The bus left the depot late in the evening. David was alone now and heading back. Not enough money to spend the night. Barely enough money for a ticket to Denver. He had had the potato pancakes at the Original Pancake House in Portland while eating his one meal there with Rachel. Cheapest thing on the menu. Time to try to get home to Missouri.

All the way out there, visiting the first pancake house in the country, and he had 'potato' pancakes.

It had started as a wild temptation. To take a road trip with Rachel. She had an internship for the summer in Oregon and didn't want to drive alone. What the hell. It was the end of the semester. Finals were over. Summer school not yet in session. A long drive out to the West Coast sounded fun.

Who was worried about money. Besides, Rachel hadn't wanted to travel alone in her new used car.

So now he said his goodbyes to Rachel. They had once been more than friends. That was the only real reason to take off with her this way. It had been fun. Travel was always fun. Stopping to see some scenery along the way. Working their way across the width of the country and down the Columbia River to Portland. Yes, it had been fun. Now what?

The bus pulled out and she simply vanished into the mists of the Northwest.

The driver pulled out and he checked his pockets again. Still only about two dollars. Interesting. A bus ticket to Denver. That would take a couple of days. He was on a diet now.

He had remembered that Laura lived in Denver. Her father was a lawyer there. They hadn't become an item, she and David, but it was getting close. It would not be too inappropriate to see if he could stay the night with her and, perhaps, borrow a little scratch to get back home.

Was life complicated, or what? He laid his head back on the seat and tried to sleep as the Greyhound shifted to and fro along the highway heading east.

In the morning they stopped at a gas station and restaurant combo to eat and pickup new passengers.

He had been chatting with another rider earlier as the sun rose and had revealed his adventures if you could call them that. In any case, the guy had generously given him a buck to help him along the way. That was kind. Truly. Now he got just a candy bar to appease his appetite. He climbed back onto the bus and waited for it to depart.

By the time they pulled into the Greyhound Station in downtown Denver he was ready to call Laura and see if he could spend the night with her family. He knew they lived in a rather nice brick home on the west side of town. They had made a road trip out during spring break and spent a weekend in the Rockies along with two other college students.

Laura was naturally generous. It's why she was becoming an elementary school teacher. She had just completed working on a degree at her junior college and was enrolling in the university for the fall. So when he called from the phone booth at the station she was on her way to pick him up within five minutes.

That night David was placed in the guest room. Laura spent about an hour there with him as he lolled in bed. It might have seemed strange but he knew that her father was away for the weekend and he knew Laura had "issues" with her mother. They had talked about it enough for him to know she liked to push her boundaries with her mother.

In any case, Laura simply gave him enough money to get home. He'd pay her back when she got to school in August. She gave him a sloppy kiss and slipped out of the room.

The next day they drove to the bus station, David kissed her goodbye and waved to his new girlfriend as he passed down the aisle of the bus to an open seat.

He sat back and pulled out of another Greyhound Bus Station.