Good morning one and all. Running a little late. But at least it is due to watering and not the snooze alarm. I think this might be the running theme of the week as it is going to be a bone dry week. So watering every morning. I’m also edging into an earlier wake up. It makes me grumpier, but hopefully it will balance out after a bit. So, shall we jump into the morning prompt? I think so.
I find myself interested by this. Clearly a nefarious deed was done and meticulously planned and covered up, but as it was to clear a debt I really want to figure out this story. i suspect notes at lunchtime will follow.
Tuesday, May 23rd: There was blood on his sleeve.
There was blood on his sleeve. ‘How could this have happened?’ he thought staring at the stain.
He had been so careful. He went into his apartment. What had his mother always said when his father came in with stains from the slaughter house?
“Seltzer and salt,” he recalled, or thought he did. He went to the kitchen, found both and carefully took his shirt off, trying to make sure the stain didn’t touch anything else, contaminate anything else. He took the stained shirt and went to work in the sink. He focused on the one wet spot, but studied the rest of the shirt for any other telltale signs. He couldn’t find any. Missing the stain on his sleeve threw him though, made him worry there were other things he might have missed. He walked through everything.
Had he been seen? He didn’t think so.
Did he pass any recording devices? None working.
The two he knew he couldn’t avoid were routinely smashed by teenagers and had been again targeted a few days before. He knew they hadn’t been fixed yet as work orders wouldn’t go through until the first of the month. The destruction and repair cycle was one everyone in this sector was familiar with.
As he mentally walked through every aspect, he studied his clothing. The cloth was clear and the salt and seltzer working. He had a laundry full of clothes ready to be washed and waiting for these to join them. He thought with a wash through, any further traces would be gone.
He left his wet shirt in the sink and kicked off his boots. He polished them every Sunday in readiness for Monday morning. He would polish them as per his routine tonight and hopwfully remove any spatter then.
‘Need to rise off the soles,’ He added to himself.
He stripped off his pants and socks. He carried the clothes across his apartment to the washer and dryer unit fir into a closet sized space. He added the garments to the mix and then stripped off his shorts. Naked, he added color safe bleach and the strongest detergent he could find to the mix and set the machine to work.
Naked he went to the shower and scrubbed himself down, washing his hair twice to be certain and scrubbing under his fingernails with the brush he used to get out oil stains. Once clean he dressed in clean clothes and took out his boot shining gear. He made certain to rinse off the soles of his boots to remove any evidence of his day and then dried them. He then sat down and went over every inch of his boots with spare leather dye and polish. The boots were old but he worked to keep them in good condition, using them for as long as possible.
As the routine of the polishing removed any traces, he felt soothed. The deed was done. He moved his clothes from washer to dryer. It was Sunday. Laundry and boot polishing were part of his daily chores. Everything he did today to cover things up was part of his weekly ritual.
The deed was done. The debt was cleared. He knew he would have a few anxious days as he waited to see if there would be questions. But the deed was done. For the first time in a long time, he smiled.
Ten til Midnight 