The Rage

By Marvin Daughtry

THE RAGE is a collection of separate stories that all end in an average person getting so angry at someone that they resort to murder. I wanted to show that even normal people can be pushed, by various reasons or circumstances, past their normal rational judgement and commit actions that they normally would not do. For example, some people go crazy after losing a job while others go crazy for having their partner cheat on them. Some go crazy for even smaller things.
Each story has characters briefly meeting or seeing a someone that happens to be a main character in the following story. Therefore, although all of the stories are different, they are connected only by these brief interactions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663231383

Marvin Daughtry

Marvin Daughtry was born in Germany and moved to the Staes at the age of 5. After serving in the Army as an Infintryman, he later went on to join the Special Forces. Marvin now resides in San Antonio. Marvin also has one son.

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Copyright © 2022 Marvin Daughtry.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-3139-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-3138-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022912441

iUniverse rev. date: 02/04/2022

Contents

Preface

1. Family Man

2. Boys Will Be Boys

3. Babysitter Blues

4. Justice Delivered

5. Running For Religion

6. Good Boys

7. Opposing Views

8. Denial

9. Systemic Racism

Preface

Most of us want three basic things out of life and if we’re lucky… we can achieve all three… love, financial stability, and a family. All of us, however, respond differently to the negative forces that enter our lives at varying points that, at times, almost seem to be caused by an invisible force that is actively trying to deny us of these wants.

Some people internalize these issues as they arise and some deal with them responsibly as they come. Yet, for a select few, there is only one solution for life’s issues. A more permanent solution.

This book is going to show how the latter group will deal with these issues. Maybe you can see yourself in one of these situations.

What choice would you make or did you make already?

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Family Man

The sun rose on another Spring Day in Macon, Georgia. Steve Salinger opened his eyes as he laid in bed next to his second wife of 5 years, Patricia Trish Salinger. It was a Saturday, which meant that he did not have to get out of bed yet for any particular reason.

Steve worked as a night nurse at a private hospital. The hours and days off would often vary week to week, but somehow he managed get two consecutive days/nights during this particular weekend and had a plan to spend this time off wisely. He tried not to think of the extra burden of dealing with two of Trish’s kids during his time off, which not only weren’t his… but that he also tried to raise while being the father figure they never had (multiple kids from multiple/absent fathers).

Mr. Steve Salinger (a title he was still trying to adjust to post-military instead of Sgt. Salinger) turned towards his wife and watched her as she slept. It seemed that these days the only peace of mind that he could get were when Trish and her two kids (Jason age 16 and Erica age 13) were either sleeping or while Trish was working and the kids were at school. Even then though, it was never an actual peace due to the fact that Trish (the self-proclaimed family money manager) had repeatedly caused them to get further and further into debt, despite Steve’s suggestions on how to properly save and spend what little money they had coming in month to month. I know what I’m doing! she would often scream (while being drunk a majority of the time as well, which was another issue) as he tried to talk to her about such things. And yet here we are…constantly getting calls or messages from utility companies or debtors for late payments that you said you would take care of! Steve would reply.

A normal conversation would almost always escalate into an argument, when Steve would start out calmly trying to discuss financial or family issues with Trish and how they could fix them. Meanwhile Trish would refuse to acknowledge any of them, accusing him of trying to be her father, and quickly managing to turn any meaningful conversation into what Steve would like to call a full blown abortion. She would then cry and proclaim how she was somehow the victim in the whole situation even though she would not only spend all of the family’s money on nonsense but would also enable the reckless behavior of her kids as well who seemed to be on their way on following in her footsteps.

Steve had spent 20 years in the military and through both military training AND life experiences he has always been able to analyze problems and discover ways to fix them. It had become second nature. This was not the case with his first marriage prior to Trish however (this marriage being the second).

Steve was a flirtatious man that had used his numerous military deployments to woo several women in almost every country he had been in… often forming relationships with them while offering false hopes of a future together. He had been divorced for 8 years now and was reduced to seeing his only son, James, on Skype or when Steve had saved up enough money to visit him in Maryland.

This negative experience did, however, cause Steve to make a personal decision and promise to himself after the divorce to always be honest, faithful, and attempt to talk about any