Winkie Convention Countdown: 17 Days to Go

By the spring and early summer of 1993, everything was going smoothly. I'd lined up the events, including an appearance by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, I'd enlisted aid from a lot of people (and the ones who couldn't help I'd talked to early enough that I could get someone else), and it all looked like it was going well. So of course a near-disaster struck! With about two weeks to go, my friend Liz, who I'd tapped to play Dorothy in the radio show, called and left a message on my machine that she couldn't make it. Wow, I was not happy. I ranted and wailed for a bit, then got to thinking about a replacement. I thought of someone, called her to see if she was interested, and, once she said yes, sent her a copy of the script overnight. (Remember, this was before e-mail, which would have made the entire process much easier.) A few days later, Liz called, and I really let her have it, letting us all down like that. I was not, I'm ashamed to say, terribly tactful or diplomatic, and I didn't let the poor girl have her say.

About a year later, I wrote to Liz on an unrelated matter, and we opened communication again, and I finally got to hear her side of the story. She'd suddenly taken ill, and couldn't have been at the convention at all. I felt like a real heel, I apologized profusely, and Liz, bless her soul, forgave me and stayed friends with me.

(To be continued.)