I was turning seventeen on November 21st. I was not very excited about until a few months before when I found out that the Super Boston Megafest was on the weekend after, and that my absolute favorite movie star was going to be there, Doug Jones. I was thrilled; I was not even going to ask for a ticket as a birthday present. I told my mom I would pay for the ticket, the hotel room, everything as a birthday present to myself. I must say I got a lot of breaks, my aunt works in hotels so I got the room for free, and my mom would tell me later not to pay her back for the ticket as a present.

Anyway, we got there early, so I headed into the convention room just to hang around. I saw where Mr. Jones would be set up later so I just waited around there. Plenty of people were already there buying from dealers but I was never a big merchandise person. So I waited, I was fiddling with my camera (it’s a really stubborn old hand-me-down digital thing) when I look up to see Mr. Jones out at his table getting ready for the throng of people waiting. Now, being a huge movie person I tend to get star-struck when seeing people I’ve only seen on the TV in person, but this was DOUG JONES! This was the guy whose movies and interviews had the ability to get me out of any bad mood I ever had. Needless to say, his presence managed to shrink me to about two inches tall.

For the next half an hour I just stood a few feet away and snapped pictures like crazy, completely terrified to go up. I had heard and seen enough of him to know that if I did go up he would be incredibly nice to me. Still, I needed a minute or two to compose myself. I was lucky he was at the end of the stage by the water coolers so I could just slip around people and stay where I was. He was the main reason I came so I was going to hang around as much as I could.

A woman who was hanging around his table came up to me and asked if I was ever going to go up. I told her I was not brave enough yet. She scoffed at me; “He is a complete love” she said. She went on to tell me that her name was Monica and that she had gone to school with Mr. Jones. They had not seen each other in fifteen years, when she finally got his number again she had no idea he had done so much. She drove up from Maryland to see him again for the weekend. Is that not the coolest thing ever?

Finally after screwing up my courage, and being hit with papers by Monica, I got up on the stage to meet him. I had brought with me a movie I wanted him to sign. A movie he did almost twenty years ago called Night Angel. It had taken me a month to find on the internet, I had been determined to see just about everything Mr. Jones had done.  When he saw it he freaked! “You own Night Angel?!” I nodded and told him how on Halloween I watched that and another old movie he did called The Newlydeads. “You’ve seen The Newlydeads? No one has ever seen The Newlydeads!”  We talked for a moment about the two movies he seemed to think were long forgotten. Then after signing Night Angel he also signed two pictures for me. One of the Faun holding Ofelia, and one of Abe holding Nuala in her dying moment. He told me I loved people who love moments like those, I told him I do too.

After getting two pictures with Mr. Jones with my tricky camera, and the best hug I ever had, I went back to just watching him from a few feet away. Monica came up to tell me a good solid “I told you so” and we talked a little bit, she’s amazing. A while later I went to the questions and answer session to see Mr. Jones again. I sat with Monica and listened but didn’t ask anything. Mr. Jones talked about his upcoming projects (they sound amazing) and again I took pictures. The rest of the day I just hung around and did some shopping, but mostly just came back to snap more pictures. If not for me than for Webmaster Helen who I heard would hunt me down if she found out I had pictures. I figured it was the least I could do *grin*.

At the end of the day I headed back to my room to get ready for the concert that night (Peter Tork, yay!). I figured that tomorrow I would snap a few more pictures of Mr. Jones at his table, but that was about it. I ate (I had not eaten in about ten hours) and rested a while then headed down to the concert. When there, I sat in an almost empty row and watched the opening band. After that I was waiting for Peter Tork to come on when Monica and Mr. Jones came in and sat a few rows in front of me. I was happy just to see him again and watched him talk for a moment. He noticed me sitting there and waved, I waved back feebly and felt myself redden. He then ushered for me to come over there and once I did patted the seat next to him for me to sit on. I sat down with my heart in my throat. He asked if I was staying the night or was leaving later (he didn’t want me having to check the time the whole concert) He asked me to remind him what my name was because he had met A LOT of people that day. I understood and told him it was Katy, causing my nickname throughout the weekend to be Katybaby. I assure you I did NOT mind.

 We talked about Retarded Policeman (he loved that show and asked to be in it), Sockbaby 4 (he loved playing evil him, I loved him slapping Burger around the pool), and about other movies he had been in. He said he had waited for the other band to leave because they were too loud for him. I agreed (I had my ears plugged when they were on).  Then came Peter Tork and his band Shoe Suede Blues. We listened and danced a little in our seats (Peter was incredible) and talked a little between songs. People kept asking us to get up and dance, but we didn’t really feel like it. Until Peter played Daydream Believer, causing Monica, Mr. Jones and me to get up and dance.

 The rest of the concert we danced in front of the stage. After a point I back up some with Monica and just watched Mr. Jones dance with Cathy St. George. She was a model who was one of the guests there. She was a great dancer, and Mr. Jones was an insane dancer. His dancing is either ridiculous or genius. Either way it’s very entertaining, Cathy would bust a move and Mr. Jones would copy it perfectly. For a man with very little hips he moves what he’s got very well. Monica leaned over and told me that his dancing style has not changed since he was fourteen.

After the concert we headed out into the hall and said goodnight to Cathy. Then after talking to some dealers about the weather and taking a moment to sing “Timewarp” in the hall, Mr. Jones took a picture of me and Monica with my camera (what he calls 'love pictures') and then she went to bed. Mr. Jones wanted to check his  E-mail in the lobby, and after making sure I was not bothering him, I went with him. We spent the next ten minutes fighting with the computer (it wouldn’t connect to the internet) before Mr. Jones decided to go get his laptop.  We were on the same floor, so he took me up the “secret ninja elevator” to our floor. It was really the guest elevator but that was to boring a name for Mr. Jones. At his door we said goodnight, I got one more picture of us and a goodnight hug. Then after saying I would stop by his table again tomorrow, I headed to my room. It was the best night I ever had.

The next day I again got up early so I browsed the dealer tables for a while. I noticed Monica and Mr. Jones browsing across the room, but I didn’t want to disturb them while they were shopping. I didn’t need to as after a minute of looking at some collector’s cards a long arm wrapped around my neck and pulled me over to them. After exchanging good mornings (he was shocked to learn I got up at seven, this from a man who has had 1:15 AM wake up calls) we browsed some more. Finally he set up at his table and started receiving the new line of people for the day.

 I talked with Monica some, who teased me on how yesterday I was scared to talk to him, and then danced with him the same day. She also wished me a happy birthday (I told Mr. Jones and he told her). I then wandered again around the tables. Later a woman I had met the day before came up to me. She and her husband had a table next to Mr. Jones and she had asked me who he was.  After I told her she asked if I was his stalker, I laughed and said I was for this weekend anyway. After all, he rarely comes out to Massachusetts.  She ended up giving me a chair to sit in next to his table, basically saying, “If you’re going to stalk him, do it sitting down”. She came up to me the next day telling me that I had lied to her. I asked her what she meant; her answer made me put me in a giggle fit. I had told her yesterday that I was a huge fan of Mr. Jones but had never met him. Today she had watched us walking around together and was convinced he was my father. I tried very hard to explain that he was just like that with people, but how do you explain Mr. Jones?

Later I was done shopping and hung around taking pictures again (I probably gave him seizers after a point). He would take a break once and a while and talk to me and at one point gave me a kit kat bar (his favorite, one of mine too, actually).

By the end of the day I was exhausted and had blisters on my feet. Monica and Mr. Jones had gone to their rooms a while ago and as the weekend wrapped up I was waiting for my mom to come and take me home. I was sad I could not say thank you and goodbye to them but I still had the best two days of my life. Then, about ten minutes before I had to leave they emerged from their rooms. I went up to say goodbye and found out they had been sleeping (they deserved it). We spoke some and after a few last hugs and birthday wishes they said goodbye and left. I left a few minutes later for my hour drive home. I remembered that Mr. Jones had signed my copy of Night Angel and had written “you have blown me away”. I’m convinced it was the other way around.

Dreams and Love,

                  Katy Bowen

© 2008 Katy Bowen. All Rights Reserved.