She writes, Packer's End. You didn't go by yourself through Packer's End if you could help it, not after tea-time, anyway" (Lively 179-180). Later she continues, "When they were small, six and seven and eight, they'd been scared stiff of Packer's End" (Lively 180). Clearly, the center of the story is this area that is supposedly haunted by German soldiers, and this creates suspense and tension throughout the story.

Another addition to the suspense is the boy, who takes an instant dislike to the old woman. Lively writes, "She's all right. What's wrong with her, then?' He shrugged. 'I dunno. The way she talks and that'" (Lively 184). She alludes to something odd about the old woman, and as the story progresses, that becomes much clearer. She is cold-blooded and even evil, and Kerry's reaction to her is exactly what the story needed to come to its conclusion. He is...
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