WHERE NO FLY HAS GONE BEFORE

The con actually started Thursday night, with the staff and most of the celebrities checking in. Normally, I like to show up early, too, but when I asked David if he wanted any “company” Thursday night, he said no, he wanted me come in on Friday. As I have to take off work to do these shows with him, I booked my flight to arrive at 1:00 PM on Friday and worked that Thursday. And I hoped very hard, that the con would, indeed, as promised, pick David up from the Minneapolis – St. Paul airport on Thursday.

They posted a Facebook message about mid-afternoon that David was “in da house,” so at least I could finish packing that night without worry. David told me later he had his usual pre-con dinner - a rare cheeseburger, sitting at the hotel bar that night and someone even bought him a drink. I would have liked to have been there, but I show up when I’m told to.

I got up at 4:00 AM on Friday morning so my neighbor could drive me to the airport. After determining that she did not answer her phone because one of her three cats had knocked it off the hook, we drove to the airport. John stayed up all night to make sure I got off on time. He’s a night owl anyway, but I appreciated him being my second alarm clock so I didn’t miss my plane.

Security rushed me through and then had to hold up the line again because she took my bag away before I could take my laptop out of it. Not that I awake…

Then coming back, the guy in MN tells me the laptop is in a TSA approved sleeve and I don’t have to remove it from the bag. Gah! I so love to fly.

My flight was pretty much on time - we may have taken off 15 minutes late. I had a three hour layover in Charlotte, as there is apparently only that one flight to Minneapolis - a United/US Air combo. I basically slept all the way to Charlotte. It was way too early to eat anything - 7:00 AM.

We got into Charlotte about 8:30 AM. I changed Terminals and found a place along the way I liked for breakfast - the egg and cheese with veggies was the same price as the plain egg and cheese, so I had that. You can't always get vegetables on the road so if you can buy them…

I made the mistake of buying one of those “snack boxes” for lunch on my second flight – I was supposed to get turkey jerky and cheese and crackers, but they gave me a can of “mystery meat” instead - some pasty stuff that was supposed to be chicken and barbeque sauce, with wheat crackers, jelly beans and chocolate chip cookies and almonds. I didn’t order the other cheaper box; because I HAD almonds packed away in my bag. I ate the “tinned” meat and I’m still here – I gave the almond pack to David and the cookies were my dinner Friday night. But it was not what I wanted and not the more “diabetic” friendly contents the “box” advertised on the menu would have been. “We can’t control what they give us,’ she said. In other words, pot luck and you bought it, you eat it. At least she did give me a cup of ice with my hot (no decaf tea, sorry) tea, so I could have unsweetened iced tea with my meal, instead of that horrible sweet lemon-flavored canned tea. Oh, yeah, I love to fly…

I was a little late getting in and my Crypticon driver was a no show. I was supposed to be on the pick-up list - but I guess no one told whoever to come get me. It didn't matter. The hotel shuttle was sitting there when I exited the terminal. I only found out later that he only comes on the hour and had I missed the 2:00 PM trip - I would have been stuck there until 3:00 PM. I exited the terminal at 1:55 PM. Serendipity, baby!

I checked in and they gave me a very nice room on the 6th floor, so I would be across the hall from David. I was across the atrium as well, but on the same side as Tom Savini – we kept passing each other in the Hallway. It was a very nice floor, with suites. All the actors were up there, so it was very nice. And quiet. David liked that his room was right off the elevator and that our table was right off the first floor elevator, too - in Plaza 6 - the big dealer’s room. Easy in; easy out: no maze of hallways to try and remember.

Once I had claimed our table by piling my shipped boxes on it, I called David on his cell to tell him I was there. He said he'd be right over. After I let him in - he noticed right away I had two beds. He also wanted a refrigerator, but didn't get one. David is not one to complain, even when he should. He doesn't like to make waves. Next time, David tells me he wants a frig; I will go make sure he gets one.

I hugged him hello, David looked very dapper in his white shirt, black pants and dark grey sweater. It was a good look for him. I gave his envelope of money and told him he had no badge. What's this, he said, Per Diem, I told him. The con was giving him food money instead of paying for his room service. Oh, yes, he said, I remember that being part of the offer.

He then wanted to see my braces - I told him I had to take the wax out. They are still moving one of my molars. The dentist had cranked it over a few days early and it still hurt, but the pain was a lot less now, than it had been on Tuesday. Plus the puller band was abrading a new place on my upper inside, hence the wax. The springs, which were supposed to come out before the con, couldn't be removed until the molar moved. I told David it was still a mess, went in the bathroom, took out the wax and showed him my progress. It's getting there. I'm more in and more back than I've ever been. David said he owed me money for making table pictures, paid me and I put the money away.

Then he handed me his TSA sized mouthwash bottle out of his black knapsack. The cellophane was on it tighter than he could work loose. It took me a minute, but I finally got a nail under it and tore it off. I had the same brand and bottle, but mine wasn’t nearly that hard to open. He also wanted me to locate a Sprint store because he had looked everywhere and he could not find his cell phone charger. I knew I should have come in on Thursday.

We walked over to his room to get his box of pictures he had shipped - David was concerned his 14 pound box would be too heavy for me to carry down. I reminded him I grew up on a chicken (and later horse) farm and there were three girls and one boy, so when they needed another boy, I got tapped.

Plus I had worked in the University mailroom and the job description for that says you have to lift 75 pounds. I did not tell him about the 100 pound sack of oats for the horses or that I had carried my three boxes into the dealer’s room in one trip - at least 25 pounds. When you work for David, you expect to be hauling boxes of pictures around. You wouldn’t think they would be that heavy, but they are.

He gave me his box. And said he would be down at 5:00 PM. I took his box down, borrowed a cell phone charger from the con and was back knocking on David’s door in less than 10 minutes. He took the charger gladly, and promised to return it when he came down.

I went back to my room, unloaded my suitcase of my clothes, put everything (I thought) we needed, including the complimentary water bottles - into the zippered table shoulder bag and wheeled both down to get ready to sell. I took me about an hour to set up the table. John’s large table sign takes the longest, but I assembled it and stood it up.

Then I put out the books and the bobble heads and the DVDs. I sleeved the 22 pictures we had signage for and put them in order in the photo the box behind the sign. Put out the file folders David likes to give out with our pictures, so they have something to carry it home in. It’s fun to watch them then put all their other signed photos in the folder that we gave them.

I was almost done when David came down – with a charged phone and the borrowed charger. He was very happy. His phone had been almost dead. He said he wanted to call and talk to Bridget (his wife) before he went to bed and now he could. David uses his phone a lot – I wanted him to have it working. So I took the charger back from whence I had borrowed it, with thanks. Imogene, the con chair’s wife, was a life saver – she would see me coming and either put her hand out for the return of the charger or give it to me. It got to be our running joke.

She had their toddler son’s stroller behind registration – so it was Mom and Dad and Grandma and Aunt Glenda – a true Family show. Lovely people. The little guy was amazing. Sig Haig was holding him – in Full Captain Spaulding make-up – and that didn’t faze the tot one bit. I’m also sure the tyke posed with David – I’ll have to check the Crypticon Web site when they post more pictures.

I was glad I had all the signage. We had an 8 by 4 foot table but there was no way we could fit 22 pictures in sleeves out – we put out 10 photos we didn’t have signs for, instead. There was no one picture that was a standout – we sold Fly, Voyage and Bond. We would have liked the fans to bring us more of their own items to sign, but they seemed happy to buy our pictures. We sold a lot of pictures and some books and some DVDs. I enjoyed signing my books.

David sat down to sign, announcing that he had visited the hotel convenience store, showed me the bag and now he was all set for breakfast. He knows what he wants.

One of the first things he was given to sign was the new Voyage book: Seaview by Alpha Control Press. Several fans brought him that book. David was really pleased with how complete the book was. I reminded him that he was the one who agreed to write the foreword and to be interviewed for it. It’s always fun to work with David on a book and even better if he likes the end result.

David asked for a program book, so he knew where and when he needed to be. I went and got him one, when I returned the charger. David was on the cover, but they had used the wrong Fly monster in the drawing. First thing David said was, “That’s not my Fly, that’s Brett.” He knows.

Someone else handed us a picture from Return of the Fly and David said (again) – that’s not my movie. I gave that guy a photo from David’s film to have signed. We had several. The Blue montage shot is a favorite and our new (colorized) web shot was also popular. We have an outtake montage and two other behind the scenes shots David will have available at NEC and Son of Monsterpalooza. The con brought us water almost immediately – which is the sign of a good con. I never needed the hotel room water I brought down. David handed me his bottle. Some of the bottles can be hard to open, but these were fairly easy, at least for me, to twist open for him. We checked the program a couple of times. We found out we were in the main dealer’s room – always a plus - and that our panel would be across the hall.

The hotel set up a cash bar outside the dealer’s room Friday night. I was going to surprise David with a vodka rocks, but unfortunately the brand the guy had to serve was a vodka David won’t drink. As I told the bartender- ‘he will kill me if I bring him that!’ So David had to settle for hot tea. I thankfully found one (leftover) Lipton tea bag in my stash – the hotel only had Tazo or Wolfgang Puck available, but I made it the way David likes it and he was happy.

About 8:00 PM, Nick, the con chair, brought the KSTP (local ABC) reporter over to David for a video interview. That’s when I realized I had forgotten the throat lozenges up in the room. So I excused myself, told David I’d go up the room and make his tea, while he had his interview. Between the camera man and the reporter, there wasn’t any room left for me behind the table. Plus, David knows what he wants to say and doesn’t like an audience or to be interrupted, so I left him to it.

When I came back ten minutes later, with tea for the both of us, David was done with the TV crew. He informed me he had sold a Fly book. He had also gone raspy; talking a lot tends to do that, so I gave him a throat drop and the hot tea. Then I offered him anything he wanted from my table bag to have with his tea. David likes something with his tea. I had brought him soft oatmeal cookies. David went after those, plus the chewy granola bars and the uncoated almonds. I know we‘d be working through dinner, so I had packed for that.
David was like, “You brought all this from West Palm Beach?”

He gets hungry in the evening. I knew we would be stuck at the table, so I packed food. It was good to see him eat. David isn’t exactly a picky eater, but he likes what he likes and I, through trial and error, have learned what to pack for him. I let him raid my food stash once more before he left for the night so he’d have something more than whatever he had purchased – probably one granola bar - for breakfast, since he doesn’t eat lunch on con Saturdays, either. He told me (again) he will eat “oatmeal anything” and he certainly did.

We had a nice evening together – chatting over our tea and selling pictures and books. I had the Wolfgang Puck Earl Grey from the room, not my favorite, but I had forgotten to bring my zip bag of decaf tea bags, so I had to make do with whatever was there at the hotel. David likes it better if I have a cup with him. I gave him all the creamer from my room as well. I drink mine black, no sugar. He likes sugar and milk in his.

He was really pleased with the new Voyage book. David remains very popular from Voyage and is often surprised how much they remember him from that show. I told him (again) that he played Lee very well, a caring, heroic Captain. He never expected the show to take off like it did. I told him Cpatain are popular and that he had gotten a break without realizing it, when Gardner McKay had left his series Adventures in Paradise at the end of the previous season and that show went off the air. And how all McKay’s fans were looking for a ”new” sexy Captain to lust after, when Voyage came on.

David laughed and said Gardner had written him then and told him he would do well. He said he misses Gardner very much, of all the friends he made when he came in Hollywood in the late 1950’s.

I had previously sent David some pictures of the new car I had leased. He was really happy it was a Prius, like his. I had teased him when I sent the pictures that the Prius was his fault, since he had driven me around LA (twice) in his. I bought the Toyota more because I commute 62 miles round trip every day to work and the new lease has been getting 56 MPG, where my 2006 Dodge was getting 26 MPG. The fact David loves his Prius and has talked to me about several times was a factor. It is a fun car to drive to work and looks great. Mine is white, with sparkling metalized paint.

I asked David since it was almost October if he was heading out to New York City to see his daughter, Serena. Or was he going to wait until November and see her on his way to or back from Memorabilia in November?

He said, no, Serena was coming to LA to see him for a change, since apparently Alexandra has another photo exhibit going up in November. It opens November 3 in Beverly Hills, at Diane Rosenstein Fine Art and is about Malibu. The exhibition is called Everybody Knows this is Nowhere.

I would see he was happy about having his family together. He did express a slight regret that his unmarried career-oriented daughters, now in their 40’s, had never given him grandchildren. Didn’t matter, he stated, he was too old at 85 to be a grandfather now, anyway. I will never have any grandchildren, either. In my case, there were genetic reasons why not. It happens. I don’t regret that I am childless, by choice.

I teased him a bit when I asked him if Alexandra was making good money – I know what she gets for one of her photos. David smiled and said, oh, yes, she was doing very well and was in demand in Germany and Dubai and Singapore. They like to put her photos up in office buildings and pay quite well to do that. I was happy both of his daughters were doing well and thriving in their chosen careers.

I asked after his Oscar work – if he was going to do the foreign films again. He said yes, it would be starting up again later in October. David explained to me how they are doing it now - all the screeners he receives are coded with his name and ID. He enjoys voting for the movies, but it sounds like a lot of work to do it properly. All those films he has to watch and the ballots and the voting. And David does it, faithfully, every year.

We also talked about my trip to the UK show. It will be my first Memorabilia@NEC and David’s fourth. We are organizing a group of David’s fans on Facebook to go see him. I told David who’s going and what we plan to bring him to sign and where we are staying. He was pleased that many (new) people wanted to come meet him. They basically want him to sign their Seaview books that they had shipped to the UK. David has a lot of Fans on Facebook; his pages have really taken off in the past year.

Speaking of Facebook, this con was the first time someone actually came to the table and told they had seen the con on Facebook and decided to come based on that. He came with a list of the pictures I sell printed out and we were able to provide him with all the pictures he wanted. He chose several, having driven four hours to come see David. We had a several people tell us they had come only to the con to meet David. That always happens, but it’s nice to hear that. We had a lot of Voyage fans. More than I expected to show up at a Horror con.

There were a couple of guys from the Ian Fleming Foundation, who I think had a table, but they came by several times to talk to and take pictures of Felix Leiter. They were fun.

We did very well, so I told David to go on up and I would tear down the table. He commended me for working very hard and said he would take me out to dinner on Saturday night because of all that work. I kissed him good-night, and asked if he wanted me to call and wake him up. He said, no, it was a late start and he could get himself up. He wanted me to knock on door right before our 11:30 panel and bring him down and then we would open the table after the panel.

So I packed most everything in boxes that I put under the table, took the pictures upstairs for safe-keeping and that was Friday Night. I watched the KSTP 11 o clock news… no David. So I went to bed. I took off the heavy quilted cover, shoved it in the closet and told the maid to leave it there for the rest of my stay. I called for a wake-up call and found out the hotel was serving breakfast, so my Saturday was set. It had been a good first day.

Saturday I got up and had the breakfast buffet. I apparently came at a bad time. There was nothing but chocolate milk out for the oatmeal, so I had that. I was in a hurry, but I did enjoy the specialty eggs that had roasted grape tomatoes and peppers mixed in.

I did a bit of a walkabout – found the bar – found the place to print my boarding passes – made note of the restaurant hours – checked the menus to make sure they had something David would eat.

Went back to the room – left my note and a tip for the maid and brought everything back down, and made sure the panel sign was up, sent everyone who was circling the table waiting for David, over to Plaza 3 for the program. Then I collected the cell phone charger and brought that up to David.

I knocked on his door to give it to him and he said he was almost ready. I sat down in front of the elevators and waited for him.

We went down in the elevator. I stopped at registration to get a bottle of water for David for his panel. He does better when he has one. The con was really good about having bottles of water, with all the talking David does; I try to keep him supplied.

The panel room was nearly full when we both arrived. I stopped when I saw there were no steps up to the stage. I was going to help David, but he gathered himself and hopped up onto the stage. There was a moment when he was swaying and I thought he would not regain his balance, but he did. So I climbed up there after him. He got settled into his chair. I opened his water, handed it to him, climbed onto my bar stool chair and we got started.

I told them who I was, and I introduced David. There was no moderator but there was a con staffer in the back videotaping the panel. We asked for questions and there were none. That was a first.

David leaned back and said, okay, I will talk then. And he told them stories about making the Fly in 1958 – good stories. He told them the story about the Fan who though Al Hedison was a different actor. We talked about working on the Seaview book. I talked about David helping me write the Fly book and how much I enjoy David’s stories and how good he is at telling them. And when I get home, I write them down so I remember them.

We asked the audience again, if they had any questions and we got a few. One guy asked David what his favorite TV shows were – David said Homeland and Breaking Bad. I asked David to tell the audience about presenting at the Saturn Awards in 2010 and how he got to sit with the (nominated) stars and producers of Breaking Bad.

David laughed and said it really made his night; he was a huge fan of their show, so they talked about that the entire ceremony. David was there to present the Best Movie award and when it was his turn – instead of the actual winner – he told them the winner was The Fly (1958) and cracked up the entire room. He really had a good time that night.

Someone asked if he regretted turning any parts down. Not really, David would have liked to – in hindsight – signed up for The Brady Bunch or The Love Boat when they were offered, but he didn’t and both shows went on to very long runs. He doesn’t regret saying no to the parts, they weren’t that good, what he regrets is the money he would have made, had he said yes. The Love Boat in particular causes the audience to groan quite loudly when he says that.

Despite my warning them, no one had any more questions, so we ended the panel.

I told David to stay put, got down off the stage and then told him to come down using my shoulder. All we needed was his bad leg to give out as he came down. He wanted the cap to his water, so I handed it to him. I stood very still, so he could press down and get himself off the stage. Which he did. Stairs would have been better, but we managed.

We both went across the hall to open our table. We did well on Saturday – I ran out of folders to give out, so I know we sold a lot of pictures. Several people followed us back from the panel and bought pictures and books and talked to David.

Dori Martin couldn’t quite believe that I had known David for 30 years. I told her I still had a copy of the fan letter I wrote to David in 1982 and the reply he sent me back. Doesn’t seem that long ago, but it was. It’s been fun. I have thoroughly enjoyed following David’s career for all those years, all the guest appearances on the prime time series and the two soap operas and the Bond films.

I was going to make tea, but David didn’t want Tazo or Puck, which was all I had. I finally talked him into a bottle of lemonade – since it was Minute Maid. And he’s like – did you pay for that? I said yes, and he was not to worry about it. I was selling books. I could afford to buy David a bottle of lemonade.

I set down the empty coffee cup and poured the lemonade – a cup is easier to handle than a slippery 20 oz. bottle and David hands me back the almond pack to open. He had gotten the previous ones open, so I’m a little confused. I show him he has to find the joint on the back and rip it open there. David looks at me - in disgust. “I already tried that!”

Turns out I can’t get that almond package open, either, no matter what I do! So I apologized for giving him a defective pack, dug into the bag and found one I could get open for him. I’m going to bring him the other brand next time – the ones I gave him from the Airplane Friday night that he did get open. When I refilled David’s lemonade cup, I presented the bottle like it was red wine and I was a sommelier. David gave me a big grin and said, oh yes, he’d have some more.

He took a break mid-afternoon and of course, two guys immediately showed up who wanted pictures. I invited the first to sit in David’s chair and wait. Alan had bought from me on-line – not sure he would be able to make the show, but here he was. He looked at the other guy waiting and said, 'Don’t you drive a bus?' And the other guy, said. Yes, don’t you drive out the 94th street station?” and they were off and talking ‘shop’ or in this case ‘bus’ until David returned – with the borrowed cell phone charger!

I then asked David if he wanted me to print out his boarding passes since it was now late enough on Saturday to do so. He said no, he had asked Bridget to fax it to him. So I offered to go get his fax for him. I was glad I did, because the hotel knew they had gotten one but they couldn’t remember, at first, where they had stashed it. I waited (patiently) until they located it and then brought it to David. I did not tell him what I had to go through to get it. He folded everything inside up neatly and stowed the passes in his black knapsack and very happily gave me, without my asking - the large white envelope with his room number written on it as a reward for service rendered.

We made dinner plans. The bar had the same menu as the restaurant and there was a ticketed event in the restaurant that we were not part of – so the restaurant was out and the TGIF Fridays – on the grounds – would be way too loud (sports bar) and overwhelm David’s hearing aids.

David wanted a quiet place where we could sit down and talk. He said his hearing aid work great in a room one on one - he can hear the other person perfectly. But he hates the “din” they bring in in crowded places. He hears everything but the person he wants to talk to, who is right next to him. This was happening in the dealer’s room with me. And he wanted to hear me at dinner.

More folks came by and bought photos and had their pictures taken. We stayed busy. Another thing they brought in for David to sign were the Irwin Allen Series Trading cards. They came out in 2004 and I had not seen any in quite some time. He got several. What I found interesting was that David could write so small on them with his big magic marker. He likes the big marker, but to write that finely with one of those takes precision and a very light touch. I can’t do it.

I took some pictures for the web site and had David sign some items for Sunday, since he was leaving for the airport before the con opened. Then I sent him upstairs ahead of me to get ready for dinner, call his wife, whatever he wanted to do.

When David picked me up for dinner Sat. Night; he saw I had the frig installed under the coffee maker table and he said ‘how do you always get that... I sat him down on the bed; I sat on the other bed across from him and told him exactly what I do to get mine, so he can get one next time.

Basically, he has to join the hotel loyalty program and fill out his preferences so when he checks in, the computer will know he what he wants - I always do high floor (less noise), away from the elevator (less noise) and I get my refrigerator.

Actually, I found that frig outside my door a few hours after I checked in - so I dragged it into the room and hooked it up. No one ever knocked on my door, looking for it, so I guess it was mine. And next time, I will get David a refrigerator. I used mine. I told him he could put his juice in it and he told me he did not want to come across the hall in his underwear to get it. I told he did not have to do that, he could call me, I would deliver it to his door and that I didn't care if he came to the door in his underwear! He laughed and said no, he'd manage with ice and putting it in the window over the AC. That would have worked, if it had been 64 degrees like it was supposed to be - but it was 89 on Saturday. I think it was a heat record. Then it was 64 degrees in the window on Monday morning, but David left on Sunday. Oh, well.

He was also pleased I had put on a clean shirt to go to dinner with a jacket. He told me I didn’t have “to dress” for dinner, but I wanted to look nice for him. After all, he was taking me out.

I unbuttoned the jacket to show it was one of those too tight shirts that are in style now – that he didn’t like, but I buy mine two sizes too large, so I don’t hang out the bottom like the young girls do. David hates that look. That and all the piercings and the tattoos and everything else they mark themselves with.

I told him to go with it, like love beads and long hair and the bell bottoms of my generation, this, too, would pass. There were a lot of folks walking around drenched in blood, with open wounds and in costume. I don’t think David was aware how much cosplay has become part of the current con experience. He saw it firsthand in Minnesota.

Crypticon was your one stop shop – you could have make-up applied or get a tat – right at the show and they did good business. We even had a couple of grim reapers on stilts. You don’t argue with a 9 foot cosplayer – you let HIM have the right of way.

David was ready to eat, so we went downstairs, found a nice quiet table in the back of the bar and David decided where he wanted to sit and where he wanted me. If we are going to talk, I sit across from him, he hears me better.

Turns out the wait staff was serving both places, so we had revolving waitresses, but David made it a point to know both of their names. He knew which red wine he wanted, from Thursday night and bought me unsweetened ice tea. After some discussion of the menu, we decided on different appetizers.

David’s crab cake was better than my crab stuffed eggs, but David had some of my eggs anyway.

He wanted his salmon rarer than they cooked it for him, but he folded it into the local wild rice and ate it. He would have bought me dessert but they didn’t offer any. It was a good meal; we talked about all kinds of things. He is really good company and had some of my pasta and cheese and chicken,

Even though it wasn’t as al dente as he likes. He told me to eat my olives, even if I didn’t like them. They have this (after) taste that I don’t like.

He told me his new goal is to live to be 93. I told him it was a good goal and I would help. He offered a toast with his Porter’s red wine and I matched it with my 2nd iced tea. David is still very sharp mentally, I cannot believe the stuff he notices and what he remembers. No one believes he’s 85.

David spent two hours having dinner with me, part of that was the wait staff running back and forth, but it was very relaxing. The food was decent – for a hotel. We walked around a bit afterwards, I showed David the patio – where the car show had been – as a sunny place to sit in the morning and read his paper.

We saw Richard Kiel by the elevator. David walked over and grasped both his hands and wanted to know how he was. They see each other at Bond events every couple of years. Richard said he was well. He had returned from England – when he had participated in the “gold case’ Blu-ray disc promotion – his contribution seemed to be 40 interviews. He was a little bemused he was that popular. He and David had a good chat. David introduced me and Richard shook my hand – he has a very large hand. It totally engulfed mine

David wanted to talk to the con chair so I took him over to registration and we found Nick. David wasn’t sure he was coming down on Sunday, so I told him don’t worry, I would open at twelve and he could hang out with me, until Tom showed up to the take him to the airport. He liked that, so we went upstairs together and I kissed him good-night at his door.

I don’t know how well he slept, but I envied being able to take out his hearing aids. Between the zombie dance and the wedding – there were people yelling in the lobby until 2:00 PM and the open atrium carried the noise all the way up to the 6th floor.

Luckily, I did not have to get up until mid- morning – so I had the breakfast buffet again – I was finally able to get regular milk for the oatmeal but the raspberries kept disappearing before I could get any. I went down around 11:00 AM and reset the table for me – which meant swapping out David’s large sign for my smaller one and setting out all my books.

David never did make it back to the dealer’s room. I went out to the lobby and said good-bye to him. Tom was prompt and loaded David up and off they went. After I took Tom’s picture with David.

David had left me all his pictures to mail home for him, so I spent about an hour getting them all back into their plastic carryalls and into David’s box. The con had kindly gone to the post office for me to replace the two flat rate boxes the post office had punched holes in getting them to the con. Thanks, Glenda!

I had a good time chatting with fans about my books Sunday afternoon. One fellow came back and bought my Scheider book, after reading my reviews on-line. He had met Roy in CA when Roy was filming SeaQuest there and I had met Roy in Long Island, so we had a good talk about our various adventures with Mr. Scheider.

I talked Fly and Voyage with other fans and told some of my con adventures to the dealer across from me. The afternoon went quickly and I spent the last hour packing up my boxes and taking everything
out and up to the room. Then I printed my boarding passes.

Right before the con ended a bunch of us posed with Richard Kiel. He was a real good sport about it, mashing anyone’s head – who wanted it- between his large hands. Richard was very popular, as were Sid Haig and Tom Savini – they got into the “cosplay” aspect of the con and where in Makeup and hosting events. Tom even went to the movies with some of the staff, before he flew out.

I wanted to pick up dinner before dark, so I walked to the Subway sandwich shop up on the Highway and purchased that, then I packed the boxes to ship home and lastly I packed my suitcase. The hotel was much quieter Sunday night.

Monday, I got up, had breakfast and came down early as not to miss the shuttle. Don was taking Richard Kiel and his wife to the airport so he let me go with him. Don and Richard and Diane were fun, and we had a great ride out to the airport. They were worried about making me late for my flight, but I got there in plenty of time. The security line was long, but it went quickly, I flew home first class (miles) and that was helpful, as both my flights were full. We had a bit of weather issue in Charlotte and ended up coming in late. My Neighbor’s cell phone had died, but John had left me a message on my (working cell phone – so I finally got home around 9:30 PM. My seat was too low on the first leg (30 year old plane)  and the person next to me had bronchitis on the second leg – of a packed flight – they were turning folks away at the gate. I was very glad I was not paying for first class. Did I tell you how much I love to fly?

It was a really great weekend with David and I look forward to seeing him again in the UK over Thanksgiving weekend.

Diane Kachmar
10/31/12