Irene has been attending the annual Put Your Heart in a Book conference run by the New Jersey Romance Writers for years. It’s been a long time since I tagged along. I usually just stay at home and try to write, write, write, or if the print deadline for SCI FI magazine intervenes, edit, edit, edit. But this year I was able to set up a reunion some old friends and I have been trying to pull off for a long time (about which more later), so I decided to make the trip.

But since that reunion wasn’t going to happen until 2:00 p.m., which meant that I had the morning and early afternoon free, I had time to fit in an event I’d read about on one of the comic-oriented blogs I follow.

It turns out that John Scieszka was scheduled to speak Saturday morning at 11:00 as part of the annual meeting of the Lewis Carroll Society, and the event was open to non-members. Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, had recently written a children’s book version of Alice in Wonderland based on the concept drawings done by artist Mary Blair for the 1951 Disney theatrical adaptation.

I arrived about a half an hour before the event was to begin at NYU’s Bobst Library on Washington Square South, along with one other earlybird. We chatted briefly in the elevator, during which time the man asked me whether I’d attended many of these Carroll events. I explained that this was my first, that I’d come purely to hear John Scieszka’s presentation. He then smiled, put out his hand, and said (I’m sure you can see where this is going), “I’m John Scieszka.” I mangled the pronunciation of his name as we spoke, which I guess he’s used to, considering that he includes a guide to his name on his site.

Once we arrived at the meeting room, the third floor Fales Library, I stopped monopolizing him so that he could prepare for the talk. As I studied the paintings on the wall, I was startled to come across a portrait of Chip Delany as a young man. It was strange enough to serendipitously come across a portrait of someone I know, but for it to occur one week to the day since I had last seen him (as reported below in my write-up of the Tom Disch memorial) was remarkable. Its presence told me that I was in the right place, and was an omen of other serendipitous connections to come.