The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Chapter 5

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.

"What are you looking at?" Lynnette blushed as if everyone in the rink were gawking at her all at once.

"Just the most beautiful girl in the place," he slyly smirked.

Lynnette rolled her eyes and smiled, "Please, you need your eyes checked."

"I can see things just fine."

"I bet you can." Lynnette murmured. "So, what did you end up doing last night when you got home?"

"Nothing much," Isaac shrugged. "Just watched some TV. When I woke up this morning, I was laying at the foot of my bed. For the life of me I can't remember what I did after I watched TV."

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

"Huh, so you wanna jive a brother?" Isaac laughed out loud. "For your information, while I was away I was actually reading a lot about mental health issues and all the stuff doctors are doing to help folks."

Lynnette dropped her head before asking, "It's not like it is in the movies, is it? Where they give people shock therapy and all that?"

"No, 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 their food."

"That's real nice to know right after I 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 I came to visit."

"I'm not mad. I thought about 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 that you never gave that up."

"I have a friend that I go to Cypress State with, and she says that my poetry is good enough to be published. She knows someone who may be able to send it off to an editor. Who knows, maybe I can get a book deal." Lynnette proudly blushed.

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

Lynnette's once prideful expression immediately sank within a matter of two seconds. 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 they do is sit at home, collect welfare and watch 'The Price Is Right' every day. I swore that I would never end up like them." Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Lynn's voice 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 off to work, just to come home and start all over again, when I should have my man there every step of the way."

Isaac couldn't tear his jittery eyes away from Lynnette at that second. He had heard the same scorching speech over and over again from her, except right then, the words were actually bleeding through to the bone.

Isaac stared a bit more at Lynnette's shaky face before he sat back in his leather seat and said, "I never did tell you what my father did years ago, did I?"

Lynnette scrunched up her face and asked, "What, he wasn't always a janitor?"

"No. You see, back in the day, he was a pimp and a drug dealer."

Lynnette only started to snigger while rolling her disbelieving eyes. "Yeah right, not Mr. Merc."

"The one and only," Isaac replied.

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

"Well, 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, 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 for the next three years. They eventually got married, and nine months later...I showed up."

Lynnette caressed Isaiah's head and modestly said, "I think I have a feeling where this story is headed."

Isaac sat up, reached his hands across the table and said, "Lynn, I know I fuc...messed up. But I'm trying real hard to change. All that stuff that happened last year, I wanna put it in the past. I wanna be there for you two. I hate seeing you work your ass off all the time. I want us to get married. I want you to be my wife and not my son's mom. I want all of the stuff that you want, even more. You gotta believe me." Isaac urged.

Isaac watched as Lynnette's eyes began to water, but he could sense that with such a large crowd looming about that she was hesitant to allow the tears to flow. She instead wiped her eyes and gazed upon Isaac's desperate conviction. Even Isaac, at that instant, was surprised at himself.

"Isaac...I want us to be together, too. But, I feel like I'm listening to a broken record. Do you know how much it hurt me to see you run out of the house like you did back on Thanksgiving?" She faintly sobbed. "And then all of the sudden wake up the next morning to find out that you're in the hospital? You and I have known each other since the sixth grade, Isaac. I thought we could talk to each other about anything."

Mortified, Isaac turned his head and looked the other way, too overwhelmed to stare into her tearful eyes a second longer.

"Uh, uh, you look at me." The young woman firmly commanded. "You always turn your head whenever someone tells you about yourself."

Isaac reluctantly did as ordered and redirected his attention back to Lynnette.

With an abrasive, yet vulnerable glaze written all over her face, Lynnette asked, "Do you promise to do better this time? Do you promise to control your temper and not run away every time we have a disagreement?"

It didn't take long for Isaac to respond to her ardent questions. Without mulling over it, he got up out of his seat, took three steps around the table and knelt down to one knee in front of Lynnette.

Everyone that passed by their direct vicinity paused, gasped and pointed at the young man who was in the midst of making the so called ultimate manly gesture.

With a plunging stomach, Isaac looked straight into Lynnette's eyes and said, "I don't have a ring right now, but...will you be my wife?"

With popcorn balled up in his tiny right hand, Isaiah glanced up at his overly blushing mother who appeared more thunderstruck than anything else.

There was no verbal response from the young woman, only a quaint smile and a simple nod yes before reaching down and hugging Isaac's sweaty neck.

All the female bystanders gave their collective "Aww's" before letting out a chorus of jubilant applause at the young couple's happiness.

"You see that, folks? Everyone falls in love at Jimmy's!" Jimmy Tolliver, the owner of the rink, loudly and delightedly announced over the P.A. system.

The cheers went on and on as Marvin Gaye's, 'You're all I need' began playing on the speakers. Amidst all the adoring accolades Isaac continued to hold his woman's body, not wanting to let go.

"Isn't this better than sitting home and watching a movie about slaves?" He teased into her ear. Isaac could feel Lynnette's body jiggle with laughter.

Still, the woman had no words to utter. Isaac only hugged her tighter.