Seven, then seven thirty came and went. I turned the radio on and listened to the news on KPFK, the alternative radio station, which I like because of its progressive orientation. There was more fighting in Lebanon and another insurgence into Nicaragua by the Honduras-based contras. Then I fiddled with the dial until I found a baseball game in Spanish just so the sound would keep me company. By eight o’clock it seemed everyone in the neighborhood had arrived home and turned on the game. Baseball is one of the only sports I don’t like. I don’t think it would be interesting unless they played it with a live grenade. But there were cheers from inside the houses whenever Fernando came out to pitch. The car seat was sticky where I had tried earlier to pee into an empty diet 7-Up can. It was nearly nine and almost dark when the Volkswagen came toward me.

I scrunched down in the seat and watched. Near the end of the block a family had brought canvas lawn chairs out to their front yard and were listening to the game. A ball from their yard rolled into the street. Rather than stopping to see if a child ran out, the Volkswagen swerved. The car slowed down in front of the yellow house, downshifting into the driveway. The guy who had been following me got out. He was wearing a blue Dodgers cap. Slamming the car door behind him, he went inside without looking around.

Another fifteen minutes passed with me slumped in the seat staring into the dark before he came out again. Of course, I had thought of going up to knock on his door, but I wanted to catch him off guard, off his own turf. I had a hunch he wouldn’t stay home with Mom. When he came out, it was like a film running backward. He got in the car, slamming the door and gunning the Volkswagen out of the driveway. I let him get halfway down the block before I started my car and pulled from behind the truck to follow him. He rolled into the intersection just past the stop sign at the end of the block. Naturally he was the kind of bad driver who drove without using his turn indicator. I was creeping along behind him, but he didn’t seem to notice because his head was bobbing up and down like he had the radio on. I hung back until he turned left on First. A line of three cars cut him off from me as he sped west back toward downtown. Accelerating, I was able to keep the green top of his car in sight. Suddenly he took a sharp right into a narrow street and disappeared.