Anthony had been the lodging house for ten days when Silver came down with a horrible cough.
"You take the 'tracks today, Tony," he rasped up at the nine-year-old hanging about his bunk.
Anthony anxiously bargained for his papers and hitched a ride to the tracks. His nervousness increased as he passed the point where Silver usually left him, claiming that this was his domain alone.
He didn't know, that day, that Sliver's cough would consume him entirely. He didn't know that Sheepshead would become his permanent selling spot and his refuge.
He only knew that he'd finally come home.