The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

With a head full of irate bluster, Isaac blasted out of the small, white building in front of his father like a madman on a mission. The second he reached his dad's car, he slammed his fists on the roof as hard as he could.

"Isaac, hitting things isn't gonna make the situation any easier." Mr. Mercer rationally explained as he walked around to the driver's side and got in.

Isaac waited until his dad unlocked the other door before he jumped inside and slammed the door behind him.

"What does he mean," 'I don't have any experience?' "What kind of experience do you need to clean toilets?" He yelled while wiping sweat from off his forehead. "Ain't this about a blip?"

"You gotta understand something, son, there's a lot more to being a janitor than just cleaning toilets. Besides, Mr. Wallace already has a full staff. He said that he'll give you a call when something opens up again." Mr. Mercer calmly clarified before cutting on the ignition and pulling away onto the street.

"Yeah right, and when something does open up, that jive turkey will probably forget all about my black ass!"

"Cut that out!" Mr. Mercer scolded. "God never once promised any of us an easy life. Times are tough for everyone right now. People are losing jobs left and right. Gas is drying up. It's our hardships that make us stronger people. You'll find something. Besides, you've got a wedding to plan."

Isaac just turned his head in disgust and remarked, "What good is a wedding when the husband doesn't even have a job? I promised Lynn that I would help her out. Now what?"

"Now, you trust in the Lord. You have to allow him to take control of the situation."

Isaac rolled his eyes in silent frustration at his father's constant religious intervention. To him, it was like dousing a cup of acid on an already gaping wound.

As they drove along the decaying side streets of Cypress, it suddenly donned on Isaac as to just where he was at that moment. He had been away for only two months, but yet, it was those two months that seemed to make all the startling difference in the world when it came to his ugly urban surroundings.

Once tall, busy downtown buildings had tragically succumbed to the plight of an economic slump. Crippled and dilapidated structures layered almost every corner of the vicinity. Most businesses, which had been around since the turn of the century, had become mere shadows of a more vibrant and industrious yesterday; a bittersweet reminder of a once thriving metropolis known as Cypress, Ohio.

As they passed by a Dairy Queen, Isaac caught himself fondly recalling a childhood memory where he was holding his mother's hand as they both walked down the strip to the restaurant on hot summer days. The mini-mall that was located just across the road from where his father would take him every other weekend to buy comic books was by then only a convenient store that had a store closing sign posted on the front window.

Those and many other institutions had been shut down for months and years, and still Isaac could not seem to get it into his head that time had passed him by seemingly overnight.

Every so often he would glance over at his father, who by then needed his glasses to drive even in the daytime, hunched over the steering wheel as though seeing the road ahead of him was a million dollar challenge. The mightiest man in the world had the striking appearance of a feeble senior citizen who looked as though he were ready to fall asleep at a moment's notice.

All Isaac could do was soak in every remembrance, past and present, sigh and shut his eyes. The feeling of hopelessness squeezed the life out of him.

Mr. Mercer began to giggle to himself before saying, "I feel like a woman every time I think about you and Lynn getting married."

Isaac snapped out of his disparaging trance and muttered, "Whaddya mean?"

"I just wanna plan everything, from the invitations, right down to the kind of tux you'll be wearing. Your mama sure would be happy to see you getting married. Yes, sir, that woman sure loved her some weddings."

Isaac's sorrowful mood wasn't dissipating, but just for a few glimmering seconds, just seeing his father's gushing face seemed to relieve a tiny measure of pressure enough for him to breath.

As they tooled along, unexpectedly, out of the corner of his eye, Isaac took notice of the Tri-State Savings & Loan bank building to his right that they were speeding by. His head had to take a double spin backwards just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Do you think I can find a job soon, dad?"

"Sure you can." Mr. Mercer exhaled. "There's still plenty of work out there, you just have to keep on looking."

Isaac relented. He held back as much as he possibly could, fighting the temptation like a wild, rampaging animal...but it was too much to stomach.

"Dad...can you let me out here?" He sheepishly uttered.

"Right here, at this stop light?"

"Yes, sir, I think I saw a help wanted sign back

"Well, do you want me to turn around and

Why don't you go home and get

Isaac hopped out and began marching off in the opposite

anything to either distract or stop him altogether from going back, but the closer he neared his destination, that was all

He cut down a corner and felt the harsh winter wind slap his fidgety face. Isaac stopped in front of the bank building before looking to his immediate left where he eyed a broke-down garage that had

He stepped over to the garage, ignored the sign and entered through the surprisingly unlocked front door, allowing the tiny clashing

angry voice yelled from the noisy back where Stevie Wonder's, 'I Wish' was blaring on a

knocking over an empty gas can along the way. The instant he approached an ajar door he braced himself and barged his way through to spot one young, skinny, light skinned, shirtless man seated at a table snorting lines of what looked to be cocaine, and

"I said we're fuckin' closed, motherfucker!" The shirtless man hollered as

In a deep, coarse tone, the large man, with a black knit hat on his head, announced, "Look who

slurred, "What the fuck? Put your piece away, Marvell. Can't you see we

a bit closer to Larry, but not too much to where he was

get in here,

"The front door was

From out of a nearby corner came trotting a female Doberman pincher who skittishly shuffled past Isaac on her way to a nearby tool

it's only Isaac." Larry assured his pet while stumbling towards Isaac. "She's still afraid of you, brother," he grinned. "So, what

a vigilant eye on Marvell, who in turn had both of his eyes locked on him while flipping through

"Shit, things are goin' real will, my nigga. Look around you, business is boomin'!" Larry proclaimed with outstretched arms. "Jimmy The Peanut is already lookin' after us colored folks. Before you know it, Larry's Garage

a stool behind him, Marvell brazenly snatched it away before placing it beside him instead, not once taking his eyes off of the scared, young

a couple of hundred. You know how he gets whenever someone holds out on him." Larry clarified as he wandered back to his table. "Hey, Marv, turn on

"Lucky? Whaddya mean, lucky?" Isaac

"You getting'

"How'd you find out about

"This is ain't L.A. or New York." Larry tossed up

"No...not really,"

the knot, huh? Man, if that were my woman I'd be

furthest corner of his brain

stepped into Isaac's face and asked, "What, did

"No." Isaac stammered. "I just came

and Marvell began to laugh out loud at Isaac's seemingly innocent response, as though they were expecting

"C'mon, Isaac, you can tell me. Why are you back here?"

at the equally frightened dog under the tool table ahead of him. It was already warm inside the garage, so it was no surprise to

here." Larry sniffed. "You wanna give me some jive about how sorry you are that you just up and left the way you

to the table where Larry was snorting cocaine and picked up a Phillips wrench. He then

face, Larry questioned, "Where did

Isaac

gone since December. You see, I got it in my head that you was up to no good back in November. If you wanted in on the operation, why didn't you just say so?" He grabbed Isaac by

operation, man?"

"C'mon, Isaac, you didn't have to go behind my back, you could've trusted me, I'm

squirm. "Okay, you

beside him. "You make a deal with those Jamaican motherfuckers, and you leave

Isaac

And you leave us out of the deal? Then what happens? You pissed off the wrong person, and they let their dogs loose on your black asses. All you had to do was let Marvell and me know, we could've dealt with them. We all could have made some serious loot.

shit! We've known each other since the fifth grade, man! Why would I double cross you after all these