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where he is thinking of setting up a stay-put show.
    I do not even ask her to take me with her. Instead, I bring Peabody into our truck. I turn on the big flashlight and show him my mattress, hard as our grill. I puff up my bedroll. I show him how we keep our clothes in old apple crates and how we keep the purple curtain closed. Already mosquitoes are getting in and I fix the curtain so there isn’t any space between the cloth and the sides of the truck.
    I fluff up my pillow. I lie on my belly and watch Peabody. I tap the mattress and show him where he can lie down, right beside me. I tell him all about my life, how I came to be with the travelling show and with Ellis and with Pauline.
    ‘Pauline has been very good except now she is with Arthur.’ Peabody tilts his head so he looks as if he is interested in what I am saying. ‘Ellis does not like dogsand he will get rid of you if he finds you.’
    It turns out it doesn’t take long to love a dog. I pull Peabody close and smell the sweet warm smell of him. After a while, he licks my face. I ask him where did he come from and tell him I do not know what Pauline will do when she sees him in the truck with me, so I will think of something.
    A trash can knocks over outside. I turn off the flashlight. ‘Travelling shows attract a lot of skunks,’ I whisper. Peabody is all interested in what is outside. He sits up and whines.
    ‘Shush.’ I scratch him behind the ears. He keeps watching the purple curtain with both of his ears raised up.
    ‘Do you know about the ha-ha game?’ I try to get his attention on other things. He tilts his head. ‘Well, it’s when you tell stories about when you were little. The ones that make you laugh. We do not tell the ones that make us sad.’ I think about Pauline for a minute and then make myself stop because it is not a good idea to think about things that make you tearful when you are all contented. It tends to cloud things up.
    I pull Peabody closer. It is so hot. ‘Do you like swimming holes?’ Peabody wags his stumpy tail. I tell him all about how Pauline and I go swimming. ‘I don’t go swimming without Pauline, though.’
    I rub his ear. ‘Sometimes when I am alone I go out andwatch the stars. Do you like the stars?’ Peabody tilts his head. ‘It’s a good star night tonight. There’s no moon.’ Peabody wags his stumpy tail and that is a good enough answer for me.
    It is very dark. I wave my flashlight and Peabody and I go slow to make sure there are no skunks. I pull my bedroll out past the Little Pig Race. We have to stop so I can let Cordelia and the others out of their shed so I can scratch them for a while. Peabody sniffs at them and I lift Cordelia over the fence and bring her onto the bedroll with me and Peabody. She snuggles up against us so I will rub her backside. Pigs are awful loving when you give them half a chance.
    ‘That’s the Big Dipper.’ Peabody’s fur is soft on my cheek. Cordelia is nuzzling around my belly. ‘And that is the North Star. It is a very important star if you are trying to find your way home.’
    A crow caws. Peabody lifts his head and looks up. Another crow caws. I shiver. Peabody jumps up, looking through the dark. It is awful late for crows to be cawing. I scan the shadows with my flashlight. Peabody whines. Another crow caws. I think maybe I should shut Cordelia and the others in the shed.
    ‘You wait here.’ I pat Peabody’s back so he knows he should stay put. My legs are wobbly from standing on them all day. ‘I need to lock you up in case,’ I say, lifting Cordelia into her pen.
    Before I can say Jack Sprat those boys from before are coming up on us. Peabody raises the fur on his back and growls.
    ‘Well, look what we found!’ The tall boy and the round boy with watermelon cheeks stand grinning, as close to us as dug graves. They wait in the shadows of Cordelia’s pen, their baseball caps pulled low. Another boy stands a little off to the side. He is smaller,