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          Since this signing was barely advertised, I was surprised that there were still tickets left over a few days before the event considering the amazing turnout last year. I'd bought tickets for one of my best friends Natalie and myself the week before, since she'd never been to a signing before and Good Omens was her favorite book in high school. Plus she wanted to do something fun for once, and I wasn't able to say hi up in Berkeley, and I was able to get the days away, so all was good.

          I came out the day before, only because I didn't want to make it a day trip and have to be scrambling around to find the place all in the same day. I ended up scrambling anyway, but I'll get to that in a minute.

          Did I mention how I love driving down I-15? A lot of people don't like it because it's so full of desert, but that's exactly why I love it-- the huge majesty of the mountains, the expanse of Joshua trees, cacti, and brush is beautiful to me. And the sky is so big and blue and perfect. I've driven it so many times and I still find myself smiling at it at least once every time I drive through it. It's calming and lets me think about things clearly in my head.

          And I needed to clear my head. I was having doubts about freelancing, about having ideas, about doing poetry-- basically everything about being a writer. I still wanted to do it, but I was so scared that maybe my steam was running out. Or basically I just needed my batteries recharged. I'd gone up to L.A. the week before to go to Disneyland with Walker and Pam from the newsgroup and had a great time, and as Pam puts it, "I need my Neil fix." Not so much as in a fangirl sense, but I needed to see someone who was where I want to be at some point in my life. I needed some recharging to my sluggish creative engines.

          Driving helps. But seeing Neil helps better. Natalie found that out on this trip.

          So I'd copied down the directions from MapQuest to the signing and Nat and I left pretty early to give us enough time to get there. Somehow we ended up going in the wrong direction on the 405 and I had to page Walker to find out if we were going the wrong way.

          "You pageth me?" he asked.

          "We're a little losteth," I said.

          After figuring out what was going on between the two of us, he said, "Just make a U-turn. You're about 40 minutes away, maybe 30 knowing how you drive." That would've been funny if it already wasn't after 3 and I was getting paranoid about getting there on time.

          We weren't really late, but I like to get to places, especially signings, a little early so we can sit in a comfortable spot. But after flying down the 405 we got there at about 3:50 and I was still a little pissy at myself for not knowing better about the directions, especially when the exit we were supposed to get off of was right after the interchange that we went the wrong way from.

          But as soon as we saw the line inside the mall, and Walker saw me, and I saw my old friend Pam from college (different from Thingie Pam) all that went away. It was like I was back home again.

          Natalie holds our place in line so I can go in and get out copies of Coraline that I held when I bought the tickets so we could actually get into the reading.

          This is the point that gets really weird, so bear with me.

          I walk towards the store and Walker says, "Hey, wait up," and follows me in, standing with me at the counter. "He wants to see you," he said.

          I wasn't sure I heard him right. "Really?"

          "Yeah, I told him you drove up from Vegas and he wants to say hi."

          What's the word I was? Oh, flabbergasted. "O-kay," I said.

          I pick up my books and Walker takes me to the area where the reading is, and Neil's signing store stock. "Neil, This is Kari," Walker said.

          He turns around and smiles. "Of course," he says, holding his arm out for a hug. "Come here." He gives me a squeezy hug and says, "I remember. You were the one with the seatbelt. At all the signings."

          "Yep. That's me."

          Pam says, "Did you bring the ticket?" referring to the speeding ticket from last year.

          And I realized that there was something I forgot. But I wouldn't be able to find it anyway since I was in the middle of moving into the master bedroom of the house and all the stuff from that trip was... somewhere. "Next time," I said.



          We all chatted for a little bit and Neil finished with the stock and said, "Well, we better start letting everyone in." So I had arrived just in time.

          I went back out to Natalie in line and the queue had sneaked in front of a Godiva chocolate store, and they had free samples-- Nat and I both took raspberry truffles that were so good.

          We had to stand in the back, but that was okay, at least in my case-- I'd already seen the whole movie, so to speak, and everyone here was getting just a little scene, chapter four. Also my friend Pam from college was standing back there with a friend of hers, so we got to catch up a little bit before it all got underway.

          This was the first reading and signing in this store, so Neil was the Guinea Pig-- which was why it wasn't really advertised except in the stores and on the blog. And, frankly, it was nice to have just 200 people there in a small place, as opposed to 700 like it was at some points last year, and the mass sending-home of 500 people in New York. Small and quiet and orderly, just like a signing should be.

          After introductions, Neil dived right into it. "How many, by a show of hands, have read Coraline already?" Most of the hands went up. "Well, good. I'm going to start at chapter four, which is farther into the book than usual." He gave the backstory for those there who hadn't read it yet, and started chapter four.

          

          

          

          

          

          



part two