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.

if

"Just the most beautiful girl in the place,"

and smiled, "Please, you need your

can see things

what did you end up doing last night

When I woke up this morning, I was laying at the foot of my bed. For the

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

away I was actually reading a lot about mental health issues and all the stuff doctors are doing to help

like it is in the movies, is it? Where they give

"Actually, the only bad thing about Ashlandview was the food. My first night there they served hotdogs for supper. I

Isaac." Lynnette grimaced before taking another sip of soda. "I know you don't like talking about it, but

it, and you were right, it wasn't a good place to bring a child. All the folks in there yelling and screaming like they're...crazy. But I'll tell you this, I really enjoyed your poems. They helped me through some lonely nights. I'm glad

she says that my poetry is good enough to be published. She knows someone who

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

me; my poetry and becoming a nurse, Isaac. All three of my sisters got

tired of getting up at five a.m. every morning, feeding a baby, getting a baby ready for the sitter, running off to school,

had heard the same scorching speech over and over again from her, except right then, the words were actually

sat back in his leather seat and said, "I never did tell you what my father did years ago, did

face and asked,

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

Lynnette only started to snigger while rolling her disbelieving eyes. "Yeah right,

"The one

serious?"

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, just maybe, she'd have a cup of coffee with him. So anyways, dad started to change, here and there. He gave up slanging the heroin and messing around with women. Two years later, he approached this woman again. Well, I figure she saw what an incredible transformation he had made in his life, and she kept her word about having coffee. So they went Downtown to Leonard's Café, had coffee, and they continued to do so

Lynnette caressed Isaiah's head and modestly said, "I think I have