GDJ Episode 37: Forty-eight hours, Part One

It all starts on Tuesday. Two days ago. A lot can happen in forty-eight hours.

Tuesday morning, and I can't keep my hands from shivering. ORKWORLD arrives today from Anaheim. Sometime in the afternoon. I'm already packed and ready to go. My flight leaves on Wednesday at noon.

Books arrive today.

I leave tomorrow.

Of course, there's still the issue of carrying the books on the plane. See, they got this issue with weight. Three bags, and that's it. Each of them can only be 70 pounds. I don't know how heavy the boxes are. We have an estimated count of 17 books per case. That makes each box about 35 pounds. If I'm lucky, I can tape six boxes together and call them three pieces of luggage (each at 70 pounds).

After all, I'm going to Gen-Con. Who the hell needs clothes?

I call the Wizard's Attic at around noon. "Do we have boxes yet?"

"Not yet. Call again at three."

I call again at three. "Do we have boxes yet?"

"Not yet. He'll be in first thing in the morning."

A quiet panic begins to work its way into my heart.

"I've got a flight at noon. When's first thing in the morning?"

"Seven. The driver says he's gonna park outside when he gets here and wait for us."

All right. The books will be here in the morning. That means I'll have to get up at around six, shower up, tape up the boxes, pack the car and head down to Oakland. I'm driving from Petaluma, so that's about an hour drive (without traffic).

I don't sleep the whole night.

Next morning, at 7:00 AM, I call the Attic. "Do we have boxes yet?"

"Not yet. But a truck is coming in at ten. That -might- be your books."

Jenny and I jump in the car and drive down. We hit traffic. An hour and a half of it. We show up at the Attic at around 9:00.

No boxes.

9:30.

No boxes.

10:00

No boxes.

My flight leaves San Jose airport at noon. I have two hours to get there. It's an hour and a half drive.

No ORKWORLD for Thursday.

Driving from San Jose to Oakland, I start figuring numbers in my head. I paid $340 for the plane ticket. I paid $500 for the booth. Rich leaves LA on Thursday morning, so we'll have -some- books on Friday. Thomas also leaves on Thursday morning, so we'll have a few more.

But no books on Thursday.

We hit traffic. An hour and a half of it. I hit the airport forty minutes before the flight leaves. I hope against hope that the United strike has somehow delayed my flight so I have enough time to drive back to Oakland and wait for that truck to arrive.

There's a single elderly woman in line ahead of me. She's looking at her ticket, shaking her head. She's mumbling something I can't quite make out. I listen a little closer.

"Cancelled," she says.

I look up at the schedule. I find my flight. And I see the bright white letters that spell "CANCELLED" next to it.

You could hear me whoop all the way across the Bay.

I get to the front of the line. The (very lovely) ticket agent tells me how sorry she is that my flight's been cancelled. I take a closer look and see the ragged, red wear around her eyes. She's had to tell a lot of people some of the worst bad news you can tell someone.

Me? I'm overjoyed. "Really? Great! Can I get a flight later tonight?!"

She smiles. "Uh - yeah. Sure. How late?"

"That nine o'clock flight looks great!"

"Really?" she says. Now she's smiling. "I can't believe you're -happy-."

"I'm not happy. I'm overjoyed!" I spend a moment telling her -why- I'm so happy while the wife runs to the payphones to call The Attic. While the ticket agent books me into my new flight, Jenny runs back and tells me ORKWORLD's arrived.

Ten minutes after we left.

My knees go weak.

My book. My book at Gen-Con.

"Here you go. You're flight leaves at 9:10 PM." She hands me the ticket. "And good luck on your book!"

"Thanks!" I say and walk away. Jenny gives me a great big hug and we walk out to drive back to Oakland.

That's when something hits me. "Wait a minute," I say and pull my ticket out.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asks.

I look at my ticket and my smile is so wide, it makes my cheeks burn.

She had a lot of bad news to give. I must have made her day.

I show Jenny the ticket. "She put me in first class."

END OF PART ONE