Before the buses arrived to take Griff's team to an away game, breakfast had become a familiar routine in the coach's cottage. Caydance and Griff sleepily bumped into each other as they worked collaboratively: cooking a majestic amount of bacon, grilling Truckstop scrambled eggs, making coffee in the French press, toasting English muffins, putting butter, and marmalade on the table. This morning, the bus trip between Huygens and Sunnyvale would not take much more than half an hour. Nevertheless, it was an occasion.

The sound of busses pulling onto the campus was accompanied by the voices of players talking to each other and by formal male power-resonant greetings with clipboard bearing coaches. Brief farewells with friends and girlfriends culminated with the hustle of boarding the bus. Finally, there was the sound of buses leaving the campus.

With the memory of Griff's farewell kiss on her mind, in the coach's cabin, Caydance spread out mulberry paper on her drawing table. In her slide viewer, she inserted a slide taken a few weeks ago when the team departed for the Rogue River Valley. She had only a few hours until her brother arrived, and in that time, she also needed to make and pack lunch.

"We have not been able to locate Mackie Alarie's base," Jack said in the car on their way to Sunnyvale.

"There is no record of his crossing the border into Mexico or Canada. This does not mean that he is still in this country. There are always unseen ways to cross borders. But, both you and Sido have reported that a vintage truck with a faded two-toned red and white exterior has stalked you in unexpected places, although from where it emerges remains unknown."