The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Chapter 6

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 there."

"Well, do you want me to turn around and wait until you fill out an application?"

"That's okay. Why don't you go home and get some rest? I'll catch the bus back."

Without any more words, Mr. Mercer pulled the car over. Isaac hopped out and began marching off in the opposite direction down the cold sidewalk.

He wanted something, anything to either distract or stop him altogether from going back, but the closer he neared his destination, that was all the more he realized that it was inevitable for him to do what he had to.

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 its closed sign facing the outside window.

He stepped over to the garage, ignored the sign and entered through the surprisingly unlocked front door, allowing the tiny clashing bells above his head to ring.

"We're fuckin' closed!" A loud, angry voice yelled from the noisy back where Stevie Wonder's, 'I Wish' was blaring on a stereo.

Isaac apprehensively entered the darkened garage accidentally 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 a large, heavily bearded black man pointing a .45 handgun directly at his face.

"I said we're fuckin' closed, motherfucker!" The shirtless man hollered as he looked up to see Isaac shuddering at the doorway.

In a deep, coarse tone, the large man, with a black knit hat on his head, announced, "Look who it is, Larry, the prodigal son."

Wiping the powder away from his nose, Larry slurred, "What the fuck? Put your piece away, Marvell. Can't you see we got company?"

Isaac inched a bit closer to Larry, but not too much to where he was within arm's reach. He made sure to keep his jittery eyes poked at the backdoor.

"How'd you get in here, man?" Larry asked.

"The front door was unlocked."

From out of a nearby corner came trotting a female Doberman pincher who skittishly shuffled past Isaac on her way to a nearby tool table where she eventually cowered underneath. Isaac began to move towards the dog only to have the animal whimper and whine the closer he approached.

"It's okay, Queen, it's only Isaac." Larry assured his pet while stumbling towards Isaac. "She's still afraid of you, brother," he grinned. "So, what brings you back here after all this time?"

"I, uh, I just came by to see how things were going." Isaac stuttered while maintaining a vigilant eye on Marvell, who in turn had both of his eyes locked on him while flipping through hundred dollar bills.

"Going?" Larry exclaimed. "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 will be the only mechanic racket in town."

As Isaac reached for 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 man.

"Don't mind Marvell, someone just stiffed him yesterday for 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 something for the lucky man!"

"Lucky? Whaddya mean, lucky?" Isaac questioned.

"You getting' married, aint' you?"

"How'd you find out about that, man?"

"This is ain't L.A. or New York." Larry tossed up his hands. "It doesn't take long for news to travel in Cypress."

"No...not really," Isaac bowed his head.

"So, you and that fine ass Lynn are finally tying the knot, huh? Man, if that were my woman I'd be smiling from ear to ear. What's with the sour puss, brother man?"

Isaac reached back into the furthest corner of his brain to try and remember why he even bothered to show up at all.

Larry then boldly stepped into Isaac's face and asked, "What, did you come back to get your job?"

"No." Isaac stammered. "I just came back to see how you were doing."

Both Larry and Marvell began to laugh out loud at Isaac's seemingly innocent response, as though they were expecting it all along.

"C'mon, Isaac, you can tell me. Why are you back here?" Larry persisted on, only in a more serious tone.

Isaac's hands became increasingly sweaty as he glanced down 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 Isaac that he would be sweating buckets while two dangerous men were surrounding him.

"I know why you're here." Larry sniffed. "You wanna give me some jive about how sorry you are that you just up and left the way you did. Is that it, Isaac? You wanna apologize for acting like a fool the way you did?"

Marvell got up from off his seat, strolled over to the table where Larry was snorting cocaine and picked up a Phillips wrench. He then began to toss the tool back and forth in his large hands as if it were a football he was playing with.

Staring deep into Isaac's face, Larry questioned, "Where did you go, Isaac?"

"Whaddya mean?" Isaac stuttered while smelling Larry's noxious breath. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

"You gonna stand there and bullshit me like that, man? You've been 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 the shoulders.

"What operation, man?" Isaac nearly lost his breath.

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

"Larry, I don't know what you're talkin' about, man." Isaac began to squirm. "Okay, you want the truth? Fine. I did come back here for a job. I need one bad, man!"

"Fuck a job!" Larry screamed as he pounded his right fist on the table beside him. "You make a deal with those Jamaican motherfuckers, and you leave us out of it?"

"Jamaicans," Isaac turned up his nose.

"Those nigga's deal with more heroin than American's do! 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. Ya dig?"

"Larry," Isaac hysterically panted, "you know I ain't never dealt with that shit! We've known each other since the fifth grade, man! Why would I double cross you after all these years?"

"Because you're a dumb ass nigga, that's why." Marvell sniggered.

"Fuck you, motherfucker! Ain't nobody asked your black ass!" Isaac irately retaliated.

Just like that, Marvell balled up his right fist and punched Isaac square in the forehead, sending him crashing to the floor.

Both Larry and Marvell knelt down and grabbed Isaac's body while the cowering dog whimpered even louder from behind.

"Shut the fuck up, Queen!" Larry yelled before turning his attention back to Isaac. "You see, I think I got this all figured out after all this time. You deal with the Jamaicans, behind our backs no less. Get fucked up on some of their ganga shit. Start acting all crazy. Your eyes get all fucked up. Then, out of the blue, you just vanish into black air." Larry steadily explained while holding Isaac's shaking legs still. "I think you was with the fuzz these past few months, tellin' them everything about our little operation here. Wait a minute...you're probably wired right now."

"C'mon, Larry," Isaac beseeched. "It wasn't anything like that! I didn't have anything to do with those Jamaican cats!"

"Shit, whoever you hired to kill those dudes sure did a helluva job. They made sure to spare your black ass." Larry snickered. "I'm surprised you're even walking around out there. Don't you know that there's a kidnapper on the loose? He snatches up cute little white girls and pretty little colored boys like you."

"He probably takes 'em back to his pad and fucks them up in the ass!" Marvell howled before ripping open Isaac's coat and white button down shirt.

At that painstaking instant, all Isaac could think of was his father's beaming face back in the car, and just how proud he was of him.

The cold, hard wrench that Marvell was pressing against Isaac's face felt like ice sinking into his flesh. All he could see in front of him was a glimpse of Queen staring back in fearful trepidation. He watched the dog's frightful eyes shift up and down right before his own blood that was seeping from his wounded forehead began to drip down his face and blind his vision.

"I say we tear out this nigga's tongue and break his legs." Marvell insidiously grimaced. "We'll see how well he walks down the aisle in crutches. I wanna hear him try and say I do!"

All of the sudden, Isaac's eyesight grew dim. The words that the men were screaming were becoming more distant and foreign, like they were speaking a different language altogether.

"Yeah, maybe I can drop by and see how Lynn is doin'." Larry jumped in. "I never told you, I would pass by her house every now and then just to make sure that the electric was still on." He laughed as he took the wrench from Marvell and bashed Isaac's right leg with it as hard as he could.

But instead of screaming or even wincing in pain, to the shock of both Larry and Marvell, Isaac did something completely unexpected. He shut his eyes and began to hum. "Dog llik." (Kill God)

Isaac moaned in a coarse tone before surprisingly snatching the wrench from out of Larry's startled hand and somehow managing to power out from the clutches of both men.

Larry and Marvell stood to their feet and watched as Isaac, too, rose up. They looked on as he spoke more unfamiliar words, words that sounded as though they were coming from someone else's mouth rather than his own.

"This nigga is high again!" Marvell said as he stepped away, too alarmed to do anything at that instant.

With the wrench firmly gripped in his right hand, Isaac bumped up against one table and into another, nearly falling to the floor in the process.

Queen helplessly yelped from underneath the confines of her tool table. Larry backed up, only enough to where he could gain a more precise view at what was taking place. He couldn't tell if what was happening was for real or just one of his own drug induced hallucinations.

Isaac's erratic movements looked more as if he were being pulled and pushed by an unseen force. The behavior lasted nearly two whole minutes before Isaac took the wrench that he was holding and cracked Marvell over the face with it, sending him reeling into the wall behind him. Isaac then lunged forward and struck Larry over the head.

"C'mon, Isaac, I was just playin'!" Larry dreadfully screamed while holding his hands up in merciful defense. "I didn't see your girl, man!"

Isaac's body turned around and began to beat Marvell over the head with the wrench until blood oozed out and onto the floor.

From there he spun around and handed his childhood friend the same treatment. "Eid uoy...eid uou, eid uoy!" (You die, you die, you die) Isaac viscously ranted on as he beat Larry over the head repeatedly until he could hear his skull crack wide open like a coconut.

Isaac then stood back and watched as Larry's unconscious body began to convulse right there on the cement floor in front of him.

Isaac dropped the wrench, grabbed Larry by the neck and pulled him over to a corner where he proceeded to get down on all fours and lick up the blood that was seeping from out of his gaping head.

In the midst of his drinking feast, Isaac paused and turned to Queen, who by then had managed to sneak underneath Larry's tow truck.

Isaac's shiny eyes blinked in rapid sequence. He fed off of the animal's fear of him like a drug. It turned him on to see the dog cower like a pup. "Ereh emoc." (Come here) Isaac grunted from his stomach. "Ereh emoc, uoy hctib! (Come here, you bitch!)

But the dog would not budge. It sat under the truck as Isaac, on all fours no less, began to crawl over towards its direction, hissing and grunting while shining his set of blood stained teeth along the way.

Soon, the sound of a fire engine blaring outside down the street sent Isaac scurrying back into another dark corner to where only his bright eyes could be seen.

He got to his feet and fled out the backdoor that led to the alley.