mariness

I was typing up my con report when I paused to check Twitter and my friends list. Some information there reminded me of a story I debated telling, about something that happened on Sunday.

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I went into the first panel debating the future of print fiction. It was 10 o'clock, and I was pretty wobbly from walking that far down the hallway. A woman was sitting in the back row. I started sitting in the seat in that row, nearest to the door, so I could leave if I started having palpitations. (This had been happening.)

"Oh, you can't have that seat," said the woman.

The room still had seats available, closer to the panelists, and on the same row, on the other side of the room.

"I'd like to be near the door," I said.

"This seat is saved."

So I stumbled forward to the row in front of me.

A few seconds afterwards, an elderly man, with a guide dog, stumbled into the room. He was coughing, and clearly having problems walking and breathing. He, too, tried to sit in the back row. The woman argued with him. I turned around and helped guide him to my row, where he and the dog promptly fell asleep.

When the panel was over, the movement of people woke him up. I asked if he needed help, and he didn't seem to hear me. He left with the dog.

Charles N. Brown, co-founder of Locus Magazine.

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Frankly, my con report seems a bit inappropriate at the moment. I'll probably post it - and two related posts - some time tomorrow or Wednesday.