(Originally posted on LiveJournal)
I’m still in San Diego, with two days of Comic Con to survive. My feet want to fall off, and my knees stiffen up very easily. I briefly sat out in the sun this afternoon before I was going to leave, and the hot sun on my black slacks soothed the knees for a little bit. Enough to get me a bit further, but man, it’s an endurance test. One weekend spent standing and walking a lot, followed by another five days of a more intensive version of the same (concrete convention floor under occasional carpeting).
Wednesday was the Preview Night, which involved a lot of waiting in line for people. And it inspired a bit of silliness in me, in the form of a short story. Short enough to post here. For your amusement….
THE END OF THE LINE
Thousands and thousands of people converged upon the city of San Diego. The sun shone brightly, and heat from the solar rays accumulated in the sidewalks, seeping upward through sneakers, flip-flops, sandals, boots, mocassins and assorted other foot gear. The population of a city descended from the sky by airplane, rolled through the streets by automobile or bus or train. All this human traffic gathered for the annual Comic Con International. The arrivals were annoyed by the scarcity of parking spots. That the city’s baseball team was playing an important game at the ballpark across the street from the Convention Center meant nothing to these visitors. The Exhibit Hall held the mystical Kaabah for the pilgrims, a kaabah that was different for each.
Lines upon lines formed of weary but eager pedestrians. Lines for Hall H (the Hollywood Hall). Lines for registration pick-up. Lines for the television shows preview. But most important of all, lines to enter the Exhibit Hall. This, the fabled Preview Night meant that the tens of thousands who possessed four-day passes would have access to the Exhibit Hall prior to the official opening of Comic Con. It promised first access to all the storied treasures that were to be offered.
From one end to the other, the mighty Convention Center stretched a full quarter mile. And every attendee faced the prospect of multiple transits end to end during the Con. They faced it without fear or trepidation, accepting it as a necessity for Comic Con.
The wait was long, for although registration, where attendees could pick up their pass badges, opened at three (actually earlier, as mercy was taken on the patient flocks of fans), the Hall was not due to open until six. The long line was folded back on itself in the broad air-conditioned corridors of the upper level of the Center.
And then the magic happened! Movement! The line moved forward. The polite red-shirted Elite security shepherded the eager fans into neat lines. The line snaked forward, away and back in a bend and then around a corner.
Dutifully, the patient attendees followed instructions and marched down the bayside corridor to some access point in the region of Hall G.
But one lone attendee, who hobbled slowly forward on sore feet, with stiff knees, paused as she watched the eager fans disappear in the distance. Then she heard the walkee-talkee of an orange-shirted convention staff member crackle. The voice that came through was oddly accented, unlike any foreign influence she had ever heard. “Loading in of groceries completed. Excellent supplies this year. Lipid rich.”
She stopped in her tracks. What had she overheard? A sensation of horror crept over her. After all, the line had been disappearing in a direction removed from the usual access to the Exhibit Hall. But … surely those thousands of attendees were not the groceries mentioned!
She walked stiffly over to the windows that stared out at the bay. The glare of the westering sun distorted everything. But, just when she had decided she was imagining things, the windows rattled from a massive displacement of air. She thought she saw a shadowed saucer shape, but then it was gone.
However, when she did finally get down to the Exhibit Hall, it was gloriously spare in population. The exhibitors smiled cheerfully, since the humidity had not risen noticably. She walked the aisles without bumping others, and scored a number of the special exclusives, since the numbers clustered round the booths were strangely low.
Happy and satiated at the end of the evening, she passed two more staffers and heard one comment to the other, “If it keeps the fire marshal away, it is worth it to deal with those alien carnivores.”
******
Just to be clear… this IS a work of fiction. 😀
Comments
sartorias – Jul. 25th, 2009
LOL!!!!
scribblerworks – Jul. 27th, 2009
Thank you!
Actually, it wasn’t as hot in San Diego this year as it has been. But even so, the humidity of so many bodies on the Exhibit Hall floor can get pretty fierce.
But the lines —!
