This entire speech had meant nothing to Laura, but she was happy to pitch in, and showed up early on the day in question, as calm and mellow as Nina was frantic and stressed-out.

“We’re not serving juice,” said Nina. “We had the carpet cleaned last month, and they’re going to be overexcited enough as it is.” She was slowly looking around the bookstore, evaluating the beanbags and chairs Laura and Polly had put out. They’d pushed back all the freestanding bookcases as far as they could, but Nina was still worried there wouldn’t be enough room.

She sighed and checked the time on her phone. “Well, there’s nothing more we can do unless we start demolishing walls, so let’s go take a quick break and drink some coffee. We’ll need our wits about us.”

Laura frowned. “Isn’t it only a kids’ book?”

Polly and Nina laughed, and Polly shook her head. “You’ll see,” she said. Then she turned to Nina, and added, “No more coffee for you, madam.”

SnaggleBuggle had started life as a semi-joking online spoof of a very successful children’s book about a beleaguered bunny. SnaggleBuggle was every bit as uncute as the bunny had been cute, and for some reason his antihero nature amused parents looking to subvert parenting norms. He’d spawned an actual soft toy, a TV show, a stage show (SnaggleBuggleBoogie, try not to imagine it), and, of course, a series of picture books, chapter books, and now graphic novels. The small children of America united as one, not to ask for world peace or food for the hungry, but for access to SnaggleBuggle merch.

The news that SnaggleBuggle and his human helper, Darren, were going to be appearing at Knight’s had spread like wildfire. Darren had literally created SB in half an hour while extremely high and was seizing the opportunity and riding the horse till it threw him off. He’d hired a crack social media team comprising two fifteen-year-old girls whose energy and technical dexterity could probably have brought peace to the Middle East, had their interests lain in that direction. When Nina, Polly, and Laura finally came out to open the doors, they were horrified to see approximately three hundred children pressed up against them, leaving smeary handprints and breath clouds.

“There’s a Star Trek episode, original series,” whispered Nina, “where a planet is so overpopulated that when they pull back the curtains, everyone is all pressed up against the window. That image haunts my dreams to this day and now it’s come true.” She added, “It’s called ‘The Mark of Gideon,’ and it wasn’t a great episode apart from that one shot, just saying.”

Laura looked at the doors. True, there was a pretty solid crowd of kids out there, but it was not apocalyptic.

She said, “You have a tendency to be overdramatic, did anyone ever tell you that?”

“No,” said Nina.