Who is My Catholic Friend from Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith and what is their importance?

A young girl who is never named but is simply called "my friend." The two girls picked blackberries together and Anne sometimes goes to church with them. She says the two girls peeled apples once at her friend's house and her father, returning late from a party, came into the girl's room and beat her for not throwing away the apple peels. The next day, the father was cheerful and nothing was said about it.