Description Thirteen-year-old Gabe Mendoza is headed to the public library when he hears a voice call, "Son." Gabe sizes up an approaching vagrant.
Everything he owned was. " He\'s homeless," Gabe whispered to himself. . .
He had also loaded the car with cases of soda and bottledwater, as if he were thirsty for a life other than the one he had with them.
His dad had driven away in the family\'s best car, with his clothes and the household computer in the backseat.
The vagrant did resemble his dad, whom Gabe hadn\'t seen in four years.
The man did his best to hoist a smile.
Was this homeless man looking for a handout? "It\'s me, your dad." The figure in dirty clothes was pulling a large suitcase on wheels.
Son? Gabe wondered.
What\'s wrong with this guy? A sweatshirt in this heat? "Son," the figure beckoned to him.
Dang, Gabe thought.
Through the wavering heat, he eyed a figure in a 49ers sweatshirt.
He stopped under a tree and spied the temperature on the corner bank building: 104.
The afternoon was hot, maddening hot. . . .
It is meant to be read more than once--each reading will reveal more about his mother, playground life, forgiveness, and the healing nature of dog that comes into his life.
There\'s tenderness in his troubled heart.
The novella is quick as anger, but Gabe isn\'t angry.
He\'s always escaping trouble, especially from Frankie Torres, who practices his gangbanging tactics on Gabe.
Should he give his father a second chance--the father who is now destitute, possibly ill, pathetic, and an alcoholic? Life has never been easy for Gabe on the streets of Fresno.
As the story unfolds, Gabe wrestles with confusion.
Gabe\'s father had abandoned him and his mother five years earlier.
His neck is filthy, his teeth rotten in an unsmiling mouth.
He\'s wearing a sweatshirt on a hot summer afternoon.
To Gabe, the figure doesn\'t look right.
He\'s hauling a suitcase with everything he possesses--nothing.
This man looks homeless--is homeless. "It\'s me, your dad."Dad? Couldn\'t be.
Description Thirteen-year-old Gabe Mendoza is headed to the public library when he hears a voice call, "Son." Gabe sizes up an approaching vagrant
