“Constantly,” said Polly.

“Besides,” said Laura, “if I were you, I’d be more worried about the fact that it’s twenty to one and SnaggleBuggle himself is a no-show.”

“He’ll be here, he’s a professional,” said Nina, unlocking the bottom of the door and preparing to open it. “Stand back.”

The kids flowed in like a mighty river and arranged themselves clumpily, in the fashion of children. Those who couldn’t fit sat on the sidewalk. Parents gave up and stood nearby looking at their phones. SnaggleBuggle showed up at 1:04 p.m., which was about thirty seconds after Nina’s blood pressure started elevating.

Lili and Clare showed up, too, which was a pleasant surprise.

“Isn’t Clare a little old for this?” asked Nina, with interest.

Lili shrugged. “She was an early adopter. You know, before SnaggleBuggle sold out and licensed his image.”

Indeed Clare had taken a position at the side of the store and was regarding SnaggleBuggle with some skepticism.

“I hope she’s not going to rabble rouse,” said Lili worriedly.

“I hope she is,” said Polly, though she had to hand it to Darren, he had them all sitting silent as church mice. The social media team, both of whom were called Sophie, were livestreaming and livestreaming the livestreaming, respectively.

“Hey, Laura,” said Lili quietly. “Could I possibly talk to you?”

“Sure.” Laura followed Lili outside.

“What’s going on with you and Bob?” asked Lili, getting right to the point.

Laura immediately felt herself going red. “Nothing. What do you mean?”

“Bob came over the other night for dinner and basically spent the whole time talking about you.”

“What? He’s sleeping with your sister, isn’t he?” Laura gasped and put her hand up to her mouth. “I’m sorry, that popped out.”

Lili was staring at her. “What?”

Laura was embarrassed, and started making babbling noises of an indeterminate nature. “Well, I mean . . . not that . . . it’s . . . I’m sure . . .”

Lili was firm. “No, really, what did you say?”

Laura was bright red. “That Bob was sleeping with your sister.” She saw Lili’s face change and took a big step back.

Lili said, “That’s totally untrue, Rachel’s happily married.”

“Clare told me.” As she said it, Laura realized how daft it sounded.

“Clare? What did she say, exactly?” asked Lili, still a little ticked at the slight to her sister.

“She said Rachel said she had an open marriage. That she hugged Bob.” She was flamingly hot and embarrassed. “At the time . . .”

Lili burst out laughing, loud enough that SnaggleBuggle paused in his rendition of “Sna-gaggle Bu-google,” and one of the Sophies caught it on her phone and for two hours #crazymomlaugh trended on Twitter.

“Sorry,” said Lili to the store at large, then dragged Laura a little way down the street.