Group Whoops

I turned on the early morning news and was met by the familiar sight of OJ Simpson in a prison jumpsuit. It seemed he and some buddies had held up a dealer in OJ memorabilia and tried to repatriate his stuff. The haul included the suit OJ had worn at his original trial. I tried to imagine the line of questioning he would face.

Prosecutor: What were you doing with that baseball bat, mister Simpson?
OJ: If I was OJ Simpson...

I did two presentations at a school in Darien, Illinois, and afterwards was treated to a relaxed lunch in the school library with a group of 'best readers.' The kids were lively and full of imagination, and I was politely and comprehensively interrogated until it was time to leave.

Later that evening I was scheduled to sign books at Anderson's bookstore. The crowd was once again intimate in size, but what it lacked in numbers it more than made up for in enthusiasm. One woman had driven two hours to hear me read, and left with a shopping bag full of signed books for her book club.

Back at the hotel there were two events in full swing; a sales conference and a revivalist meeting. I sat in the restaurant for an hour or so, listening to declamations and group whoops from the conference room next door as I tackled another mountain of food, but for the life of me I couldn't tell which meeting they were coming from.