By the time she was 25, Carlina was the killer of three.
Two unborn fetuses, which admittedly weren’t deemed people, according to some, but who, if allowed might well have grown into that particular life form, and one disconsolate boyfriend named Sorrell, who so despaired at the prospect of losing Carlina’s love, told her he had a surprise for her one evening over dinner and twenty minutes late jumped in front of an oncoming #1 train at 96th and Broadway.
Seemingly blameless crimes – at least no blood directly on her hands – if in fact crimes they were, but by the time she had finished her teens, Carlina was a central figure in the destructive theft of human fulfillment. A perfect place to come from if you want to be a star.
The odd part was, she never wanted center stage, only behind it, quietly orchestrating the care of others. or so she’d say. One of the top stage managers on the professional NYC scene , Carlina had more complaints in her Union file from enraged actors than any other SM on The Street, more notes describing her cruelty, unreasonableness, and harsh rushes to judgment than any other SM on Broadway.
“She stands at the stage door with a stop watch,” one irate actors letter to the Union exclaimed. He was in the wrong, dismissed from his contract after three documented late arrivals for half-hour, but he got his licks in against Carlina before he was fired.
“Carlina is very much hated and feared at this theater, not our favorite person, which is putting it mildly,”yet another complainant screamed. That one was anonymous, but the Union office got many such unsigned letters from actors, all centering on Carlina Murphy, so that her reputation for meaness grew.
However, not unexpectedly, she was always the first to be requested by the leading producers of a new show. They knew and trusted her to keep their shows in shape, to keep the actors in line, and doing good work, the orchestras at tempo, and her shows magically filled each seat every night, even in the longest runs. Carlinas ships were the tight ones.
She aborted her first baby at 15. A mere afterthought.
Her entire family agreed nothing as trivial as an errant pregnancy should get in the way of such an attractive, modern young girls future. And the boy – a poor baby-fat kid named Marshall – had nothing to say about it, even though he was older. He still had the emotional maturity of an 8-year old. Carlina was attracted to such baby men and continued adopting ,taking under her slender wing, all sorts of poor bewildered boys for whom she herself seemed the pinnacle of romance, love and success. Even as a youngster, she took absolute center stage in all her immature love affairs. On his own, Marshall would not have known how to even get to 2nd base with her, never mind hitting a home run on their 2nd or 3rd try.
Getting rid of that baby seemed simply a mere inconvenience to young Carlina, since she did have to take an afternoon off from her after-school drama club rehearsal to have it done. A mere chipped nail. But still.
She aborted the 2nd baby a dozen years later, put into her veteran tummy by a young man she actually thought she loved. Even so, no babies for her, and even though it still took a little more effort on her older body that 2nd pregnancy was done away with as easily as the first. Yet again, her family approved. And paid for it.
And then Sorrell jumped in front of that train, adding one more body to her collection .
“I’ve got a surprise for you later,” he’d said over the salads.
And they parted, Carlina hopping a cab to her theater for her pre-show prep, and Sorrell heading for the 96th Street subway. His surprise.
The NYC papers said a woman had jumped in front of the downtown train, which suggests the odd idea that Sorrell had slipped on a dress and a wig before jumping, or was proof of the fact that the NY Post simply had lousy reporters.
He’d carefully taken off his shoes, given himself a running start from the station wall, and arched inelegantly through the grimey air onto the tracks, where he picked himself up and stood, waiting among the city rats for his grim fate.
Carlina was indeed surprised. Even sad. But most surprised that Sorrell had taken such a definitive action on his own behalf.
He left no note.
But Carlinas reputation broadened: everyone said her chilly nature, her steely spine, her selfish hunger for detail, were to blame .
Everyone said “Poor Sorrell”.