Kathy explains that being a carer is not for everyone, and even a good carer may have trouble facing the unexpected loss of a donor. This loss can be demoralizing. The job is also lonely. Carers drive up and down the country to visit hospitals. Kathy has learned to live with this, whereas many carers just seem to have given up. They cannot wait to become donors themselves. Kathy has grown used to the solitude and can sometimes become lost in herself.

One day Kathy spots a friend from Hailsham and the Cottages named Laura. She almost walks right by her but decides to stop and talk. When Kathy sees her slumped in her car, she knows that Laura is a carer and that she has lost a donor. Eventually the conversation turns to Ruth. Kathy learns that Laura also had a falling out with Ruth. After Kathy left, Laura explains, “she got worse” (124). Both of them have heard a rumor that Ruth’s first donation did not go well. Laura suggests that Kathy ask to be Ruth’s carer, but Kathy is hesitant. Before they depart, they both sense the strange feeling that “it’s all gone now” (125).