Erin Gray and my friend

Ess and I have been friends since my freshman year at the U of Arizona.  I must admit he is a better friend to me than I have been to him; he remembers birthdays and sends cards and calls.

When I went to my first ComicCon in San Diego in 2005 I had no idea what I was getting into. I stumbled across a reference somewhere about this big event called SDCC (San Diego ComicCon) and thought it might be fun to attend. I called my friend and asked if I could stay with him while I attended this convention.  Ess said yes and I made my plans.

The biggest expense of ComicCon is housing and I had just side-stepped that cost.  Something at the time I did not realize when I invited myself into Ess’s small one bedroom apartment.  Not only did I invite myself in, I assumed he would attend ComciCon with me so I wouldn’t need to rent a car. Yes, I have already admitted it , he is a better friend than I.

After using airline miles for the flight, I had spent a total of $50 dollars for my first ComicCon 4 day pass. I had a free flight, room, and car.  I did pay for his parking each day and I bought Ess’ dinner every night.  Yes, I was making out like a bandit. Then he had the nerve to buy 2 tickets for the Padre game that Thursday night. Awesome seats about 20 rows up behind home plate. I can be so spoiled at times.

That freed up a lot of money to get autographs and the like. Being my first ComicCon, just about everyone was on my want list.

While I was in line for Virginia Hey (Farscape), I was people watching.  I noticed Erin Gray spending a lot of time with each of her fans. I mean a long time. 5 to 10 minutes with each one. She graciously smiled and nodded and even asked questions back.  She was engaging with her fans.  As I was watching, I never noticed her rolling her eyes or giving her helper a smirk or a whisper asking for help.  She was holding court and being very friendly.

Since I had gotten Erin’s autograph a few years earlier I wasn’t going to get it again. After I finished up with Ms Hey, Ess found me and we were going to wander over to the ballgame since the ball park is a couple of blocks from the convention center.

I started telling Ess about Erin. He was impressed and I decided I wanted to give her some positive feedback.

We passed her and she was free so I stepped up and told her I thought she had the patience of Job. She looked at me sideways but smiled.  I explained I had noticed how her fans spent a lot of time with her and she was always friendly and engaging and never looked for a way to escape.

She laughed and I repeated that I thought it was very good of her and I respected that of her.  I then mentioned to Ess that she raises money for a charity by letting people take a picture with her.

Ess blithely asked what charity she was working with. To be truthful, I never thought to ask that. So she started talking about the charity.  After a few moments she slowed down.  Then Ess asked how she got involved with that charity.  Boy, was that ever the right question to ask. She started into an interesting monologue and explained how she had been associated with them for a long time.  Because the charity dealt with counseling and medical dependency, I mentioned that Ess was a nurse.

Have you seen a person’s eye light up? It’s something every guy wants to see when talking to a lady. Erin was every teenage boy’s dream girl.  And Ess was talking very casually with the lady I had a crush on as a kid. I must admit I was jealous that Erin was interested in Ess and not me.

The knowledge of Ess’ nursing degree took the conversation into new areas and the questions and thoughts were tossed back and forth.

Seriously, Erin spoke with Ess for another 10 minutes.

Even though I was left out I was idly listening. Somewhere I thought I heard her mention psychology so I piped in that Ess was a Psychiatric Nurse.

If I thought her eyes were lit last time I was mistaken because this was a new level of brightness.

Around and around this conversation went with me being on the outside. 

Again feeling slightly left out but very excited for my friend, I was half listening when I though I heard something about American Indians.  So I just HAD to mention how Ess worked on the Navajo Reservation for several years. I’m such a good wing man!

I swear she actually reached out and touched his arm. I might be misremembering but she was ecstatic. Erin Gray, Col. Wilma Deering of the skin tight white jumpsuits touched my friend’s arm.

Now, Ess should be asking if he could take her to coffee.  He should be pulling out a business card and exchanging numbers.  He should be telling her how much he was enjoying the conversation and that they would be both more comfortable in privacy of her hotel room.

But Ess didn’t do that. What he did do was politely disengage from the chat and mention we needed to be going because we got tickets to the ball game.

Yes, you read that right; Ess ended the conversation with Erin. Not the other way around.

We said our goodbyes and when I when we were out of sight and hearing range I asked him if he was nuts.

He smiled and laughed because he didn’t understand.

I explained that he could have just asked Erin Gray out for a date. He paused and mumbled something about how he didn’t want to be late for the game.  I told him, he should have asked her to the game. I would have understood. I could have found another ticket somewhere. He replied that then we wouldn’t have that time together.

And that is how Ess rolls. He’s a great friend. A much better friend to me than I deserve.


AH