Deliver Us from Evil

DELIVER US FROM EVIL (The Refrain)
By Ron Williams
BOOK SUMMARY

The theme of Deliver Us from Evil (The Refrain) is drawn from recent headlines concerning the Postal Services lingering struggles to survive economically, while continuing to provide reliable customer and delivery services in competition with the rise of electronic communications. The story is focused in the mind of one well-meaning but disturbed postal worker combating a hostile supervisor and battling his own inner demon. The book details the work-day life of the Postal Service, and is taunt, dramatic and riveting.
Hector Soto, a U.S. postal worker with a fifteen-year career as a mail carrier, had heard of it happening before, more than once in the news, of some disgruntled employee having been singled out for unfair treatment on the job by some power-driven manager, and eventually being pushed over the edge. But he never thought it would happen to him, until abruptly he finds himself dismissed from his duties by his malicious, manipulative manager, whom he suspects of having an affair with his wife, Myra. When he attempts to reconcile his apprehensions by confronting his wife, a violent exchange ensues, prompting her to ban him from their home by court order.

Now brooding in his rented studio apartment, Hectors life flashes before him as he reminisces through the collection of diaries he began as a boy, when he suffered abuse by his domineering father, and when his only friend and confidant had been his G.I. Joe action figure. At first, his (alter ego) Joe spoke to him in his thoughts, but Joe soon becomes a materialized phantom, counseling him face to face. Hectors diaries also chronicle his early days working at the post office, and how he met the pretty newcomer, Myra, recalling their brief courtship, their marriage, and the many joys their six-year-old daughter, Jessie, had given him.
As chronicled in his diaries, Hectors emotions spiral downward when his managers insidious harassments escalate, and his shady influence on Hectors wife accelerate. Thats when that thunderous voice from the past, the voice of his childhood fantasy friend, Joe, erupts in his head. Joe had faded from Hectors life when he became a teen, but has returned to induce disturbing hallucinations for Hector, and to encourage violent wrath. Hector tries to ignore those sinister urgings; and soon the voice is no longer in his head; it is coming from Joe, who has materialized as a ghostly, devilish infantryman. Joe taunts Hector regularly with allegations that Myra is conspiring to keep his daughter from him. But despite his efforts to resist paranoia, Hectors fears become self-affirming delusions of Myras deception and infidelity, and he finds himself succumbing to Joes dark counsel.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL (The Refrain) is a story of love and hate, and the battle between belief and doubt, between even life and death, fought in the mind, the heart, and the very soul of a man who would be king of his castle.