(This story is by no means an indictment against the country of Jamaica and its beautiful people.)

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The Ashlandview Psychiatric Center

December 1976

"Isaac, do you plan on standing at that window all day long, or would you rather have a seat and have a civilized discussion?" Doctor Sanyupta, who was dressed perfectly in a brown suit, patiently implored seated behind his desk inside his warm and cozy office.

With his arms folded in an irate manner inside his brown Izod sweater, Isaac remained obstinately at the window that overlooked a cold, frosty and cloudy morning.

He pulled at the crotch of his faded blue jeans that managed to itch with every restless move that he made.

"Man, I ain't sayin' anything until I see a lawyer or somebody." The young, bitter man mumbled against the sore jaw that he was nursing while leaning against the frigid window.

"My friend, this is not prison. We are here to help you."

Yanking himself away from the window, Isaac turned to Sanyupta and pointed, "Man, you ain't my friend! And the only help I need can't be found here!"

"I take it you are referring to your so called disease?"

"Hell yes that's what I'm taking about!" Isaac snapped back. "My dad sent me here for some bullshit reasons! Motherfucker!" He tossed his arms in the air. "I'm not crazy; I know what happened to me last month! It was that bitch that did this to me!" He pointed at his auburn eyes. "And I'm warning you, it can happen again, in this place!"

Doctor Sanyupta sat back in his leather swivel chair and studied Isaac very precisely before saying, "Isaac, allow me to ask the question. Was it you that murdered those men last month?"

For a second, Isaac caught himself before he stood absolutely still in the middle of the floor "Man...I don't know for sure." His voice faltered. "It just happened, and then I just blacked out." Isaac then happened to glance at the door and the mistletoe that was dangling from above.

"Isaac, I see you as a rational human being; someone who is not taken easily to being overrun with delusions of shape-shifting."

"But it's not a delusion!" Isaac pleaded with outstretched arms. "I know what happened that night! Look at my eyes, man! How did they go from black one day to this the next?"

"There could be a reasonable explanation."

"Like what? Someone broke into my room and slipped a couple of contacts into my eyes? That's bullshit!"

"Isaac, your father believed this facility to be the one place in the world that could help you—

"My father," Isaac twisted his lips. "That overgrown nigga hit me because he said I tried to hit him. Man, the next time I see his ass I'm gonna take a baseball bat and crack him so hard in the face he won't know what hit his black ass!"

"But he is your father." Sanyupta sounded amazed.

"I don't care if he's my mother; no one hits me and gets away with it! That's why he sent me here, because he knew I would get his ass back for that!"

Isaac was sweating while pacing across the floor in an agitated, cagey manner, as though he could feel someone watching him all around.

Meanwhile, Sanyupta, who was still seated quite securely in his chair, kept his eyes stationed only upon Isaac while quietly tapping his fingers on his desk.

"Isaac, tell me something, wasn't Lynn involved in your being here as

The look he had on his face at that moment in time was that of a man who could burn holes

"Oh...that bitch."

to the mother of your son in

she lied and said

reason at that second. Like the words that

"What seems

But Isaac would not speak; he just stood in the middle of the floor for a

young man." Sanyupta patiently reiterated.

don't know for sure,"

placed just an inch away from him on

call her that." Isaac turned

"But there was some kind of emotion that brought such a hateful word out all of the

turn his attention

"What do you believe caused you

heaved the breath out of his lungs before he said, "She's not the mother of my

Sanyupta stopped writing at that moment before sitting forward and folding

the eye. He kept

I said she wasn't the mother of my child." He shamefully

"And how do

"Because...I just do,"

"That is not

knew from high school. His name is William. I guess she was stuck on him at the same time she

"Oh...I see." Sanyupta gently responded. "And yet, after all of that, you still raise

told me that he wasn't mine to begin with. He said

"How do you and Lynn cope with

Snickering, Isaac said, "We cope

"That is

"What the hell else do you want me to do?" He ranted. "Keep on bringing up the past until

"Where

standing right here!"

man. While I commend you on your commitment, that still does not

pockets. "Man, I don't know." He whined. "All she and I

"Do

"But rather than try and help me, she just called my dad to come and take me away! She just stood by and watched as he hit me! No one

"Isaac, I want to ask you a very important question, and I want an

took a strong pause. The young man could

"What...what do you

office before his eyes connected with the floor all over

"Why your

Elmer Holcomb. They used to run moonshine together before they both got saved. About five years ago, though, Mr. Holcomb, his wife and granddaughter were all killed in a house fire. Every year since then, my dad and I would

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