Goff's job--one shared by thousands of other parents--was to ferry her 12-year-old daughter and two friends to see the young actress who plays the Lilly they love on the Disney Channel series.
Goff, of Stafford County, got the car going, but faced another delay--stalled traffic approaching the mall from every direction.
Things didn't get any better when they had to circle the parking lot, again and again, looking for a space.
Did they know the Budweiser Clydesdales were on one edge of the mall, that the new Harry Potter movie was playing at the Muvico theaters behind it, and Santa was holding forth as well in the center concourse?
Had things gone the way they wanted, before that bad battery and other delays, they might have gotten to the mall by 11 or 12 and been in better shape.
As it was, getting there late put them in a line that wound its way from nearly one end of the mall to the other, with its tail stringing back out to the center concourse where St. Nick was holding forth.
"It's OK, we're going over to see her anyway," said young Madison as she and her young friends went to stand before a stage where people were snapping pictures with their cell phones. "She's really cool and we at least get to see her."
Though those three youngsters didn't get there in time to get photos snapped, mall officials estimated that close to 3,000 parents, daughters and the odd brother or two showed up for the event. For two hours, young girls got their pictures snapped with Osment, the younger sister of Academy Award-nominated actor Haley Joel Osment.
The event was sponsored by radio stations WFLS 93.3 and 99.3 The Vibe, which are owned and operated by The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co.
Ed Brennan of Wind Up Records, which just released Osment's album, "Fight of Flight," said he thought the Fredericksburg turnout was one of the largest the young star has generated anywhere.
