When Shawn left Shayne’s house he went strait to the bus station.

“I’d like a ticket to Denver please” He asked a small black woman at the ticket counter.

“You being shipped out son?” She asked in a caring tone.

“What?” Shawn asked wondering what she meant. Then remembering he was wearing his father’s fatigues he replayed “Oh, yeah I guess you could say that.”

“One-way I guess?”

“Yeah, I won’t be coming back here for awhile.”

He received his ticket and walked to the Grey Hound bus where he took his seat and started listening to his CD player. He soon fell asleep and when he awoke the bus had arrived in Denver.

“Last stop everybody off!” yelled the driver walking back towards Shawn.

“Oh, there already?” was Shawn’s sleepy reply.

When he got off the bus it hit him that he had no where to stay.

Maybe I should have thought this through some more first. Well I might be able to find a hostile and maybe some work soon.

He walked along the streets getting curious glances from many people as he passed. He asked many people about a hostile and no one knew of one, but finally someone pointed him to the tourist’s information center where maybe he could find out where one was. At the information center he was told where to go. On his way there he realized he didn’t have a whole lot of money and he needed a place to stay. So he began to think about relatives he might be able to stay with.

Well there’s uncle George in California, Cousin Emily in Arizona, and Grandpa Richard in Montana. Yeah, staying with grandpa would be perfect!

Shawn’s grandfather, Richard Pursley, on his father’s side owned a large ranch in Jordan, Montana and would probably let Shawn stay there for awhile.

So when Shawn reached the hostile he called his grandfather on his cell phone to ask how he felt about Shawn coming up for awhile.

“Hello.” boomed Richard’s voice on the phone.

“Hello, grandpa it’s me Shawn.”

“Well Shawn what have you been up to?”

“Grandpa I left home. I needed to think about things and I decided that home was no place to do it.”

“This is about your father isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I needed to get away from everything so I left for Denver.”

“Denver!” came the astounded interruption from the other end of the phone. “Well why the hell did you go to Denver?”

“Well I didn’t really think this whole thing through. I just wanted to leave and I like Colorado. When I got here I realized there was nothing here for me and so I thought I’d call you. I need a place to stay and I’d like to stay with you if that’s all right.”

Partly because Richard knew what Shawn was going through and mostly because he had never really liked Shawn’s mom he said yes instead of telling him to go home right away.

“Oh and grandpa can we not tell mom. I’ll write and tell her I have a safe place to stay and that I’m all right but I don’t want her to know where I am.”

“I guess so but you better write that letter now she must be worried sick.”

“Yes sir. Thank you.”

“No problem. Bye Shawn.”

“Bye.” And with that he hung up.

The first thing Shawn did when he hung up was to start a letter to Shayne.

---

Dear Shayne,
I went to Denver and that’s where I am right now. Let’s not talk about why I went to Denver I already feel like enough of an idiot already. I’m going to Montana to live with my grandpa for awhile. I’ll probably have to work, but that’s alright he’s a nice man and I think he understands. Please don’t tell my mother where I’m am I don’t want her to come and get me, but don’t worry I’m writing her to tell her I’m safe. I’m sorry I couldn’t say good-bye to your face but leaving the cowards way like I was I just couldn’t look you in the eye. I’ll write you more soon. I love you.
My heart will always remain yours,
Shawn

---

With that he started his letter to his mom.

---

Dear mom,
I’m fine, don’t worry. I have a place to stay you don’t need to know where. I may write soon

Shawn

---

He knew this was mean to write but she had tried to get past his father’s death too fast for someone who could have really loved him. And so he mailed his letters and ate dinner. After dinner he checked the bus schedule for the next bus going to Garfield County. He look and there was a bus going to Montana at 3pm the next day and after asking some questions he found that if he took the bus to Montana the next day and two more after that he could get to Jordan and have his grandfather pick him up at the bus station. So with his next plans arranged he bought his bus tickets and went back to the hostile to sleep.