It couldn't possibly be true! But there it was in the Kettering-Oakwood Times, Darth Vader was coming to Rike's Department Store! Right down the street from where I lived! Why was the Dark Lord of the Sith coming to Kettering, Ohio during a Back-To-School sale? My mom drove me and my little brother to the store an hour early before Lord Vader was to make his appearance. There was already a line outside the door! I should mention it was August in 1977? The entire nation had STAR WARS fever and we had ourselves a little epidemic here in the parking lot of Rike's. There were 2 home-made Jawa costumes in line. I was jealous. We waited and waited. What was Darth Vader going to do when he got here? At least we all knew he survived the attack on the Death Star. Then the Imperial March started playing over the store's P.A. system and two schlubby guys with wide ties and Rike's name-tags brought Darth Vader out to a podium.
"Do not speak to Darth Vader. It will only make him angry and everyone knows we don't want to make Darth Vader angry! So please, do not ask him any questions or we will be FORCED to ask you to move along without getting an autograph!"
I wasn't going to leave without that autograph.
This was no time to be a hero.
I figured Luke and Han and Leia would take of this guy in the sequel.
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