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Nora Roberts's |
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Glen Burnie, Maryland
October 14, 2005
I was just returning from vacation on Oct. 1 and had missed the tour kickoff at TTP, so I figured the Oct. 14 Glen Burnie event would give me a rare opportunity to hear Nora chat and take fans’ questions. WRONG! LOL By the time I arrived at the store at 6:15 (this after leaving my house at 5—that’s I-95 rush-hour traffic for ya.) for a 6:30 start, there were already hundreds of people lined up in the mall. This would be no intimate chat with readers.
Once I returned (and my sister went off to rediscover Victoria’s Secret
Meanwhile, a 3- or 4-person security detail was constantly hustling us forward every time the line moved. Like we needed nudging. First time I’d been in a Nora line that required uniformed guards, though. Well, the first time without Jewells! j/k I took stock of the crowd and saw so much variety: young and old, fat and skinny, agile and not-so, singles, couples and whole families with babes in strollers!
In front of me, I could hear bits of a woman’s constant babble. Just a tireless monologue about reading and reading romance and reading mystery and Nora and J.D. Robb and on and on and on. Made me wonder when she quieted to actually turn pages. LOL All in good fun. I suppose I was witnessing the flipside of being a TTP regular. Suddenly I see how the groups of us must appear to a loner in the line. These people are insane. Yeah. So? LOL
After about an hour, I’m in the next group of five to approach Nora. I have my camera at the ready—not really interested in getting IN the photo so much as getting a Nora pic to document the occasion in a future scrapbook. Nevertheless, my sister grabs the camera from me and prods me forward when it’s my turn.
Nora takes my book from one of her helpers and begins to sign. She looks up for the photo and catches my eye. A spark of recognition. “Well, hello...good to see you here,” she says. I think I remembered to smile for the photo. I did remember to drop a bag of M&Ms into her hand. She thanked me. Everything happened so quickly—as it should, really. I asked her if she felt better. She told me she thinks she’d pulled a muscle and that it had kept her awake a few nights. She felt closer to 100 percent today, however. She looked terrific, as usual. Not tired or weary at all, as I expected from reading her travelogs. I asked her if she felt frustrated being this close to home, but not. She said she actually whimpered when she saw the exit for Frederick off the highway coming in. I reminded her that the tour was nearing its end and her face lit up like Christmas. As I was moving away, I told her to take care and she again said something like it was really good to see you here.
Rush hour. Endless traffic. An hour in line. I was glad I made the effort.
Carla
The line-up at Glen Burnie
Nora and Carla
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© 2005 by Carla Garnett and ADWOFF
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