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And as they walked out of the shop again, Dooley excitedly said to his friend,“This Madame Solange is amazing, Max. Maybe we should go and pay her a visit. She seems to make everyone’s wishes come true!”

“Yeah, she does seem to be some kind of wonder woman,” said Max, though he seemed a smidgen less excited than his comrade.

“You don’t have a secret wish you would like to see fulfilled, Max?” asked Norm.

“Oh, sure. Lots of wishes. But I’m of the principle that when something looks too good to be true, it generally is. And this Madame Solange looks like such a miracle worker I’m starting to think there’s something not completely on the up and up.”

“That’s because you’re a cynic, Max,” said Dooley. “And being a cynic is not good for you, you know. You should be open to what life has to offer, and not look a gift cow in the mouth.”

“I think the animal you’re referring to is a horse, Dooley,” said Max.

Dooley thought about this for a moment, then said,“No, definitely a cow, Max.”

“I do think maybe we should pay a visit to this Madame Solange,” said Max, “but not to ask her to make our wishes come true but to see what’s going on. Her name keeps popping up, and I would like to know why.”

“Because she’s a miracle worker, Max,” said Dooley. “Just like you said. And miracle workers should be cherished, not looked upon with suspicion.”

“All right, Dooley,” said Max. “I promise I’ll go in with an open mind, all right?”

“An open mind and an open heart, Max.”

“Fine. An open mind and an open heart.”

“And let’s not forget to keep an open stomach, too,” said Norm, who liked to have his priorities straight at all times.

And so it was decided: they’d pay a visit to the fair and learn about the wonders Madame Solange could work for two cats and a fly. At the very least there would be some nice elephant dung to be sampled.

Chapter 29

Marge woke up feeling nauseous and wondering where she was. The room was small but cozily furnished, the couch she was lying on soft and comfortable, but one thing was for sure: she wasn’t home. Then she heard a noise and made to get up, only to sink back down again, a dizzy spell forcing her to take it easy.

Finally, when the dizziness subsided, she slowly got into an upright position and glanced out through the window and saw that she was still at the fair: people were walking around outside, and she now figured she’d probably fainted for some reason and some nice folks had put her here to recover.

So where was her daughter? Probably gone to get some professional help, she figured, and so she got to her feet.

And she was just testing her ability to stand upright without toppling over when a dark-haired woman entered the small space and gave her a radiant smile. She closely resembled Madame Solange, only a little older, her face more weathered than Solange’s.

“I see you’ve regained consciousness?” said the woman in a silky voice that sounded very pleasant to Marge’s ears.

“What happened?”

“Oh, you passed out,” said the woman. “So they brought you here.”

“Where is my daughter?”

“She’ll be here soon,” the woman assured her, and invited her to take a seat again, “before you hurt yourself falling down.”

“Thank you so much for this,” said Marge, taking a seat as indicated.

“Oh, nonsense,” said the woman. “I’m here to help, Marge. So where is your husband? Didn’t he join you today?”

Marge wondered how this woman knew she had a husband, but then figured Solange must have told her.“He’s at work,” she said. “Tex is a doctor,” she added for good measure.

“That’s nice,” said the woman vaguely, and added, “Now let me take a closer look at you, dear. Yes, just look into my eyes for a moment. That’s it. There we go…”

Marge didn’t know why, but as she gazed into the woman’s dark green eyes, she suddenly started feeling very hot indeed, and then before she knew what was happening, she was tumbling down into that same abyss she’d just woken up from. Tumbling and tumbling and tumbling…

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“Have you seen my mom?” Odelia asked the guard standing outside Madame Solange’s trailer. “She was right there just now, and now she’s gone.”

“I’m sorry,” said the guy, a little gruffly.

“But… did she go off somewhere?”

The bulky man shrugged, and it was obvious he either didn’t know or didn’t care.

So Odelia decided her mom must have gotten bored waiting for her daughter to return, and must have walked off somewhere to look at some of the other stalls—and there certainly were many of them—dozens or maybe even hundreds—and all of them well-frequented by Hampton Covians having come out in droves for this festive occasion.

Especially kids seemed to be having a ball with the shooting galleries, and the bumper cars and the merry-go-round or even the big Ferris wheel.

So Odelia wandered around a little aimlessly, hoping to bump into her mom again, but when she didn’t, took out her phone and tried her mom’s cell instead. There was no response, and after a moment Mom’s voice invited her to leave a message after the beep.