title: Just Yesterday in North Carolina: People and Places
author:  Bruce Roberts 
description: Bruce Roberts, a former director of photography and senior photographer for Southern Living magazine, began his photojournalism career at The Tampa Tribune. Bruce's photographs have appeared in Sports Illustrated, Time, Life, and Time Life Books. Bruce has won numerous international, national, and state awards, and some of his photographs are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Bruce and his wife, Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, coauthored the best-selling Lighthouse Families. Bruce and Cheryl live in Morehead City, North Carolina.
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  [Contents](0671877038_toc.htm)
  
  # Chapter 13
  
  ## SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9TH
  
  Agonostis knew about malls. Malls were Sin Central. People met there for
  assignations, and lied and cheated and stole and lusted in malls. He didn't
  know who had come up with the idea for them, but he was sure it was one of
  Hell's own.
  
  With the pockets of his hellish puce polyester leisure suit stuffed full of
  cash, he materialized out in the parking lot of one of Charlotte's larger,
  newer malls at ten A.M. on Saturday morning, just as the doors opened to the
  public. He'd spent the night working, but that was of no consequence to him.
  While he needed to eat to maintain his body's health, so far it seemed that he
  didn't actually need to sleep.
  
  He was alert, he was in good spirits, and he was confident that before the day
  was out, he and the rest of his crew would hold the state of North Carolina
  firmly by the testicles.
  
  He waddled into the mall, and immedi