Mostly, she was calling for Fayrene, who was to be married while she was recovering from poison oak, and at this time in her life, her daddy with a stroke, it would comfort her to see her own sister, her closest next of kin. Sharon was actually so flustered by the long-distance call she agreed to what she heard to keep the call short. Hours later, sleepless, she realized that Madge had known just what she was doing. She knew that Sharon found Fayrene depressing, with her terrible acne and painful shyness. Nevertheless, Sharon knew she would go, rather than not be there when Cora cried out, “Where is Sharon Rose?” After a long night in the coach seat, where she huddled like a child, half draped with the topcoat of the conductor, what Sharon saw through the soot-smeared window was like a continent under water. There had been heavy rains; deep ruts fouled the roads, water sat in pools that reflected the sunrise. A sway-backed white horse stood like a specter in a field of corn stubble, its head drooped as if too heavy to support.
