Charlie Isaacs

Charlie Isaacs was the boy that at twelve-years-old purchased his first pack of Marlboro Reds with his student I.D. from ‘Rusty’, the old owner of the convenience store out in the sticks off of county road 16, who was so blind he couldn’t tell a ‘3’ from a ‘Q’ and was so old that when it came to age restriction laws he’d simply laugh, and shake his head and launch into an animated story of, “when I was a boy…”
         Now this isn’t to say that Charlie was a bad boy, though he seemed to get into fist fights with the other boys of his age religiously, because, well, he wasn’t. He’d always stick up for the smaller boys in town, and he never once hit a girl (except his sister, but she doesn’t count). Yes sir, even though Charlie smoked, drank, and got into more fist fights than any other fourteen-year-old in the small town of Oakvale, he was one of the kindest souls in it.
         Our story begins on a hot summer day in Oakvale. School was out and most of the boys and girls of Charlie’s age went to Shady Lake to help battle the heat. Those who weren’t at the lake wanted to be, but were probably doing some chore or another for their folks. Well, all except Charlie, who chose to spend most of his summer vacation in the old theatre just outside of town. The theatre was the last surviving building of Old Oakvale, dating back to sometime in the 1840’s.