The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Jimmy's Roller Rink

On Just about any and every night the establishment was an energetic madhouse of young, black men and women skating, playing video games and frequent hookups.The insane rumblings of roller skates scraping across every square inch of the floor could be heard clear outside the building, along with the loud melodies of 'Junior Walker & The All Stars', 'Shotgun', booming in the speakers above the rink, as part of the club's weekly retro night.

Isaac eagerly stood in line behind four people, waiting not only for his turn to order but also to return to his table where both Lynnette and Isaiah were seated.From the concession stand he had a bird's eye view of both of them nodding their heads to the music.

To him, it still felt strange to be amongst their presence after so long. Two months away seemed more like two years.With each person that was in front of him ordering food and drinks that was all the more Isaac wanted to just throw up his hands in frustration and take his tiny family elsewhere, until eventually it was his turn to approach the counter.

With only ten dollars left in his pocket, he ordered two Pepsi's and a small bucket of popcorn.Once he was through at the counter, Isaac attempted the arduous task of trekking his way back across the room while ducking and dodging skaters left and right.

The instant he was able to reach the table in one piece, Isaiah looked up, and almost instantly his bright eyes bubbled at the sight of the red and white container of popcorn that his father brought with him.

"Man, he ain't never gonna let his old man get some!" Isaac elatedly remarked as he sat down across from Lynnette and the baby.

Sipping on her cup of soda, Lynnette explained, "The boy loves him some popcorn." She then sat her cup down on the table and said, "It was nice of your father to give us some money to go out. Lord knows he's already done so much for us as it is."

"Yeah, well, that's gonna change real soon." Isaac adamantly stated.

"How do you mean?"

"Dad is gonna put in a good word for me at his cleaning company so I can get put on."

"For real," Lynnette beamed. "You mean to say that you're not going back to Larry's again?"

"Nope, I'm done with that fool."

"Thank God." Lynnette graciously exhaled. "Sooner or later he was gonna end up getting himself killed or you in the process."

As Isaac fiddled with his straw's wrapper, every so often his eyes would shift from the table in front of him to Lynnette's curly hair that was wrapped in a green scarf in the back, and her large, sparkling green earrings. He was aware of just how uncomfortable she would become whenever he stared at her, but he wanted to grab her attention.

blushed as if everyone

beautiful girl in the

her eyes and smiled, "Please, you need

"I can see things

murmured. "So, what did you end up doing last

woke up this morning, I was laying at the foot of

sure you weren't watching that nasty 'Benny Hill Show' again?"

while I was away I

asking, "It's not like it is in the movies, is it? Where they give

it's not like that." Isaac waved his hand. "Actually, the only bad thing about Ashlandview was the food. My first night there they served hotdogs for supper. I ended up having the runs for almost an entire week after eating

just got through eating a Coney dog myself, Isaac." Lynnette grimaced before taking another sip of soda. "I know you don't like talking about it, but I was just curious, that's all. I just don't want you to hate me for not bringing Isaiah along when

folks in there yelling and screaming

I go to Cypress State with, and she says that my poetry is good enough to be published. She knows someone

right, girl!" Isaac proclaimed excitedly. "I knew you

She stared at Isaac with a serious glare on her face and said, "This is really important to me; my poetry and becoming a nurse, Isaac. All three of my sisters got pregnant in high school and dropped out. Now, all

began to tremble. "It's hard, Isaac. It's damn hard for me to do this all on my own. I'm sick and tired of getting up at five a.m. every morning, feeding a baby, getting a baby ready for the sitter, running off to school, then

his jittery eyes away from Lynnette at that second. He had heard the same scorching speech over and over again

he sat back in his

Lynnette scrunched up her face and asked,

You see, back in the day, he was a pimp and a drug

snigger while rolling her disbelieving eyes. "Yeah right, not

"The one

"Are you serious?" Lynnette lit up. "What

he and his crew used to run 89th and Forest Blvd back then. Until one day, he saw this woman coming out of church one Sunday. He wanted to get with her so bad. He'd start rappin' about how much he would take care of her, and how pretty she was. But this woman, being a church going woman and all, wasn't gonna have anything to do with him. But dad kept on and on until finally, this same woman broke down and told him that if he changed his ways, stop pimping and selling drugs, then maybe,

head and modestly said, "I