 Why is Billy so drawn to Grannie Annie?
There she stood before a frantically gesticulating desk clerk, leaning on her faded green umbrella. Pure fiddle-faddle, that's what they are. But to me she was still Grannie Annie, as old-fashioned as last year's hat, as modern as an atomic motor. Her annual income totaled into six figures, and her publishers sat back and massaged their digits, watching their earnings mount. Grannie spilled a few shreds of Martian tobacco onto a paper and deftly rolled herself a cigarette. Grannie Annie hailed a hydrocar. Grannie Annie came out from behind the box office then. Occasionally, as with the weak-willed, there is a spirit of intolerance. Grannie Annie lit a cigarette and flipped the match to the floor.
 She's an eccentric adventurer at heart, and compelling.
 She knows about the Green Flame and Billy wants to know more about them.  Her writing wows him.  She's a famous author. He's naturally drawn to that fame.  She's an eccentric adventurer at heart, and compelling.