Even though Mickey doesn’t fully tell the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin until late in the novel, its meaning permeates the entire book. She explicitly states that she sees the story as the perfect symbol for the plight of Kensington’s youth. In the fable, the Piper spirits away all the children of the village as an act of revenge after the townsfolk refuse to pay him for solving their rodent problem. In the story, the blame clearly falls on the shortsighted villagers who are pennywise but pound foolish.

Similarly, the families of Kensington bear the responsibility for instilling damaging values in their children that will never allow the younger generation to rise above the philosophy of “Life is hard.” The police also bear responsibility for the problem by turning a blind eye to drug addicts. Even those officers who aren’t corrupt tend to see Kensington as a problem area with no solution. Worse still are those who take advantage of Kensington’s vulnerability for their own ends. The Ahearns of the world abuse their power and do nothing to stop the predatory behavior of their own officers.

These forces combine to create a dire set of conditions that lead to an understandable sense of despair among the young.