Mr. Bones, "a mutt of no particular worth or distinction," and his master, Willy G. Christmas, a middle-aged schizophrenic who has been on the streets since the death of his mother four years before. The novel begins with Willy and Mr. Bones in Baltimore searching for a former high school English teacher who had encouraged the teenage Willy's writerly aspirations. Now Willy is dying and anxious to find a home for both his dog and the multitude of manuscripts he has stashed in a Greyhound bus terminal. Timbuktu is Willy's name for heaven. After Mr. Bones is forced to leave Willy he is temporarily adopted by a Chinese boy named Henry but after a few days is discovered by Henry's father and forced to run again. He then finds a family with 2 young children, Alice & Tiger - but there is no longer has control of his own life. There are rules that he must follow or there might be serious consequences. But in the end Mr. Bones decides his own fate and goes to find the road to Timbuktu.
This was a rough book to read as about half is focused on Willy and Mr. Bones' relationship and mostly about Willy's rants. But this is all Mr. Bones has ever known. Over the years I've worked with a lot of homeless that are homeless by choice - more often than not really intelligent people. So it was hard to read the sections with Willy. Plus I knew the book wasn't really going to be a happy one - it just had a despondent feel to it. But there were some really lovely passages - I loved the section in which Mr. Bones turns into a fly and follows Willy to the hospital and is there until he dies. It is a dream of course but wouldn't it be a wonderful thing?