His initial response to the Trinity Soup Kitchen was startling. Neil was aware of his prejudicial view of these people, but he knew that his view was borne of ignorance. The diners were of all ages. There was a separate room for mothers and children. There were toys and games for the young to play, and if they left with one, nothing was said. Some who claimed to be eighteen, but looked as young as Neil, sat eating their food while shutting out the surroundings and its noise, trying to avoid attention.
Later he asked his mother if they were really eighteen. She was certain they were not. "They don 't want to sit with the young ones. We don 't want to draw attention to them. They would probably not come back. We don 't want them to go hungry."
"What about foster parents?"
"I suspect they have run away from them."
"Why?"
"There are many possible reasons, Neil."
He noticed his mother 's reluctance to go into
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He 'd never flown before and going west would be great. Still, his grandmother was ill and he couldn 't leave her. Nor could he ask for time off at his job. So, it was decided that his father would fly to new York. Calvin would send him a check for a roundtrip fare, and meet him at the airport.
He got his father 's mailing address. He told his grandmother of the arrangements, she tried to gut the entire plan, but Calvin would not hear of it. So, she came up with the suggestion that he purchased the tickets here and send them to him. Instead, he bought the tickets with cash and called his father, telling him to pick up the ticket 's at the LA Airport. He had the arrival time, and: "I 'll be there to meet you at LaGuardia."
He went to that airport and waited. His father never arrived. He called him and found the phone was no longer in service. He checked with the airline and found that the tickets had been picked up, but exchanged for a different location, a short flight to Vegas. The rest of the money was refunded to the ticket