meetviggo3

My Audience with the King of Gondor part III

Inside Again
We sat there a long time. We were more than a little bit worried by the people we could see through a gap in the shelves. They were fanning themselves and looking miserable. Uh oh. The weather was quite pleasant outside, but I was still wishing I had left my jacket in the car (it was tied around my waist). After a while, one of the guys (I think it was the Blond Guy) suggested that they go through the alphabet naming movies. The four of them and another guy and his son (I think they were at the Sean Astin signing) did this, with my group chiming in sometimes, and still we didn�t move. So we started on bands. I was having fun naming bands like dcTalk and Newsboys and getting looks cause you have to �travel in the right circles� to know of them. Then we moved a bit, and continued with our game. I think we had just finished when we finally made it inside the store. The hot hot hot store. On the plus side, I got to see Viggo in person for the first time! On the minus side, the line moved past him all the way into the back room where the reading had been held and stopped. At least now we had chairs. And a staff member turned on the air conditioning, so it was pretty nice.

The room was a big square one with a wooden floor. A lady did a jazz dance for us, then a Hawaiian one. That is, I think she was a lady. She claimed to be twelve years old, and frankly I don�t know if she was telling the truth or not. She was a tall beautiful African-American with a youthful face. But I still think she was at least seventeen.

So we moved around the perimeter of this room, and back along the side-wall. On the other side of the bricks was the hallway we had waited at earlier. Kyle was mad and Tommy was bored, but luckily mom and I were occupied because this was the film books section of the store! And we were chatting with the nice people in front, as always. And so the line moved, and turned, and there was only a few feet and a short shelf between the King of Gondor and me. At last!

My Audience with the King
On the table in front of him was a box of chocolates, and two bottles of something. I assume beer, cause I think I heard someone give him some when I was listening over the speakers all those hours before. There was also a sign propped up on a bottle that said �____ for President!� (____ was a name, but I don�t remember it), though I didn�t see until later. One of the scrap papers from before. There is someone walking around with a Viggo booked signed �____ for President!�.

We then saw people unrolling LotR posters and him signing them, and our moods immediately lifted, sore feet, heat and all. Kyle perked a little, though she almost hid it. Tommy was very happy. See, he didn�t have a copy of LotR when we met Sean, so he hadn�t had anything signed. Dream come true type of thing.

Then we moved ahead, and it was the man and his kid having their books signed; the man had a Viggo book, and the kid had the Fellowship of the Ring Illustrated Guide. Viggo signed both. I think the kid asked about the chocolates, cause Viggo made a joke about how they were from Hong Kong and filled with fish (with a bit of a cackle at the end, even though I could see he was pretty tired). At least I think that is what he was talking about. He had started mumbling again, and the kid was just as bad, haha.

Let me tell you, Viggo looked good. I know that sometimes on the interviews he doesn�t look so great, but he did at the signing, blond, tired and all. Maybe he looks better in person, maybe I was giddy, maybe I was hallucinating from the heat, but he looked *good*. Tired and good, haha.

The ladies had their books signed, and as they each had all four I got bored and looked at some of the other stuff. Their male blond friend took pictures. Then the brunette guy friend had his book signed. I don�t know what I was thinking, but I stepped forward and almost cut off the blond guy! I get embarrassed very easily over the dumbest things, and this was embarrassing for me, though the guy didn�t care. Then Viggo offered me a chocolate (which I didn�t take) and I felt better, lol. I can brag that Elessar offered me a chocolate. He said the word nicely too, enunciating every sillible. If only he could talk like that normally! ;-) Cho-co-lat. *sigh* ;-)

He signed the Blond Guy�s Aragorn doll (he said something like �That is wild��), and then it was my turn!

I just smiled and said hi, and he said hi back and looked at my paper. I had decided to go for simplicity, and wrote �To Beth of Gondor� on it. �Beth of Gondor?�. I believe he thought it amusing, haha. I just said �Yah, my friends call me that�. A reference to both Minas Tirith.com and Lord of the Things. Go me! ;-) So he signed it, and gave it back to me with a smile. I thanked him and walked a little ways away to make room for Tommy. �Thank you for waiting!� he said, and I turned and smiled. It felt worth it.

This is what he wrote in my book:

                                                                �To Beth
                                                                of Gondor

                                                                  Elendil!!!

                                                                 <3, Viggo�

(<3 being a heart, haha).

I didn�t hear what he said to my brother, but he noticed that Sean�s signature on the front of Kyle�s book was fading, and remarked on it. Made Kyle a bit miffed for some reason�Oh well.

I wanted to stay and see what he said to the sweet Boy I had talked to, but Kyle had had it, and we were all well worn out. It was almost 1:00 AM.

So, I met King Aragorn the Poet, and had a lovely time, despite heat, weariness, and a moment of embarrassment. May the White City never fall!