"Those guys?" Barbara lets her guarded fondness show on her face. "They miss having someone around they can play pony with, that's all. I help fund their daycare system," she said, as if it was a throwaway detail. "My parents used to do something like that when they were around. I guess I got too used to helping out with kids, it only made sense when I came back here."

It was one way to hold on to her parents after they'd left, but it wasn't a sole responsibility for her. Barbara's honest temperament was too mercurial to really bear with it all in unceasing good humor. The anger was too much sometimes. It was usually about then that she found ways out, or got in touch with her Capitol 'friends.'

Soon she had one of the kids on her hip, reaching down for a napkin in a futile attempt to clean a smudge of grease from the little boy's chin. "How about you all? Are you liking your new friend Harley?"

A chorus of giggles and timid yes's meet Barbara's question, a few looking back toward the Peacekeepers visible inside the church and ducking their heads down. They were supposed to be on their best behavior. Tonight, they were supposed to like everybody, but often as not, they could afford to be genuine in that emotion.