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The convention closes for the day at 6 pm, and we are now
waiting for Zack Roman, Sidras boyfriend, and current writer of
Consoletations. He is driving over from Fort Worth to spend the
rest of the con with us. Well, Im not kidding myself, hes
coming over to see Sidra, and if hanging out with her parents is
in the forecast, hell suffer it. As Sidra *likes* her parents, Zack
suffers a lot. Joe closes down The Official CT table, and joins us
outside at the picnic tables. We wait. We wait. We wait some
more. We make bad jokes involving Zack and Pauls new pen
knife. I suggest I greet him by putting my hands around his neck.
We wait some more. We see Terry Moore and his party driving
off in his Mercedes. Man, some independent comics must be
paying. We talk about the irony of being in Dallas and meeting
Terry Moore. We live in Houston, and we know Terry lives in
our general area, and we only cross paths in different cities.
Well, now we know what he looks like, so if we run into him at
the grocery store, we can say "hello."
We go back to fantasizing about doing evil things to Zack. I
sorely regret not bringing my bullwhip or Texas Attitude
Adjuster with me.
We all pile into our cars and go over to the motel. No Zack.
Sidra starts making phone calls. We obtain Zacks cell phone
number. She calls. Hes lost. We guide him in. We say bad
things to him. We all pile into my car, and head off to a nearby
BBQ place. We get there, and Zack mumbles to Sidra that his
grandmother died that morning. I feel bad. Sidra feels horrible.
We stuff our faces. We head back to the motel for a Collector
Times Executive Session. We need Terry Moore interview
questions. Joe reads Strangers in Paradise, and isnt good with
questions. Sidra and I can devise questions, but have only read
an issue or two. This takes on the tone of a war room session in
the Pentagon, but we hammer out some questions, and Sidra
writes them down. That out of the way, we let Joe entertain us
with the bad science in Star Trek, The Next Generation. My
husband Paul starts to warm to the occasion, and all of a sudden
announces, "Ya know, when I used to read comics, I liked
Green Lantern and Green Arrow." Ive been married to Mr. I-
Dont-Read-Comics for 20 years, and this is the first time Ive
ever heard this. I knew he had read some comics, and hes been
known to read some of mine (but never when Im around,) but
this was a new bulletin for me. My personal ATM is sometimes
full of surprises.
Late night. Zack gets his room at the motel, and Joe heads
home. Paul, Sidra and I sleep the sleep of the dead. I wake up
late. Sidra and Zack are outside, spending time together outside
of the Vigilant Eyes of the Parentals. Paul goes down to the
motel lobby to fetch some coffee and cereal to jumpstart this old
bag into gear. I lie there and try to jumpstart. Eventually I am up
and sort of moving around, and Zack and Sidra come in. Zack
cant go to the con with us today as planned. He has to go get
fitted for a suit for his grandmothers funeral. Since Sidra has an
appointment to interview Todd Nauck at 11:30 prior to the con
opening, he takes her over to the Richardson Civic Center. Paul
and I start clearing out the motel room and packing our car.
We still make it to the Civic Center early. Sidra is still sitting
outside of the dealers room, recorder in hand, talking with
Todd. Paul and I decide to stroll elsewhere, and to ignore the
proceedings. Last thing we want to do is to joggle Sidras elbow
while she is working. We go outside and admire the other side
of the Civic Centers grounds in 90 degree heat. We fiddle
around, check the time, and decide that the dealers room must
be open by now, so we head on back inside.
The dealers room is open. The Magic The Gathering crowd
looks to be sitting in the same positions that they were last
evening, when we were leaving. That cant be possible, can it?
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