"The fish sees the bait, not the hook; a person sees the gain, not the danger." -- Chinese proverb
I enter the small gated community in Rowland Heights and I shut off my truck after parking on the desolate neighborhood street. I had called Oscar about 15 minutes beforehand, as I drove hastily on the 60 eastbound, noticing the purple pre-dawn sky beginning to lose its darkness; the first indication I was late. I had been delayed en route when a wrong-way driver had jumped on the freeway and caused a fatal collision with an F150, and the CHP had lanes of the freeway closed.
I drank my orange juice and made eye contact with 2 hefty raccoons that had wandered down the small quiet street. As they crossed a luscious green lawn, they were stopped dead in their tracks as the front door of the 2 story house i was parked in front of opened. They scurried in the opposite direction, as the stocky silhouette stepped out and closed the door quietly behind him.