He let out a humorless laugh. "You don't want to know."

　　We walked to the loop intersection in contemplative silence. Now that evening was settling there were signs of life at the trailer park...cars turning in, voices and televisions filtering through the thin walls, smells of flying food. The white sun was resting on the horizon, bleeding out color until the sky was drenched in purple and orange and crimson.

　　"Is this it?" Hardy asked, stopping in front of my white trailer with its neat girdle of aluminum siding.

　　I nodded even before I saw the outline of my mother's profile in the window of the kitchenette. "Yes, it is,"...