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Part 2



William laughed at the bright innocence of the
little girl's question. "Well, as a matter of fact, I do,"
he replied. "I have two dogs named Belle and Sam.
One's a black lab and the other's a poodle."

He had never been so instantly enchanted by some-
one at any time in his life as he was now by this
tiny angel with the soft ringlets and pixie face.

She had approached the stage with such confident
aplomb that her obvious panic attack had surprised him.
Watching as she turned to look for her mother, his heart
had begun aching for her, and only the thought that it might
frighten her had kept him from jumping down off the
stage to speak with her privately.

Of course, when he'd gotten a good look at her mother,
he'd been doubly eager to jump. Small and slender,
the woman had a fantastic figure and a face that could
stop traffic, and he'd felt a jolt of envy for whoever had been
fortunate enough to marry her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one of the staff
members getting ready to shoo the little girl away from
the microphone. Holding up one hand to stop him, he
sat down on the very edge of the stage. "Did you want to
ask me anything else?"

The little girl turned again to her mother. "Do I, Mommy?"

To William's immense delight, the woman looked down
at her daughter with wide eyes and shrugged, apparently
out of ideas.

The child looked back up at him. "No, thank you," she said
politely.

Her mother stood up and was preparing to lead her back
to their seats. William wasn't ready to see them go just
yet. Before they got more than a few feet away, he spoke
up. "Do YOU have any pets?"

They both stopped and turned around. The child was
smiling, and her mother looked surprised.

"I had a fish," the little one said, "but he died."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"We had a funeral for him and buried him in the back
yard," she continued, as though there weren't 500 other
people in the room listening. "Mommy was going to flush
him down the potty but that was icky, so she didn't."

The crowd tittered with amusement.

"Really?" William prompted her, thoroughly enjoying
the conversation. "Was it a big funeral?"

"No. Just me and Mommy."

He noted the lack of 'Daddy' being mentioned. Of course,
that didn't really mean anything. Daddy might just have
been at work during the funeral services.

"Mommy says maybe I can have a kitty next year...when
I'm bigger. What?" she added, looking up at her mother,
who was tugging lightly at her hand to try and urge her to
surrender the floor to someone else.

Glancing over at the staff member he'd stifled a moment
ago, William could see that he was getting irritated with
the delay, something the child's mother must have noticed
as well.

Reluctantly, he got to his feet. "Well, I hope you get your
kitten...."

'Mommy' leaned over and said something in the girl's ear.

"Okay," she whispered, then looked back at him and
filled in the blank in his comment. "Melanie."

"Melanie," he repeated, smiling as she was pulled along
by her mother, still looking back over her shoulder at him.

He waved one hand at her, then turned to the other side of
the stage and smiled at the person waiting to use the
microphone.


******************************


Buffy sat next to her daughter, still amazed by what had
just occurred. She tried to follow what was happening on
stage, but she was reduced to simply staring up at the
man who had so easily untied Melanie's tongue.

The child had never in her life...not once...been so free
and openly chatty with anyone other than Buffy herself.

But she and this actor had somehow...the only word Buffy
could come up with for it was 'bonded'. He had been patient
and low key, avoiding the mistake that so many adults made
with shy children; trying to cajole them into joining the fun
by being overly loud and cheery, or by hinting broadly about
all the good things they were going to "miss out on" if they
didn't try a little harder.

Another round of ear ringing applause startled her out of
her silent reverie. William St. James was leaving the stage,
and was about to be replaced by another cast member of
the show.

Melanie turned and tugged on Buffy's sleeve. "Mommy. I need
to go potty," she whispered, squirming in her chair.

Wondering just how long THAT situation had been building up,
Buffy quickly grabbed her hand and led her out of the main hall
and towards the ladies room.

She was holding Melanie up to the sink to wash her hands
when she heard a suspicious growl. Meeting her daughter's
eyes in the mirror, she asked, "Was that your tummy?"

Melanie giggled and nodded. "I think it's hungry."

"I think you're right," Buffy replied, tearing off a piece of
paper toweling to dry two little hands before they could use
her skirt for the same purpose. "Why don't we see what we
can do about it."


******************************

The dealer's tables only had a few people milling around
them, and the buffet area was completely deserted.

Loud bursts of laughter emanated sporadically from the
large meeting room. Melanie had no interest in attending
the other cast member's portion of the show, so Buffy
steered her towards a table by the large picture windows,
in view of the snack bars and buffets.

Keeping one eye on her child, Buffy ordered a late lunch
for them both. She paid for the food and received her
change, then turned to go back to the table.

She nearly dropped the tray she was holding when she
saw who was standing next to the table talking with
Melanie.

******************************

Finding himself with not much to do after his appearance
on stage, William had quickly gotten bored. It would be a
while before his presence was required at the photo op or
the autograph signing, so he managed to slip away from
the people he jokingly referred to as his "handlers".

There was no one in the food service area to be concerned
with, and he stopped at a vending machine and fed change into
it. Collecting the candy bar he'd selected from the bottom
bin, he tore the wrapper off and took a bite, savoring the
chocolate.

He glanced around the room, then did a double take back
to one of the tables.

Sitting quietly, her little legs swinging freely back and
forth, was the cute charmer he'd met at the question and
answer session. Melanie.

He smiled, delighted for some reason to see her again. Un-
able to stop himself, he tossed the remainder of the candy
bar in the trash and headed towards the table where she
sat.

She was looking out the window, and he could see her
lips moving. When he got closer, he heard her counting
under her breath and realized that the window was over-
looking the freeway and she was counting cars.

Not wanting to startle her or attract any other kind of
attention to himself, he kept his voice low. "Hi, Melanie."

The little girl turned and smiled. "Hi."

Strangely, she didn't seem all that surprised to see him.





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