(It was So Real!)
It is my book signing/workshop at Barnes & Noble. No one shows up at first, but then a few people trickle in. I am at the end of a very long table. I try to get things started, and, by now, the table is quite full all the way around. But everyone is talking right over me.
Someone asks a very good question from time to time which I try to answer but then the question-asker just turns away and starts talking to someone else. Since the girl sitting next to me feels obligated to listen to my answer out of sheer proximity, I am obligated to finish even though no one is actually listening.
I tried to take pictures of the group for my website, but my camera kept turning into a football and the people would quickly disperse. No one wanted to be photographed.
Then there was The Lost Soul Companion book itself. The proprietor of the bookshop didn't have any of my books on hand. Luckily, I had brought a dozen or so with me. Then the storeowner found some after all--only they were tied to two other self-published books with white string. The other books had nothing to do with my subject area and they were badly produced. I took apart one of the bundles and thumbed through my book. It had entire words and sentences missing on nearly every page.
I wanted to stop the workshop and try to find the books that I brought, but I couldn't find them. It turns out they were in a colorful room where Norman Bates' mother was watching television. By the time I finally did find my books, they weren't my books anymore. All my copies of The Lost Soul Companion had turned into Chamber of Commerce membership directories.
Back to the Chicago Adventure...