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The door opens wider and the tear streaked face of the young girl appears before them. “Oh, no, Sophie!” cries out Clare when seeing her there. “What’s wrong, what’s the matter?” And the three of them quickly enter the living room and close the door behind them. “What’s wrong, dear?”

“They took them. They came to the house last night and just took them away,” she blurts out.

“What do you mean, girl, what did they take away?” Clare asks her. Sophie seems to be very upset and almost hysterical by this point in time.

“My parents, they took away my parents!”

“Who took them?” asks Clare.

“The security forces. They started asking my dad all sort of questions and then they just took him and my mom. I don’t know what happened to them. I don’t know if they’re coming back,” says Sophie and then she breaks down.

Clare moves closer to comfort her and Sophie wraps her arms around the older woman and continues crying. “Don’t cry, dear, it’s going to be okay. They’re probably not going to do anything to your parents.”

“But they know my dad trades things. What if they don’t like that and they do something bad to them?”

“The security forces know about traders and it’s mostly okay with them. They just have some rules that have to be followed,” she says. Clare motions to James to take Jenny and sit down on two chairs near the couch. She moves slowly, holding onto Sophie, and then both sit down near them. Stroking Sophie’s hair, Clare holds the young girl close and attempts to calm her. “Would you like for us to stay with you until your parents get back?” she then asks.

Stopping her crying for a moment, Sophie looks up and says, “Would you?” ‘Of course, we will,’ is everyone’s answer. Sitting still for a few minutes longer, she regains her composure and soon jumps up to be the good host. “Can I get you something to eat? We have some crackers and a piece of fruit.”

“Sure,” answers James. “I’m a little hungry.”

“Can I help?” Jenny asks and follows Sophie into the kitchen.

“What do you think they want with the Brannans?” James asks his mother after the girls have left the room. “Do you think they’re in trouble?”

“I don’t know if they are or not, honey. There is a chance that they could be, I guess,” says Clare.

The two girls reenter the room, each carrying a plate of food. Jenny sets hers down on the table and then runs back to the kitchen to retrieve the glasses that Sophie had set out. “We have drinking water,” she had told her new friend.