With arrangements made, Julia and Abs agree to meet at the Port Authority (PA), 8th Street, New York City on July 5th, 2002. We're going to see the play 'Shoppers Carried by Escalators in the Flames' starring Will Patton at the Dimson Theatre on 15th Street. Yep, that's the plan...

Julia's Trip to New York: Julia catches the 7:00am flight to Cincinnati where she's to catch a connecting flight to New York. Being as anal as she is, she has the day's plan of attack timed perfectly to be at the PA by 2:30pm exactly to meet Abs. When she gets to Cincinnati, which is probably the most confusing Airport she's ever seen (well at least until she gets to JFK), she has to catch a shuttle to the connecting flight's terminal. Thank goodness for her knack for eavesdropping or she would still be in Cincinnati. When she finds the terminal, her flight time is near. Then the dreaded 'attention passengers on flight never leaving for New York' comes over the intercom. Yes, the plane has to have a tire changed! And, it's going to take an hour to do it. Oh - my - God!!!! With time schedule thrown out the door, she frantically tries to reach Abs on her cell, who is still on her bus from Maine and out of cellular range. Now she starts to panic and tries to refigure her times. 'Ok, if we leave at 1:00pm, then we'll get to New York by 3:00pm, and since Abs and I decided to meet at 3:00pm, but wait until at least 4:00pm, I should be ok. BUT, the shuttle from JFK to the PA is an hour, SHIT!!'. The plane finally leaves Cincinnati and it's a small Canadian plane; no turbulence felt there. When we reached New York, we dropped into JFK. Really, I mean dropped. Madly trying to look for the Ground Transportation area in the Airport that Sybil designed, she gets a call from Abs. 'How are ya?' says Abs; 'Oh just fine' Julia lies. Julia tells her that their flight was late, but not that late as it turns out and it will be closer to 3:00pm by the time she gets to the PA. Don't ask, but even with all the delays, the plane still arrived at JFK at 2:00pm. 'That's ok' replies Abs and then we were cutoff. Julia finds Ground Transportation and the cattle car they call a shuttle that bulls it's way through New York to the PA for her rendezvous with Abs.

Abs Trip to New York:
Abs trip was pretty uneventful except that she had a special treat in Boston. Truffs was waiting for her at South Station and took her out to eat. Truffs also gave Abs a travel bag, filled with a book to read, magazines and snacks. As well as two permanent markers, which we put to very good use later that night...

Abs arrives at PA:
Abs reaches the Port Authority on the bus, armed with her 'JULIA!!!' handmade sign, she looks for the exact meeting place. She has no idea where to go. As she was looking at a map, a small foreign man who spoke no English, wanted to know her name and see her ticket. She tried to explain that she wasn't departing New York, but was arriving and he said 'No Comprendo'. He helped by explaining that she was in New York, which she already knew. She smiled and quickly walked away and he followed her through the Port Authority. As Abs is wandering aimlessly through the Port Authority wondering where the hell she is going, she sees a sign that reads "Airport Bus Center." She remembers that Julia is coming on the Airport Bus. She uses her astute processing skills and deduces that this is where Julia will be arriving. So she heads towards the Airport Bus terminal to connect. Julia then calls and tells her that she's on the bus and in a tunnel and Abs explains that they'll meet at the bus center. Abs doesn't know at the time that the locals are now making fun of Julia on the bus for being 'in a tunnel'-- the Manhattan Tunnel. As Abs is on her way out to meet Julia and holding her "JULIA!!!" sign, she is approached by a Latino (by this time she's lost Mr. Helpful), and he tells her "Hulia? Hulia? I'm Hulia". Abs replies 'I've seen her picture, and you are not her'. In which he smiles and says 'I wish I was her'. EWWW.

Finally, Julia arrives to the Port Authority, with a petite attractive lady darting towards her with this 'JULIA!!!' sign. Julia thinks 'Airfare - 170.00 dollars, Airport Bus - 13.00 dollars, Abs' face - priceless.'

The Afternoon:
We gather our wits and start to look for the Marcel hotel on 24th Street; it's a four star hotel. At the PA, we were able to catch our first New York taxi. After speed racer got us to our hotel (which by the way has an elevator that doubles for a sauna), we got checked-in and sprinted to our room. The closet, I mean room, had a double bed, air-conditioner that didn't exactly work, and a very nice bathroom that was about the same size as the room . We were thrilled too because the bathroom also had a phone in it and half a shower. There was no closing for the end of the shower, so when one of us was in it, the water spilled all over the floor. It was lovely. Oh yea, the phones were not working as well, but we didn't know that yet.

So, we went walking and the first thing we see was a man relieving himself on the sidewalk, not even 20ft away. He looked, he smiled, he peed. Julia wished that she had taken a picture for her friends back home. We proceeded to walk to the theatre to see if we wanted to do that in heels. We had spent many a moment planning what stunning garments we were going to wear to the play. It was decided 'no walking for us'. We were surprised by the facade of the small theatre. We were greeted by a sign that read 'Please do not use. Very broken' on the door. As compared to a less broken door...

We started to walk back and decided to eat something. We found this quaint restaurant called Petes' Place on 3rd that had everything from hamburgers, to Italian, to seafood. Julia ordered the Lasagna and Abs ordered the Rigatoni. The gentleman waiting on us was a spirited little old man, who pretty much took things in control, but couldn't remember anything we told him. It was like having your grandfather wait on you. Our food arrived and it was A LOT of food. Julia asked the man 'who was he feeding, because we certainly couldn't eat that much'. He laughed and walked away.

Getting pretty for the Play:
We returned to the hotel bloated, but ready to get pretty for the play. Abs had a very gorgeous black dress with black heels and stockings. She also had her red lipstick to match. She had a glass of wine with her lunch and was a 'little' giddy. Julia had her white peasant shirt, black skirt and black dress sandals. She had very 'big' silver jewelry (because everything is big in Texas) and her semi-red lipstick. Julia was getting ready in the bathroom, so Abs decides to do her make-up in the natural light from the window. She was amazed by what lines she could see on her face in natural light while she was giddy. It is an experience she would rather not repeat on a regular basis...

The trip to the play #1:
All gussied up, we leave for the theatre. At 7:00pm we go downstairs. After waiting in a hot hallway and then riding the sauna/elevator, we ask the bellman how hard would it be to get a taxi. Obviously, not very hard because he runs out and a second later he has a taxi. Abs tips him a dollar for his troubles. We get into the taxi, sweaty and ready to go. The play doesn't start until 8:00pm, so we decided to go in and get our tickets and actually check the place out. The theatre was very small, very intimate, and very low-key. We see people who work there with pierced body parts, shorts, and flip-flops. They were staring at us and we could tell their exact thoughts- 'Tourists! You're not going to a Broadway play.' Abs says to Julia 'Do you feel overdressed?' to which Julia replies 'A little.' So, we decided to go back to the hotel and change. Abs runs for a stopped cab. We dive in the back seat, laughing so hard, it was hard to tell the driver where we were going. When we arrived back at the hotel, we sneaked past the bellman and raced for the sauna/elevator. We put on our casual attire, a.k.a. our travel clothes. When we got back downstairs, we tried to sneak past the bellman again, but guess who was there... He hails another taxi, asking us what happened. Julia starts to laugh uncontrollably and Abs tells him about our inappropriate attire. He got another generous tip, all Julia's change from the bottom of her purse. He said that he'd keep calling taxis for us all night.

The trip to the play #2:
As we get into the second cab, we forgot to tell the cabby where we were going because we were laughing so much. He asked us and Abs replied 'We do this so often now, we just assumed that all the cabbies knew where we were going'. All 500,000 of them. This turned out to be the taxi from hell. It takes $3.50 to get to the Dimson theatre from the Marcel hotel. We know for a fact since we did it many times. Except the cab from hell was $3.20 with speedy service while throwing us around in the back of his taxi. During the ride, we went passed a Catholic Church that Abs was going to the next morning, Abs tried to read the Mass schedule, but speedo was going so fast it was a blur. It would have been hard to read anyway since we were also being thrown against the windows at the time, too.

The Play:
Casually dressed, we sit in the 5th row seats 5 and 6. We started to discuss whether or not Christa had made it. She was supposed to be in the first row 4th chair. There were a group of ladies who arrived and sat in the first row, so it couldn't have been Christa because we didn't think she was coming with anybody. Abs starts to count the first row chairs- '1, 2, 3, 4 Christa!!!'. Christa heard Abs counting (it was the wine) and turned around at the same time Abs called her name. We did the 'Hi' thing and said that we would talk during intermission. Abs and Julia do a little chattering and as we talk Julia glances off stage and swears she saw Will standing there looking out at the audience. 'It's True Damnit!!' Julia's head was like one of those little dogs on springs you see in the back of cars- always roaming, moving, scanning for a Will sighting. The play starts. We're not going to review the play, because that would take too long in this already long story. All we have to say is that it needs to be seen to believed and that Will was Fabulous. Ok?

During intermission, we meet with Christa and Abs begins to wonder how will we know whether or not he'll meet us. Abs had sent a letter to Will previously in the week telling him we would be there even though we knew that his manager would talk to him for us. Abs also sent him flowers on Friday from the whole Posse. She had sent a little note to Will earlier in the evening when we got there saying:

'Will,
We would love to meet you after the show. If you don't feel comfortable with that, then would you mind if we waited for you outside the stage door so we could get your autograph.'

At this time, since we haven't heard anything, we were in the negative as far as him meeting us. And truly, we really had no idea what the 'stage door' is considered to be in this low-key theatre. We returned to our seats after intermission and watched the rest of the play. As the play ends, Will is located on the upper level of the stage where the character's bedroom was. He stood to bow and Julia almost had a heart attack because it looks like he's about to fall off. He had on cute little white jammies and Nahum Goddard hair.

The Meeting:
When it was all over, we sat there all perplexed as to what to do next and decided that we should go to the small lobby outside of the stage area and mill around. After many moments of bewilderment, Julia FINALLY got the nerve up and asked this poor lady who worked there (this one didn't have any piercings). She told us that he should be out any moment, that the main door was the only way out. Whoo-hoo, our question answered. Julia and Abs started to look around at the pictures they have on the walls and Christa noticed Will come from the lower level and greet an old friend. The old friend was Len Jenkins who wrote many of Will's earlier plays, but we didn't know that yet. He started to leave and since we've all noticed him by now, were at a loss as to what to do next. He noticed us and told his friend that he had to come over to meet with us ladies. He was wearing a bluish green baseball cap with a horse on it, blue-jean shirt (he has his signature white undershirt on too), tan Dockers, and silver-gray tennis shoes with a big 'N' on them. He also had 70's sideburns that went from his ear to almost his lips, which Christa didn't think was very attractive. This meeting was obviously stressful for Will. He was somewhat hesitant and shy, almost shaky. His voice was trembling a bit. He asked 'Who do we have here?' (by the way, he is looking at Julia the whole time). Julia introduced Christa, then herself, then Abs. He told Julia thank you for the website and that he really appreciates the birthday greetings. She asked him if he received this year's and if he liked the Winnie the Pooh theme (mental slap in the head and thinks 'what the hell am I thinking'). He said that he enjoyed it very much and laughed. He then asked Julia if she got recently married. She explained about the sudden name change from Thompson to Bryant through divorce and he was like 'Oh, I get it'. Julia asked him if we could get pictures and autographs, which he complied. While Abs and Julia looked through our purses for cameras and stuff to sign, he asked Christa 'How far did you guys travel?'. During this, Abs was frantically trying to get her camera out of her hidden pocket under the sanitary napkins in her purse. She hid the camera because she was afraid that they would confiscate it when we entered the theatre and thought that no one would look under sanitary napkins. Christa told him that Julia had traveled from Texas. He said 'I know... where are you from?'. Christa said that she was from Pennsylvania and Abs said that she was from Maine. He said, "Wow, I am so flattered that you would travel that far." Abs replied that it was a priviledge for us to be there, it was a real treat. Julia gave Christa her camera and had her picture taken with Will. By the way, Will put his arm around her and touched her love handles, but at the last moment moved it up to her shoulder!! 'It's True Damnit!!!' Abs was also taking Julia and Will's picture with her camera and commented 'Will, you look really nervous' which is exactly what you say to a really nervous person to make them feel more comfortable. He replied with a laugh, 'I am.'. Poor guy looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Will also looked very thin; much thinner than in the episodes of The Agency. He signed Julia's playbill, in which he asked if he got the name spelled right. Julia gave him an affirmative. Len then offers to take a group picture with all of us. Julia gives Len her camera and instructs him that all he needs to do is just push the button. So we all gather together for the picture and Len didn't push the button all the way. The camera clicked, but it didn't flash. Everybody starts to disband, but Julia starts to freak because she knew that the picture didn't take because it didn't flash. She proceeds to tell Len about his ineptness in taking pictures and that the picture didn't take. She said 'The flash didn't come on. You have to push the button hard'. Everybody got back together and took the picture. Will was so nervous and sweating. He asked if the room was hot and nobody complied. He was the only one...

He then started to sign Christa's playbill. He had the hardest time trying to get her name right. Christa had to tell him 3 times how to spell her name. Abs thought he was either very nervous or his auditory processing skills needed work. But, we suspect it was nerves. He fumbled the 't' in Christa's name. He looked like he was about to pass out, so Abs made him sit down. He complied and finished Christa's autograph. Abs sat next to him and asked him if he got the flowers. He said,'Yes, yes,' and of course looked immediately at Julia (Abs thinks- Julia, Julia, always Julia!!) and thanked Julia. Julia immediately said it was all Abs' doing . He thanked her properly and she asked him, 'Did they make you happy?' (another mental slap in the head). He told her with a giggle, 'Yes, they did. They made me very happy.' Like he was going to say 'No, they sucked.'

He started to get up, but Abs became very animated about him not finishing all of her signatures. She forced him to park it again and he complied. He asked Len (who we still didn't know who he was), if he was ok. Then he explained to Abs that Len was a playwright who had written many plays that Will had been in and that he was an old and dear friend. It still didn't click with us, because we thought he said Lynn, not Len. It's the southern accent. Abs asked if he did this every night because Sandi was coming from British Columbia the following night and he said that he usually left through another exit. He clearly did not want to go through this again. Christa asked Len if this happens to Will often and Len said, 'Not usually.' We complimented Will on the play; Julia said that the whole play was really good and Abs complimented him on his performance in the 2nd act. That he was wonderful. He smiled and said, 'Oh, yea - Thank you.'

Abs items to sign were Lassitude's of Fire and 2 playbills. He signed Lassitude's first and then one of her playbills dedicated to her. She wanted the 2nd playbill to be dedicated to Karen (Truffles) because she had been scheduled to go to the July 19th show, but when we found out that he wouldn't be there then, was unable to reschedule. Julia commented 'Yea, that was a fiasco', in which he replied 'They (the theatre) lied' about the days. He then went to sign the playbill, but dedicated it to Abs again. When he realized that he was signing it to the wrong person, he froze, obviously stressing about what to do. Abs told him to go ahead and sign it and that they would get another one to dedicate to Truffs. Christa was in the background and emphatically said that he should dedicate it to Abs and Karen, which he did with relief. Then he stood up and we started to take more pictures. Abs, which as much authority as she could muster asked him 'Do you mind? We can't see your eyes' and literally went up and pushed the bill of his cap off of his face. He then pushed it up a little further and smiled for the cameras.

He and Len wanted to get out of Dodge as fast as they could and started for the exit. As he was going up the stairs to the exit, he looked back to Julia and said 'Hope to see you again. See ya soon. Thanks again'. Julia's interpretation of what he was really saying by his mannerisms: 'Hope to never have to do this again. Where's my blood pressure medication? Thanks for the website'. At the same time, Julia could hear a lady employee saying to Will 'You're needed up here' implied 'I'm rescuing you.', and he left. We walked out of the theatre and Christa and Julia saw Will and Len walking down the street hunched over laughing. I'm sure that he was very relieved that it was over...

It is really hard to adequately describe what Will was like. He was extremely gracious and kind. And so nervous and shy. This was clearly very uncomfortable for him. He was exceptionally accommodating as well. Julia said, 'We want pictures' and he let us take pictures. Abs said 'Sit down' and he sat down (she was afraid he might fall over from stress). She said, 'Sign all these things' and he signed all those things. She said 'we want more pictures and move that damn hat off your face so we can see your eyes' and he did. All with a smile and a giggle. He was uncomfortable but we think flattered to be fussed over. What man wouldn't be...

The Afterglow:
We stopped for a bite to eat and then we all returned to the hotel, laughing like teens at a slumber party. We started to write this journal, in which all conversations kept turning to other Will things. It's amazing how one thing can make you think of others. Julia was amazed at Abs and Christa's Will knowledge. Christa ended up having to leave at 1:00am because she had to catch her bus back to Pennsylvania. We were thinking of Sandi from British Columbia, who was supposed to fly in earlier. Sandi, not knowing that our phones were not working had tried to contact us. She had assumed that we all had a drink with Will and was out. Surely she didn't know that if we had, he probably would have died from fright.

We finally found Sandi's room and banged on the door around 1:15am. We went back to Abs and Julia's room about 1:30am, so Sandi could look at the pictures through the digital camera's display until about 2:00am. Sandi then told us who Len was and his last name. Julia was so embarrassed by her actions towards the man and that camera. She was also astounded by Sandi's Will knowledge.

Abs and Julia went to bed and talked and giggled until about 2:30am. Abs finally told Julia to shut-up so they could get some sleep. Note: do not let Julia drink 3 cups of coffee after midnight and meeting Will Patton!...

by: Abigail, Julia, Christa, and Sandi