“I could care less about your health. It reflects badly on me.”

He dropped the cigarette and crushed it out. “I don’t know how you do it, Vic.”

“Do what?”

“Handle all the attention. Smile for all the photographers. Act like you’re listening when you’re not. I’d feel like screaming at the end of a day like this.”

“It doesn’t matter how you feel,” she said. “It only matters how you look. I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

“Victoria! There you are!”

Victoria turned; standing behind her was an old woman no more than five feet tall, with curly gray hair and a broad grin that exposed the tips of twisted yellow teeth.

“Well, hello there,” Victoria responded, smiling warmly and extending her hand.

The old woman eagerly took Victoria’s hand with both of hers, holding it with one and stroking it with the other. “I’ve been trying to see you all day, but it’s just been impossible! I waved to you in the parade but I don’t suppose you saw me. I called your name over and over again—but I guess everyone else did too. I came to the high school but you were already gone. I was at the park, of course, but there were so many people and a little soul like me—well, I just couldn’t squeeze through! I started to get all panicked—I thought, What if Victoria goes away and she never meets me? The thought was almost too much to bear!”

“Aren’t you sweet,” Victoria purred. “What’s your name, dear?”

“Agnes,” she said, “but I don’t suppose you’ll call me that.”

“I’d be proud to, Agnes.”

The old woman suddenly released Victoria’s hand and threw her arms around her waist, pulling her in close and squeezing her tight. Riddick immediately stepped forward, but Victoria looked at him and shook her head. She wrapped her arms lightly around the old woman’s shoulders and patted her on the back. A few seconds later Victoria let her arms fall to her sides, but Agnes continued to hold on.

Riddick stepped up behind her. “Ma’am.”

The old woman released Victoria and turned to him.

Riddick handed her a business card. “If you’ll write to me at this address, I’ll see that you get an autographed photo of Mrs. Braden— would you like that?”

“Oh, I have all sorts of photographs of Victoria—ones she hasn’t even seen yet.” She turned back to Victoria. “I’m sorry for being such an old fool. It’s just that—well—I never thought I’d get a chance like this. I thought I might never see you again.”

Victoria put her hand on the old woman’s shoulder. “You’re no such thing. In fact, I think meeting you has been the highlight of my visit to Endor.”