Summary

In Chapter 12, “The Joy of Bob,” Bob has been Bowen’s greatest mentor. He has taught Bowen about “responsibility,” “friendship,” “selflessness,” and “parenthood” (179). Though Bowen has “had a couple of girlfriends,” including Belle, starting a family never seemed possible (179). Taking care of Bob, however, made Bowen feel like a father and helped him see how much he had hurt his parents over the years.

One morning, Bob snuck out of the apartment. Bowen found him sitting in a stairwell window, watching the world outside. Belle laughed at the incident, wishing she knew what was “going on in [Bob’s] mind” (182). Bowen felt this way, too, but was careful about “projecting human behavior” onto animals (182).

Bob’s favorite things were “watching the world go by” and “playing hide and seek” (183). His games made Bowen happy.

Life in London gave Bob endless “opportunities to get...