volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

hard to keep this sort of thing—” his eyes flick to Roy, then back
to the garish lady “—from happening. Unfortunately, there are
chinks in our armor. John? Workneh? Would you please escort
this person elsewhere—and make sure he stays away.”
“Yes, Bob,” chorus John and Workneh.
As they set about to fulfill Bob’s request he—Bob, the First
Floor Day Manager—drops a middle-aged hand onto John’s
shoulder, and leans close to him.
“Be careful. I’m pretty sure he’s on Angel Dust.”
Bob knows a thing or two about drugs. Before he was First
Floor Day Manager at Barnes & Noble, he wanted to be a cop.
He tried so many times to make it into cop school that they
finally asked him to stop. Please stop trying, Bob. Please don’t
come back. Please leave us alone. They no longer considered
him a viable candidate. Turned out he had set a record in Cop
School history for the most times anyone had failed the entrance
exam.
For many months afterward, Bob was depressed and turned
to drink for solace.
And because he liked it.
But, in the end, his rejection by the Seattle Police Department
turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Sometimes he thinks
maybe Workneh is right when he prattles on about God having
a plan. After all, if he—Bob—had got into cop school, he would
never have found his niche at Barnes & Noble. Bob is happy at
Barnes & Noble. He has more power and respect here than he
would ever have had as a cop.
“Yes, sir!” John says this with a decisive nod, then shoots a
hard look at Roy.
John—a rangy Caucasian and former Mormon from
Wisconsin who has come to the Emerald City to study Law and
pursue his newly-chosen sexual identity—and Workneh, whose
Arabic name means You are good—a frail-looking, but very clean
young black man from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who has come to
Seattle to experience rain—each grab a handful of one of Roy’s
arms and drag him away from the front doors.
To Workneh’s delight, the sun has departed, clouds have
returned, and a light mist is beginning to fall.
(He writes his family often, sends them half his earnings, and
1 0 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY