“You know,” he began, voice low and full, “if you were to ever leave me, I’d come looking for you, on every street.” “You promise?” “Always.” And I knew he kept his promises.”

“I want you to stay with me,” he said. “And that’s the problem. Every time you leave me, I need you a little bit more.”

“You're not going to make me promise you something, because that's what they say in the movies, the person who never comes back.”

“I was trying to be a better man, Perry. For you.” I shifted in my seat. “Dex…” “And I’ll keep trying,” he quickly said, voice low and somber. “Until I get it right.”

“Kiddo, I’d let you brand me with a hot iron if you wanted to.”“Still a sucker for punishment?”He grinned. “Something like that.”

“.......You have every right to hate me for this lifetime and many others. You have every right to never see me again. To spit on my grave. But tonight, now, I'm not going to give up on you or," his voice fell with weight, "die trying.”

“Hello?” Bird’s stoic voice answered. “Hi, Bird?” This is Dex Foray, we met back in Red Fox last October…”“Dex,” he pronounced my name slowly. “I knew it was you.”“Oh,” I said, taken aback. Shit, maybe he was more new agey than I thought. “Could you sense me?”“No, I have caller ID”