The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Chapter 24

Captain Kangaroo was conversing back and forth with both Mr. Green Jeans and Mr. Moose on the television while Isaac spoke in a low, overcast tone to his father over the phone.

Dressed in the same clothes from the night before, Isaac watched Isaiah crawl and romp about on the floor with his Fisher Price toy phone while he sipped away on his fourth cup of coffee for the morning. Isaac's mind was from the TV and drifting even further away from his son.

Every so often he would stare down at his scarred fingernails that felt as if someone had pierced each of them with sharp needles.

"Isaac, are you still there?" Mr. Mercer worriedly asked.

Shaking himself awake, Isaac replied, "I'm fine, dad. I just got a bad headache. Did the fuzz bring your car back yesterday?"

"Yeah, they brought it back last night. I think the carburetor needs replaced."

Just then, a long pause prevailed. The pause was soon followed by a moan from Isaac's father.

"Son...is everything alright with you? You sure don't sound fine."

Just judging by his father's stretched out gap in speech Isaac could sense that he was stressed over his grueling ordeal. All the young man could do was sit and shut his eyes in angst.

"Yeah, dad, I just need some time to...to work things out."

"Where's Lynn at?"

"She went out to get some more medicine for Isaiah. She said she'll be back before nine."

"Isaac, just relax and let the good Lord take care of everything. You've got a friend in him."

helpless frustration, Isaac threw himself backwards into the couch where

you later on." He flinched, trying with all

from work at five, come down to the church and we can talk

said, sitting back and wiping the wetness away from

"I gotta go to work now. Be careful,

dad," Isaac sniffed before hanging

Isaac noticed a frightened shakiness in his father's tenor that he hadn't heard before; it startled Isaac enough to where he even lost track of where Isaiah was and what he

out as he handed

across Isaac's battered face before taking the plastic receiver, holding it to his

his tiny hands as though a parade were trolling right through the living room. The boy was happy to see

Back and forth father and son played until the newsbreak on the television re-ran reports of the murder of the kidnapper, the dead bodies in his basement

kind of animal could have possibly killed all seven people in one night, and just what

locked firmly on the TV as the screen scrolled through every

screen. He was completely void of any emotion at that

Isaiah blurted out, handing his father his red View-Master

appeared on the television. He remembered the generous man offering him a ride two days earlier, but what seemed to cause Isaac's head to ache even more

Isaac struggled as he lifted his aching body from off the

bathroom Isaac promptly removed every item of clothing from off the child's body, cut on the warm water and then placed his boy inside the tub. With only

Unlike most children, it was never a strenuous chore to bath Isaiah. The child actually enjoyed being wet; just splashing about in the water was all playtime for him. He knew that he should have been paying close attention to the

a high pitched tone. Much like the proverbial 'fingernails across the chalkboard', Isaac couldn't help but to drown in the hellacious notion that everything that happened two nights earlier was nowhere to be found in his mind. Even the remembrances of the grueling strain

recalled screaming of all sorts, from that of adults to children, and yet,

All of the sudden, sprinkles of soapy water splashed into Isaac's dead face, alerting him to find his son fiddling with his

"Quit playing with that thing, boy, it'll turn into a habit." Isaac scolded,

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