My chat with Kate

[ryan@alpha.ces.cwru.edu (Ryan McGuire)]

    At the convention I managed to slip backstage and have a small chat
with - you guessed it - Her.  Although I didn't think that anyone would
be interested in the actual conversation that transpired, IED in particular
and other Love Hounds in general nearly demanded a verbatim account. 

    Because I didn't have a tape recorder I can only do this from memory.
So now begins my narrative...

    Soon after the event organizers announced the end of the convention and
that everyone should pack up, clean up and go home, I started my Kate quest.
In the night club where the convention was held there is a restaurant over to
the right of the stage on the top floor.  As the windows were covered I 
figured this must be the high-security fortress where they were hiding Her 
Royal Kateness.  I started up the left staircase only to be met by three fans
from Liverpool (the Beatles-esque accent gave them away).  As they were just
relaxing on the stairs and not running around in a tizzy, I thought I had the
wrong route.  After bidding them a farewell I made my way over the right-hand
stairs.  The top of the stairs were barricaded with a couple partitions and 
curtains.  These didn't pose much of a physical barrier, but they did take
away the I-didn't-know-I-wasn't-allowed-up-here excuse should I get caught.
As soon as I got past the partitions I saw a pair of those gorillas-in-a-tux
club bouncers heading my way.  Much to my surprise they passed right by without
even noticing me.  I ventured into the restaurant and saw numerous convention
staff personel.  Still nobody gave me a second glance.  Then on the far side
of the restaurant I saw Her standing next to a table of the flowers everyone
had given her that evening.  The white roses from the Love Hounds were over
to one side.  She was surrounded by about a half dozen fans and a couple
convention staff.  I arranged to take a picture of one fan with Her with his
camera if he would do the same for me.  Unfortunately he took the picture too
soon and I look like just another goofy fan with Kate looking the wrong way.
Lisa from the KBC was introducing a lady to Kate and that went something like
this:

Lisa: Do you remember such-and-such band that did a cover of one
      of your songs?
Kate: No.  [But She seemed sincerely interested anyways.]
Lisa: This is the mother of their keyboardist, Mrs. Whosit.  She's a big
      fan of yours.
Kate: Very nice to meet you. [Shakes Mrs. Whosit's hand.]
Mrs. Whosit: [Babble incoherently with a few English words thrown in for effect]

   By now most of the other fans have left and Lisa leaves with Mrs. Whosit,
leaving only me and another fan there with Kate.  He gets his autograph and
leaves.  Now it's my turn, the moment I've been waiting for, my time (almost)
alone with Her.

Ryan: I see youu got our flowers. [pointing to the roses.]
Kate: Oh yes, they're very pretty.
Ryan: You can guess what I'm up here for.  [Holding out a pen and a CD 
	booklet from _Hounds_of_Love_]
Kate: Sure...here. [Reaching out for the stuff]
      What's your name?
R: Ryan....McGuire
K: R...
R: R Y A N
K: [sign sign sign]
   Where are you from? [handing the stuff back]
R: America ... Cleveland.
K: Well that's a nice accent.
R: I don't have an accent; you do.
K: [Smiling and nearly laughing] I guess it's all where you look at it from.

	Then Lisa reappears looking very official.

Lisa: [to Kate] You ready?
K: [to Lisa] Oh...yes.
   [to me] It was very nice meeting you. [offers a hand to shake]
R: [shaking hands] Nice meeting you.

	Her hand was slender and rather warm.  My was a bit cooler but at
	least it wasn't all sweaty.  I'm happy.

K: [heading off to an exit] Bye now.
R: I'll just stay here and faint now. [Faking the beginning of a faint]
K: [Smiling at that (very) little bit of humor].

    As an addendum to this story I can relate how I thought I lost her auto-
graph on the way back to the underground.  Then again that may be too
embarrassing.