realization that both males were somewhat curious about each other. But a verbal encounter between them was a little unnerving, to say the least. His manners automatically came into play. “Hi, I’m Brick Tanner,” he said in a clear, strong voice—quite unlike the reply he mumbled to the blind man earlier.
“Kind of a macho name—Brick Tanner—you a jock?” Bat asked.
“Yeah, I play quarterback on the football varsity team at Stiles Central, “ brick explained a little modestly. ‘Does this guy know what a football game is, or looks like’ Brick wondered. There was a long silence.
“Know much about football?” Brick hesitantly asked.
“Oh sure—I listen to the radio and TV all the time. It’s entertaining listening to all of the different announcers of the games,” Bat said, with a smile on his face.
Brick reached for the door handle of his car, looked at his watch, and decided that he could chat for a few more minutes. He removed his hand. He turned to face Bat. “have you even seen a football game—really seen one, from the stands,” haltingly came from his mouth.
“No,” came the reply from Bat.
Brick ventured again, “Then how--?”
“How did I lose my sight?” Bat finished for him. “No doctor really ever knew why. My vision was always a problem. By the time I was in the second grade, my studies were falling off. I had problems seeing the chalkboard from the front row. I started doing rather poorly when it came to reading aloud in class.” Another long pause. Brick’s silence encouraged the older man.
He continue, “It got to the point that I was running into things now and then; then more frequently after a while. Kids at school were always saying to me in jest, not cruelly—“You’re as blind as a bat!” He chuckled at the memory.
Brick shook his head. He jerked it around as he heard a commotion from one of the cars that just pulled up to the post office. “Hey, Broom-Man—are you running any specials today?”
Out of a ’71 Chevelle jumped three guys.
‘Uh-oh,’ thought Brick. The guys were in Brick’s class at school. Brick reminded himself that they were harmless, just a bit rude.
“Give me a break fellows—even the Swifty Mart can’t beat my price on brooms like this. Five dollars sure isn’t too much for one and a half hours worth of labor, is it?” Bat quickly responded, tensing up as he sensed approaching confrontation.
The guys spotted Brick. “Hey, Stud, are you wishing to learn the art of basket-weaving from Broom-Man?” they queried.
“No, I’m trying to talk him into raising his price to five dollars and fifty cents,” was Brick’s nonchalant reply.
“You ace that algebra test in Doc Flannagan’s class?” asked another in the group. Brick sensed that the danger of a confrontation was behind him.
“No, I flagged it!” The three punks looked at Brick with new-found respect. “Going to the concert tonight….with Babycakes, Stud?” asked the rudest member of the group.
“Yeah. Now get outta here. I’m teaching Broom-Man about hourly wages,” was Brick’s bold ending remark.. He held his breath. The three punks seemed to take Brick’s hint without taking offense. “See you at the concert—if I can focus! Some BIG-TIME partying tonight---! The three cackled devilishly, and were gone.
Brick hesitated before he turned back to Bat.
“Them guys made you sweat, he?” Bat said, softly.
“Yeah,” Brick answered before he could help it, “but they don’t ever bother you, do they?”
“Nope. I just act like a simpleton. Like I’m missing half of my brain, as well as my sight. They’re harmless. I just ct like I’m not aware of them hassling me. It’s too much work for them to get a fight from me. They move on.” Bat smiled at Bat’s success in handling the unpleasant jerks.
Brick glanced at his watch. Almost an hour and a half had passed since he was talking to his mother in the driveway. “Man, I gotta go. Hey, it’s been real nice----,” Brick blushed at this unusual compliment coming from himself. He started again, “See you around, Bat.”
“Yessirree Bob! I’ll see you around, Brick!” Bat guffawed at his own joke.
* * * * * * *
It was around 5:00p.m. Late afternoon sunlight was pouring into Brick’s bedroom windows. The handsome teen was grooming himself for SATURDAY NIGHT. He pulled on his newly-washed dress jeans.
“Gee, I’m glad I life those weights. My arms are lookin’ GOOD!” His precisely clipped haircut looked neatly tousled. Even with his good looks, muscles, and tan—Brick had his own insecurities about how he looked to others. He had always be so very concerned about the impression of himself that he left with other people. And yes, he always dressed in the very latest fashion in teen-wear.
He sauntered in to the diningroom, where his parents were having a light snack for their supper. “Think Elyse will faint when she sees her knight in shining armor?” brick tried to brag.
Jacelyn raised her brows at the rather conceited comment from her son. But he kept quiet. “Is that what you are trying to achieve these days,? she teased, instead.
“Oh, Mom—you know I’m crazy about her,” he blurted out, then bit his lip. Now his dad, Bryant, raised his brows at his son’s arduous confession. Brick blushed. He wasn’t sure about WHAT was going to come out of this mouth these days.
“Are you going to eat something before you pick up Elyse? Jacelyn asked.
“No, I ate a snack earlier. We’ll get something after the concert,” Brick respectfully answered her. Jacelyn and Bryant exchanged looks. Their little jock of a son sure was being terribly polite lately, as if he didn’t mind inter-relating with the OLDER GENERATION—their exchanged glance silently said.
“I’m outta here--- don’t wait up for me,” Brick said as he leaned to kiss his mother.
He had a longer drive than usual to pick up his girlfriend. Elyse had spent the day with Pam, Jake’s girlfriend, and was getting ready for the double-date at Pam’s. Pam lived about twenty minutes away.
As Brick drove through some older, more quaint part of the Village, he thought of Elyse. God, she’s beautiful, he though. In recent months, he had really had to restrain himself in the wee-hours of the morning, in the car, in the park, in his familyroom—wherever he and Elyse were having intimate moments. “No” meant “maybe”, and “yes” meant “Well, just for a minute...”. It drove Brick up a wall, at one time…but as of late, HE had put the restraints on Elyse and their pawings – not Elyse. Through her rapid breathing and feverish face, though, Brick had not missed her questioning looks. The rules were changing, as of late.
Brick pulled up to the modernistic tri-level house where the two girls were preparing for the evening. As he entered the entry-way, he hollered up the spiral stairway in the direction of the girls’ voices. Elyse popped her head into view. “I can’t get my hair looking decent. I want to get some different clothes from home. We went shopping today, but didn’t find anything that looked good on me,” Elyse babbled, with a frown on her face.
“But Elyse—it’s twenty-five minutes to your house from here. We’ll not be on time for the warm-up band, if we go,” brick said with mild annoyance. Lately, he noticed that Elyse used the word “I” a lot in her conversations.
Brick, then Pam could sense a storm brewing. “PMS”, he thought as he listened to Elyse’s words.
“Hey Pam, I thought we were meeting you and Jake at the concert,” Brick asked.
Pam laughed, “No, he’ll be coming by here. We changed our plans when Elyse and I decided to get ready over here this morning. Any problem?”
“No. Am I driving or Jake?”
“Oh, your car sure would be nice to go to the concert in,” Pam wheedled.
“What’s wrong, Elyse?” Brick’s attention was on his girlfriend.
“Nothing looks right---“ Elyse began.
Brick looked at Pam. “You got some new jeans? Let Elyse wear them.. She’ll break then in for you, okay?” He made a comical face at Pam, hoping that she would work with him in easing the situation.
Pam, good-natured as always, laughed. “Yeah, sure!” The girls were both a petite size 5; only recently Pam had put on a few pounds, and couldn’t wiggle into her new Calvin Klein jeans. “You wear them, Elyse, while I just waddle around at the concert,” added Pam, trying to break the tension caused by Elyse.
Jake arrived a few minutes later, twelve-pack of beer in hand. Pam, a non-drinker herself, knew this was a night she would be the designated driver. Later.
“Let’s hit the road,” Brick warned, “it’s getting late.”
As the foursome were winding back through the city streets in one of the more rundown parts of town, Brick caught something in the corner of his eye. Up ahead was Bat …with his brooms!
“Boy, does that man get around town!” Brick casually remarked.
“What are you talking about?” Elyse asked, in a somewhat irritated voice.
“Oh, I ran into that guy at the post office this morning. That’s all,” Brick said, somewhat defensively. He was a bit in awe with Elyse, and somewhat intimidated by her. She was so lovely—but sometimes her disposition was a little less than desirable.
“You know, you sure do pick some of the weirdest characters to focus on,” Elyse remarked.
“I’ll just pretend you didn’t say that!” Brick retorted to her, as he turned into the parking lot of the arena.
The crowd had started to get rowdy already. The brown paper bags with half-pints in them were everywhere. Jake pulled out his twelve-pack, once they had reached their seats. The faint scent of pot was in the air. Jake and Elyse were in the party-mood. Pam, with her Coke, was getting geared-up for the group that they had fought for tickets to see that night. Expensive perfume, pot, beer and the feel of the dry-ice rolling across the still-dark platform was tempting Brick to join in the fun and excite of the evening. But something was really bugging him. And it wasn’t the bitch of a mood that Elyse had been in previously.
The group was good, according to the crowd. About two thirds the way into the concert, Brick left his seat, and got a pass outside the concert area building. Actually, the smoke was getting to him
‘Nice night,’ he thought to himself. The deafening din of the concert was contained within the concert arena. It was somewhat calm and quiet on the street, until four teenage boy streaked past Brick, almost knocking his down.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going,” he shouted, as a couple of the guys in the group knocked a younger teenage girl to the ground as they blew by her.
“Are you hurt?” shouted Brick, as he ran up to assist her. He stopped short. A red-and-white cane lay a few feet from the girl. She was blind.
“No, I don’t think so,” the girl said. “I’m okay. Thanks.”
“Here, you’re pretty dusty,” Brick remarked, as he helped her by brushing off her jeans and sweater. Up close, Brick could tell she was about twenty-one or twenty-two, and a black girl.
“Hi, I’m Brick Tan---“ but a distant, yet clear voice interrupted his introduction. “Help! Help me!” it called.
“Jesus!” Brick exclaimed. He looked at the girl, decided that she was alright, and took off running in the direction of the voice. Up ahead, there was a form crumpled on the sidewalk.
Brick sensed danger, and his muscles tensed. Adrenaline flowed through his body. He was ready for whatever was up ahead. Someone was hurt! He took off running towards the form. He turned the man over, gently….it was BAT!
“Oh, my God! What happened?” Brick exclaimed, when he realized that Bat was conscious and able to speak. Brick looked around. Brooms were scattered all over the place.
“I’ve been robbed!” Bat gasped, but I left my money from the day in my room. When the guys who did this realized that I didn’t have any money on me, they mugged me!”
“You’re bleeding!” Brick observed. You need some help!” He thought quickly. He couldn’t leave Bat here alone, but how was he going to get the police…the paramedics?
A small voice from the darkness said, “He’ll be alright. I’ll see to it that he gets home safely.”
Brick turned in disbelief. It was the blind girl that he had encountered only moments earlier. “No! He’s bleeding badly! He needs to be seen by a doctor!” Brick protested.
“He’ll be alright. I’ll take it from here,” the girl, once again, spoke.
“Are you crazy?” Brick shouted in anger. “Get outta the way! You don’t know how bad it is! He couldn’t believe the opposition that he was getting from this young woman.
“So, you think you know more than I do? Because I’m blind? Because I am a young woman? Why don’t you go back to your friends! I assume that you’re part of the concert crowd? the young girl had raised her voice to match Brick’s.
Brick actually jumped back as if someone had punched him in the face. The girl was crying, and Brick was visibly shaking… but ‘ole Bat was shaking his head, as though to clear his thoughts—he obviously wasn’t hurt as badly as he appeared to the two young people fighting over him. He turned towards the voices of the two people having the highly-emotional conversation.
“Hey! Hey! I’m not dead yet! Brick! Brick Tanner! Calm down! Bat exclaimed. “I’m okay! Really!”
Brick searched Bat’s face in the darkness, as best as he could. “It’s so dark here. There isn’t a streetlight. I think you are still bleeding.”
“Eh, eh?” Bat laughed. “You’re as blind a poor ‘ole Bat, aren’t you? Eh, Brick? And Sylvia, too!” Bat stretch out his hand for the blind girl to help him up.
Sylvia had a somewhat smug look on her face as Bat accepted her help….a look that made Brick feel useless in the situation, even though he was the sighted person. “But you’re….’ the blind leading the blind,’ he finished in his head.
Sylvia busied herself in preparing Bat for the walk home. Brick was still pacing out of total frustration at his helplessness. All of a sudden the rock music went up several decibels. One of the arena’s doors had opened, and a few people trickled out. Brick waved his arms. The group of approaching people included Jake and Elyse. “Where on Earth have you been?” demanded Jake.
Elyse rushed up. “Brick, you are a wreck! Where did all of that blood and dirt come from? You just disappeared fro the concert---!” Her words ran all together. “Oh!” she finished with a gasp.
Elyse had spotted Bat and Sylvia. She turned to Brick. “I want to know what is going, RIGHT NOW!” she demanded.
“There was a slight problem out here a few minutes ago—but it’s okay now,” Brick patiently explained to Elyse.
“Well, come on, then. Let’s get back to the concert. We paid $50 apiece for those tickets---and we’re missing it!” she whined.
“Yeah, man. We’re missing THE PARTY,” Jake turned to go. Elyse was tugging on Brick by this time.
“You guys go on back—I’ve got some business to attend tok” Brick said with resolution.
“Brick, I don’t believe some of the nonsense you’ve been involved with lately,” Elyse hissed at him.
“Go back to the concert. I’ll pick you up after it’s over. I’ve got to take these people home,” Brick firmly told her.
“But, the concert---, we’ve waited so long for them to come to town,” Elyse pleaded in her whining voice, as she watched Jake turn to go, shrugging his shoulders.
Brick took taller, and tensed his muscles, as if preparing for anther physical altercation. But instead, he took the blind man sitting on the curb by the arm and slung it around his neck to assist in his walk home. Sylvia looked so small, and a little bewildered. Brick extended his other arm to her, and grazed her shoulder with his hand to signal his intention to her. “My responsibility is to see my friends home right now, Elyse. And that’s final! I’ll see you later!” Brick dismissed his girlfriend, and turned his attention fully on the two people he had on either side of him, under each arm.
Faintly, but clearly, the older blind person chuckled, “Eh, eh. Maybe you’re not as blind as Bat, after all.”
“What? What do you mean?” Brick asked in bewilderment.
“Come on, Brick Tanner…jock of Stiles Central High. It’s been a long day,” said Bat, weariness in his voice… but still good-naturedly.
“Hold on a
minute,” Sylvia spoke up. She had
retrieved Bat’s radio from the bushes earlier, and had almost forgotten it, as
it lay a few feet from the group.
Michael Jackson’s “Bad” theme song’s beat filled the dark, now empty
street. There was a lightness in the
trio’s steps as they headed down the street towards the light on Bat’s front
porch.
A very compelling explanation that I would like to insert here about the origin of this story. Back in 1987, I noticed a blind man selling brooms in and around my hometown. He was always cheery, had a boombox going….and was everywhere. This story was written about him…..but the events are fictitious. Well, I moved from the area for 15 years, and have returned to the same approximate neighborhood. Lo and behold! that dude is still selling brooms at the local groceries and post offices. A little after New Year’s in 2003, I saw him at a post office. I had already made a vow to myself that I would speak to this man the next time I saw him. And I did. He told me that he worked for the American Council for the Blind selling brooms so he could be financially independent. I told him that I had written a story in honor of him…years ago. That I noticed him then, and remembered him throughout the years. The smile on that man’s face was a Kodak Moment to behold. This story is for him. I do not know his name. That will be my next conversation with him.
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