A seemingly lost little girl leads Bart to the scene of a horrible accident. As he consoles Sawyer, who crashed his bike into a New York City bus, he finds himself comforted instead when Sawyer offers him a pendant to keep him safe as he heads off to boot camp and eventually war.<br><br>More than a decade later, the pair are reunited on Thanksgiving Day, one on one side of a soup kitchen serving table, one on the other. They nearly miss each other, but fate -- or something else -- seems to want to bring them together.<br><br>It isn’t only on that day, either, but throughout the holiday season, during which Bart discovers the significance of the pendant and both men learn to believe in angels and second chances.

Angel Wings and Bullets

The box my mother had packed caught my eye next. I tore into it, as if Christmas was that night and not in three days. She’d given me some kitchen things, and a nightlight. I’d never slept without one while living there. With all the street lamps up and down the avenue, I just slept with the window shade partway up here. That did the trick. She’d included two jars of the only peanut butter I liked, some boxed chocolates, and a pack of socks I may have left in a drawer. The “Footloose” CD I played almost until it had worn out brought a lump to my throat, and my medals made me want to play it right then. Way down in one corner I found a blue velvet pouch. I was expecting my dog tags. What I found instead, to my astonishment, was Sawyer’s reconfigured melted bullet charm on its chain. “How in hell?” 3


Chapter 10