6.
Oakland S & L, Friday Afternoon, On the Bus Waiting, LA Greyhound Station—Our bus departure for Phoenix was being slightly delayed. We had mounted ten minutes ago and waited in our favorite seats on the bus. Safe enough. But Leroy wasn’t too happy about waiting around for his much-anticipated first really long bus ride to the east. He frowned, looking more than a little anxious.
“It’ll be okay, dude, relax,” I said, smiling at him, patting his big mitt.
He glanced at me, nodded, but I could tell he still wasn’t happy. Not worried about the heat around here. Just disappointed by the delay.
“I’m going to rest my eyes,” I said. “Okay?”
He sucked in a breath and nodded again. Dude was something else—sometimes I think he’d never grown a day older from the time when we first met.
I clos
