THE READING IN WEBSTER
by Marie Delgado Travis
As a CHICKEN SOUP FOR LATINO SOUL contributor, I was invited to perform a reading at a major book store in Webster, Texas. I had never even heard of Webster, but figured if the good Lord wanted me to go there, there was probably a reason.
I accepted the invitation gladly, although it's well over an hour's drive from where I live. My only condition was that the Saturday reading be at 2 PM, so that my husband, who accompanies me to events, would not be driving on an unfamiliar road at night. The store manager and I found a mutually acceptable date and I looked forward to the activity.
About a week before the reading, my husband noticed that our local newspaper had listed the event as taking place at 7 PM. Thinking it a typo, I didn't pay it much attention. The next day, however, I received an e-mail from a Poetry Group, also listing my reading at 7 PM. Now I was starting to get concerned.
I called the store manager to reconfirm the time. It was the store manager's day off, but her assistant checked the store calendar and informed me that the reading was indeed scheduled at 7 PM that coming Saturday. I was, by now, upset, but there seemed to be no point in complaining. The event had already been advertised.
Now that my afternoon was presumably free on the day of the reading, I rescheduled my beauty parlor appointment. I returned from the salon at 3 PM to find a frantic message on my answering machine. It was the store manager, saying I was an hour late for the reading. She wondered if we had gotten stuck in traffic.
Hands shaking, I dialed back quickly. The last thing I wanted was to seem irresponsible. When I got through to her, I explained that the newspaper, the Poetry Group and even her assistant had indicated that the event was that night.
She put my call on hold, while she went to her office to check the master calendar. There, she discovered that at some point in the store's internal communication process, the 2 had been copied incorrectly as a 7. I asked if she still wanted me to read that night and she said yes.
When I arrived at the store, I noted that the store manager had crossed out the time on her in-store posters in black magic marker. Nerves still jangled from the strange chain of events, I read several pieces from CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE LATINO SOUL. These included my own writings and selections from the anthology, which I particularly love.
I read tales of heroism, pride, hope, which stemmed from the Hispanic culture, but offered valuable life lessons to persons of other ethnic backgrounds, as well. I could tell from the audience reaction that Readings are considered important events in Webster. This is not necessarily true in larger cities, where there is strong competition from other events: sports, plays, concerts.
At the end of my reading, a young blonde woman approached me. She explained she had been feeling depressed lately. That evening, she felt suddenly that she couldn't take anymore. She told her husband that she needed to get out of the house and found herself at the book store, where she chanced upon my Reading.
She said that, although she was not Hispanic, my presentation had moved her and given her a different perspective on her own life. I hugged her, surprised at find how delicate and frail she seemed. She began to cry, apologizing for "being a mess." I assured her that there was no need. I understood more than she knew. Writing is, in a way, my own therapy.
Instinctively, I handed her my poetry books, which I had brought as a gift to the store manager. The young woman protested, insisting she wanted to pay for them, but I asked her to please accept them as a reminder of our meeting that night.
It was only after she left that the store manager and I looked at each other, suddenly realizing that had the reading taken place earlier in the day, the young woman would not have been present.
MARIE DELGADO TRAVIS is an award-winning writer. She writes poetry and prose in English and Spanish. Her poem, "The Window" recently won Second Prize in the international Tom Howard Poetry Contest (over 1,600 entries received). Marie's web site is http://hometown.aol.com/marilutravis/index.htm
