As you stand there, trying both to sort out your jumbled thoughts and to pay attention to the task at hand, your mom turns to the old woman. "Do you have a phone book I can use?" she asks. "I think a couple of my friends still live in the area, and I want to find out their addresses."
The woman nods. "This way, please," she says, leading you to the back of the carnival grounds and stopping at a battered trailer. "Please," she says, "come in."
As you enter the trailer, you feel sorry for the woman. Sure, carnies have a bad reputation, because some of them are disreputable. But they can't all be bad, and it's a shame that they have to live in such dumpy conditions; the trailer was probably shoddily-built to begin with, and it's a ramshackle piece of junk now. But the woman has done her best to make it livable. She motions you to take a seat, and you do so, carefully placing your tail so that it won't get kinked again.
Your mom begins to thumb through the phone book, writing down a couple names and addresses as she does. After about ten minutes, she closes it with an authoritative thump. "Carlie, dear," she says, "we need to get going. There's a couple of my friends who still live in the area; we'll visit them today and see if they know where any of the others have gotten to." She turns to the old woman. "Ma'am," she asks, "will you be here very long?"
The woman shrugs her shoulders. "We leave town a week from today," she says. "But you come to see me before then and I will give you forwarding information, OK?"
Your mom nods. "We'll do that. Come one, Carlie, we need to get going!" You nod and stand up. The old woman places a hand on your shoulder. "I am regretful," she says. "If you need any help, please come to me. I will do what I can."
You nod, tears welling in your eyes at the woman's kindness. Maybe... you think, maybe I'll get through this... But you quickly banish that thought from your head and follow you mother back home, where you both hop in the car and begin the drive out to the house of friend number one (out of five, your mom informs you.)