She took off down the hallway as if she didn't have a care in the world. She had yet to outgrow that magic — when it was time to play, it was time t... play and nothing else.When I looked inside, the first thing that caught my eye was a girl's bike. It was leaning against the back wall, standing up on the rear tire. It was predominantly pink and had white streamers coming out of the rubber hand holds. There was a horn with a black rubber bulb on the handle bars.A plastic covered car seat was. I’ll give her the good news. And explain that you need a little private time before going home.” I paused, looking into her eyes, “Then I’ll hand you the phone.”Mindy was calm, “Of course. I love my parents. It’s just...”Walker said, “We understand, Mindy.”On the phone, Rebecca started crying at the good news. Not sobbing, but not trying to disguise it either. When I explained that her daughter wanted to hang with us for a while, Rebecca merely said, “Of course. Whatever she needs. Let me know. I had taken the California Zephyr. To cover my tracks a little I had booked it through all the way to Oakland- that was the terminus in those days. As usual I had no idea where I’d get off, but I picked Reno, Nevada. Picked up my ancient backpack and hightailed it off the train.I had just turned 21 and I decided it was time to try my hand at gambling. The funny thing is, I have always been a gambler; this lifestyle is a constant chain of gamble after gamble. But usually I only play the odds. She turned around and looked directly at me“What? Did it not work after all?”Just when I was about to play it off as a joke, my mother started smilingand replied:“Oh, you're right! I totally forgot! Thanks for reminding me!”Then, like it truly was a ritual for her, she moved over to ourkitchen's window and stared outside for exactly 30 seconds.“It.....It worked! It actually worked!”My mind was already going through the possibilities this powercould give me and I was getting hard again, but I.