"How many damned apartment buildings are there around here?" Mick grumbled a couple of hours later.
"Enough to have me wondering if I'll recognize the one we're looking for. We've already seen four that are at least close." Will started toward the next alley then smacked his forehead in disgust. "We should have checked those ones to see if they had a laundry room in the right place."
"Now he thinks of that." Mick shook his head. "Okay, let's backtrack."
So they did and were able to eliminate two of the four. Then they continued on, widening the circle around the campus. They found one more before deciding to give up for the day, as it was starting to get too dark to really see what the buildings looked like from the rear.
"Tomorrow we're starting at the crack of dawn," Mick said.
Will smiled a bit at his bossiness. "Are we now?"
"You bet. There's no way we're giving up and who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and be in the right place at the right time when he leaves for school."
"One can only hope." Will sighed. "This rarely… okay, it's almost never happened before."
"Seeing it so far ahead of time?"
"Yes. At most, it's been like a half hour or so. I see it, I try to either warn the person involved or intervene somehow."
"When you warn them, that's when they think you're off your rocker."
Will smiled ruefully. "Usually, yes. I mean if someone came up to you and said you're going to have an accident if you turn right at the next corner instead of left, what would you think?"
"That they were crazy or trying to set something up to make me turn left."
Will nodded. "And if the 'someone' looked like me? I mean, like I do now?"
"I'd figure they didn't have room for you in the psych hospital and set you loose to fend on your own." Mick snorted softly. "Like half the people living on the streets who are over twenty-five."
"Exactly, but I'm not crazy and that's what makes this… this gift—if that's what you want to call it—so frustrating."
Mick looked innocently at Will. "I bet that's why you're here and not still teaching."
"You don't give up, do you?" Will replied with a trace of a smile.
"Nope. Nosy is my middle name. It might take forever but I am going to figure out what makes you tick."
Will cocked an eyebrow. "You think we're going to be hanging out together forever? Because I don't. You're going to get off the streets, find a job, and make something of yourself."
"So you keep telling me but…"
"No buts about it. You've got your whole life ahead of you. You're smart, personable…"
"Homeless, no skills to speak of. Hell, I don't even have any ID, so how am I going to get a job to start with?"
"We'll figure that out, even if it means you get in touch with your family to get the information you need. For starters, you have a social security number. You get that soon after you're born."
"No." Mick shook his head in disagreement.
"Mick…" Will sighed. "You weren't kicked out, from what you said. You ran away because you didn't want to deal with how they felt about you. I have a feeling if nothing else, they'd like to know you're still alive. What would it hurt to call them? Tell them you're okay and trying to do the right thing now."
Mick blew out a deep breath. "I'll think about it. I guess."
"That's all I'm asking."
Mick chuckled. "And once again, you effectively turned the conversation away from you."
"Noticed that, did you?" Will replied with a bit of a smile. He paused, looking around, then pointed to a fast-food place in the next block. "Let's spend our last dimes on something to eat and then get the hell back home before we freeze to death."
Nodding, Mick kept pace as Will walked swiftly to their destination, muttering, "Someday I will find out why you're here," under his breath.
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