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It's after midnight on a hot summer night in June 1977. In a gas station outside

Madison, Wisconsin, a 17-year-old clerk named Keith Lowry sits behind the counter, his eyelids drooping.

With a deep yawn, Keith stands up, walks to the door, and heads outside to check on the pumps. The air is resonant with the buzz

of cicadas and the distant rumble of traffic on nearby Highway 51. As Keith

approaches a gas pump he notices two figures emerge from the shadows.

Keith recognizes one of the men, a fellow gas station clerk who was recently fired for stealing from

the register. Keith doesn't know what he's doing here, but he knows it's probably

trouble and tells the ex clerk you better get the hell out of here. But before Keith can finish

his warning, the thief grabs hold of him, drags him past the pumps into the shadows, and

throws him onto the asphalt.

As Keith tries to scramble to his feet, a leather-booted foot stomps into a stomach kicking the wind out of him.

Keith grits his teeth as his assailant's cackle like hyenas and continue kicking him,

striking him in his back, head, and shoulders.

But then Keith hears the screech of tires on the back. his back, head and shoulders.

But then Keith hears the screech of tires on the road, followed by the sound of a car door

opening and the sharp click of heels on concrete.

The kicks and punches stop.

Keith opens one eye.

...