On a typical Saturday morning, before the start of one of SilentRain Espinoza’s softball tournaments in a corner of Southern California or another, Bob Cole would arrive on the Viejas Reservation to pick up his granddaughter, often as early as 4:30 a.m.
Bobpa, as his granddaughter called him, doted on SilentRain, who goes by Si.
As he made the early-morning drive, she slept in the backseat of his silver Dodge Ram pickup. Under the canopy in the bed of the truck, Bobpa had rigged a rack on which he hung her softball jerseys and sweatshirts, lest they get wrinkled.