When she took the mic she looked out over the group. She held up her right hand which was a hook. “I want you to all see something. I have one of the nicest right hooks in the country.” Everyone laughed. “But there are two people here who have both right and left hooks, one is one of the most handsome young men in the world, the other is one of the prettiest young women I know. Welcome Jan Jorge and Judd Sanders.” She pointed to the side of the RV and they came around from the back. The cheering lasted for over a minute. The mall had set up two mics on stands for them. Holding them would have been difficult.

Jan looked around the crowd as they cheered. She suddenly realized that they had come to see her and she really didn’t know what to say to them. Then it hit her. Her grandfather had told her of Eddie Cantor who would always come out and start by thanking the audience for coming to see him. When the cheering stopped she said, “A wise entertainer named Eddie Cantor always opened by telling his audience, ‘Thank you’. I want to thank all of you for coming. If you were not here there would be no reason for me to be here. You are important.” She looked over at Judd. He was looking at the crowd, almost with a the “deer in the headlights” look. “Judd, are you going to say anything?”

Judd looked around for a minute. “I was thinking, ‘what can I say to be worthy of the time these wonderful people have taken to come to see us’? And I just realized there is something I need to tell them. I am standing next to a person who a year ago I would have said was very pretty and a talented actress. Over the last months I have learned that she is also a very strong person, with great inner strength. There were days after the accident that I wanted to die. She gave me a reason to go on.” He reached out with one hook and took one of hers and held it. “Today I have seen one more facet of her, she is caring and intelligent. I am awed to stand in front of this group and next to this beautiful woman.” There was another round of cheering. “I am going to give you all here the honor of being witness to something.” There was near silence. “A week ago I decided to do something but there were some concerns I had no idea how to address. I talked to several people and finally came up with a solution. If all of you out there will indulge me for a minute I want to give something to Jan.”