At 32, Celeste Nightenlane’s life consisted of getting up at five every morning, spending an hour in the gym, coming to work Monday through Friday, and being home by five every evening.

She had two loves in her life. A man, and the fantasy world of anime. She spent most weekends with the man, and every other nonworking hour with her anime.

Celeste could remember clearly the first time she’d watched anime. Her college roommate had been a real fan, (an Otako), was how Celeste thought of her now. “I guess I’m one now.” She thought to herself.

Celeste was an only child. Growing up in sunny Southern California her parents had been caring, loving, and way overprotecting.

As a kid, she hadn’t been allowed to go on sleepovers. She couldn’t even spend the night at her best friend’s house right next door! Her parents took her everywhere, but then were always there with her, everywhere. As a result she became introverted, shy, and then shunned by the more popular and outgoing kids.

She always felt like everyone else was in the club, and she was the outsider. As a teenager, she hadn’t been allowed to date until she was 17. Then her few dates were grilled by her father for half an hour before they left the house and she had to be home by ten.

At 18, she told her parents that she was going to attend college at George Mason University in Virginia.

“No dear,” said her mother, “You’re going to Cal Arts. You’re going to be a dress designer.”

Cal Arts was a small art college ten miles from where she lived.

“You’ll live here.” Her mother went on, “Father will drive you to school in the mornings and I’ll pick you up in the afternoons.”

All planned out. Her parents had every detail of her life planned out for at least the next four years, just as they’d done for the past 18. They probably had a husband already picked out for her as well.

“I don’t want to study art, I want to study law.” Celeste told her mother.

Her mother put down the Good Housekeeping magazine she was reading and took off her glasses. She folded the glasses and put them on the little table next to her chair. She looked at Celeste.

“Celeste Nightenlane,” she said.

Celeste knew she was in for a lecture. Anytime her mother addressed her using her first and last name she knew she was in for a lecture.

The lecture began, “You are woman. Women are not lawyers. Women are artists, women are dress designers, and women are mothers. Women are not lawyers.”

“Mother, this is the twenty-first century. Lots of women are lawyers!”

“Lots of women may be lots of things Celeste Nightenlane but you are going to be a dress designer. You’ve been designing dresses for some time now and you have a real talent. Throwing that away to go after some silly women’s rights thing is just, well, silly!”

The whole scene was repeated, almost word for word, from her father when he came home. He too called her plans, “silly.”

But, for the first time in her life, she stood her ground. She applied for, and was accepted at, George Mason. She got a dorm assignment. She filled out all the student loan papers and applied for all the scholarships and grants. She received zero scholarships and grants because her caring, loving, and way overprotecting parents pulled in just over a hundred grand a year. Well, to be more correct, her father pulled in just over a hundred grand a year. Her mother was unemployed or, as she called it, a homemaker.

One week before she was to leave her parents came to her to, once again, talk about her silly dreams of becoming a women layer. They had come to talk to her at least once a week for the past three months. Sometimes just her mother or father and sometimes both together. This time they both looked tired. Celeste felt bad for them, but not so bad that she would change her plans.

“Celeste,” her father began, “Mother and I have come to a decision.”

“Uh oh,” Celeste thought, “this could be bad.” She imagined being cut off and having to fend for herself. “Well,” she thought, “maybe I can get a job at the school?”

“If you insist on pursuing this silly dream of yours then, well, we will support you.”

Celeste felt a wave of relief wash over her.

Her mother was crying and she could see that her father was near tears himself. Celeste burst into tears, hugged her parents, finished packing her bags and, one week later, drove alone across the USA from California to Virginia.

At George Mason she found herself, once again, the outsider. Everyone seemed to know where everything was, when everything was, and what everything was. Everyone but her.

The only thing that kept her from running back home was her roommate. Not that her roommate had any real words of encouragement. But more that she was, in many ways, just like Celeste. But the most important thing was that her roommate was not part of the club. She, just like Celeste, was an outsider. Karen, Celeste’s roommate, spent all her precious spare time, when she wasn’t studying or in class, in their room watching anime. No parties, no dates, no boyfriends, no sports, just anime.

Celeste had been curious about her roommate’s fascination with Japanese animation. It just looked like cartoons to her. Some of the cartoons featured women in various states of undress and some featured giant robots doing battle. Celeste didn’t get it but she didn’t want to judge her roommate without at least trying to understand her little hobby.  So, one weekend at college, she had decided to spend an entire day watching some of the hundreds of DVDs Karen had brought to school with her.

Young and idealistic, like most college students in their first year away from home, Celeste was determined not to judge Karen too harshly before at least giving anime an honest chance. She had imagined the Saturday would take forever with her watching one boring cartoon after another. A complete waste of time, but a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to better understand Karen.

She chose a box at random. It showed a young girl on the cover. Except for the oversize eyes and blue ribbons in her hair she looked a lot like Celeste. Small stature, long brown hair, a cute, innocent smile. “Fruits Basket,” the show was called. Curious title, she thought. Shouldn’t it Fruits Baskets with an S? Or maybe Fruit Basket? Or Fruit Baskets?

Wondering about the name, Celeste put in the disk and settled on the bed for, what she again thought, was going to be a long, long, boring day. She hit play on the remote.

13 hours later she crawled off the bed. Her joints were stiff from sitting in the same position so long. Dying of thirst. Physically and mentally exhausted from all the laughing, and all the crying. Making her way down the hall to the bathroom, Celeste was surprised to see that it was already dark outside. She hadn’t once looked at the clock. She had been so enamored by Tohru and the Somas, the characters in the Fruits Basket anime, that she had watched one episode after another. 26 episodes in all. As the last show ended, a child called out, “Rice Ball!” Tohru finally felt she was welcomed to the group and Celeste burst into tears. She was disappointed to see that there were no more episodes. She scoured Karen’s collection for more Fruits Basket DVDs, but found none.

She used the toilet, washed her face, drank four glasses of water, and decided to just order up a pizza rather than having to go out for food. While she waited for her dinner she looked through the other DVDs in her room. Many showed young girls, some more cartoonish than others, some showed monsters, some looked like classic dramas, some showed giant robots. She selected another DVD, “Witch Hunter Robin,” and popped in the first disk.

She almost ignored the ringing phone announcing that the Pizza delivery guy was downstairs. But, giving in to the groaning in her stomach, she hit pause, grabbed a $20 off her desk, threw it at the pizza guy, grabbed the box and ran back upstairs to see how Anon and Miho were going to trap their witch!

“Celeste, are you even paying attention to what I am telling you?”

She came back to reality.

Reality sucked.

Her boss, Larry, didn’t like last minute changes but Celeste didn’t really see the big deal. Even though it was for tomorrow, it was just half a day. She’d still be here in the morning to take care of returning phone calls and answering email.

“You know I don’t like last minute changes.” Larry said, Overweight, wrinkled white dress shirt, no tie. As far as she could tell Larry wore the same clothes to work every day of the week. From the looks of things he might well be sleeping in those same clothes. “What’s the big deal? Got a hot date for the weekend?” He gave her a look on which any good lawyer might have written an entire essay about sexual harassment.

Any good lawyer, what a joke.

At the end of her second year at George Mason Celeste was failing every class. She finally gave up and dropped out. She couldn’t really remember much of what she’d learned in those two years but she did learn that she was no where near smart enough to ever be a lawyer.

Celeste’s appendix had ruptured when she was 12 years old. The pain had been severe. The worst she’d ever felt. But her father’s reaction when she’d told her parents about dropping out of college had hurt even more.

He wasn’t the least bit surprised that she’d failed. He was more surprised that she’d lasted as long as she had. Her mother asked her when she planned to come back home and pick up where she left off with going to Cal Arts and becoming a dress designer. Her father told her that he had already made some calls to Cal Arts admissions, the month before, and that he thought she should be able to start next semester.

They had even planned out her failure!

She hadn’t spoken to either of them for three moths after that call. Then she saw the news about the earthquake. She called them right away but got no answer at home or on their cell phones. Then she got the call from a close family friend. She’d never see her parents again.  Not this side of heaven.

So she had stayed in Virginia.

Working at first for a Government contractor, then an insurance company, and now at Landsline accounting. Crunching numbers all day and watching anime all night. She wasn’t living life in the fast lane but still, she thought, she had it better than most these days.

“I’m going to an anime convention.”

It just came out! She hadn’t meant to say it but it just came out!

“Anime?” Larry barked at her, “What the hell is that? Is that like Tupperware or something?”

(Yes, just say yes) she thought to herself, but when she opened her mouth to yes what came out was, “No, it’s Japanese Animation.”

“Animation?” Larry said, “You mean like cartoons?”

Celeste didn’t answer.

“You want to take off early to go watch cartoons?” The look on Larry’s face was no longer one of promiscuity. He now looked at her the way people used to gawk at poor souls on display at the circus freak show. The original outsiders.

“Listen Celeste,” Larry continued, now not even looking at her but looking back to the monitor on his sloppy ramshackle desk, “I gave you Friday off. The whole day!”

“Gave me? It’s my vacation time,” she thought but, wisely, didn’t say anything out loud. 

“We’re very busy around here and I can’t have people taking off to watch cartoons.”

That was yesterday. So now Celeste found herself sitting in rush hour traffic on the beltway. The traffic had come to a complete stop and the sun beat down on the car. She looked at her left arm and wondered if she was starting to burn. 

She thought about the beach.

Not that she wanted to be at the beach but that that was where Tim was off to this weekend.

Celeste thought about their conversation last weekend. The last time she’d heard from him. Would it be the last time she spoke to him? She felt herself start to tear up and then, firmly, told herself there was no way she was going to waste any tears on that jerk!

“Hey babe!” Tim had greeted her when she got home from work last Friday. “Got some great news!”

So far in their relationship Tim’s great news had consisted of: 1, that he and some friends had scored tickets to a football game, for themselves, not for her; 2, some out of town friend was coming in for the weekend and they would be taking him to see the sights and paying for all his meals, admissions, and drinks, while he and Tim talked about old times and old girlfriends; and 3, he had planned another trip to Myrtle Beach for the two of them.

The trip to the beach had, at first, sounded like good news to her too but Celeste soon found herself alone as Tim spent the days on the links. Both Saturday and Sunday from sun up to sun down.

Celeste strolled along the boardwalk carefully navigating around the homeless, the rowdy teens, the drunks, and the tourist traps.

She poked into a couple of stores that seemed to have an oriental theme hoping to find some anime related merchandise but, other than some overpriced fake jade, she found nothing even slightly interesting.

She’d looked for something to eat that wasn’t deep fried and ended up just going back to the hotel where she ordered a fruit plate from room service and watched TV. “There’s no rice ball on a fruit plate.” She’d laughed to herself.

Tim came back around six smelling of sweat and beer. He went directly to the shower, thank God for small favors, changed, and then ushered her out to dinner. An Italian place that proudly featured the Bottomless Pasta Dish!

She picked at her bland and watery antipasto salad while Tim ate too much, drank too much, all the while talking nonstop about his golf games, and then took her back to the room for some rough sex. She had asked Tim to be gentler but, after a few beers, he only wanted it one way. His way.

One trip to the beach was bearable. The second one was torture as she just spent the entire day in the room rather than venturing out to the crowded dirty boardwalk again. Except for the trip to the bad Italian place she spent the entire night in the room as well.

Today’s “good news” was yet a third beach trip.

“You can spend the weekend lying in the sun all day and laying in my arms all night.” Tim Said.

How romantic. Just add in the Bottomless Pasta Dish and, she felt the bile rise in her throat.

“Tim,” Celeste said, “you know, I thought maybe we could do something a little different.”

“Well, Ok, if you’re into something kinky. But I don’t know how much energy I’ll have after being on the course all day.” Tim winked at her. He actually winked at her.

“What I meant,” Celeste ignored the wink, “was that there is a big convention in Baltimore this weekend. I thought we could go together. The web site and pictures from last year look like it’s a lot of fun.”

Celeste had been able to think of little else ever since she found out about the anime convention. A convention full of Outsiders like herself? The web page even said that the con was, “Of Otaku, By Otaku, and For Otaku!” A place where she could feel she belonged for the first time in her life? Could it really be like that?

“What kind of convention?” Tim asked.

(Well, here goes.) “It’s Japanese animation and culture.”

“Animation?” Tim said, “You mean like cartoons?”

“There not cartoons Tim!” She raised her voice.

“Yeah, I know,” Tim said, “You’ve told me many many times.”

She had tried, a few times, to get Tim into anime.

She had tried to share her love of anime with the man in her life. She tried fighting shows, action shows, spy shows, samurais, ninjas, pirates, she even tried the giant robots but all Tim could ever see when he looked at anime was cartoons. He couldn’t open his mind, even a little bit, to see the great stories, the drama, the laughter.

Celeste loved the stories, the characters, the magic, the drama, the comedy, things you couldn’t find in any other form of entertainment. At least she had never found them anywhere else. Sometimes she dreamed of being one of the magical girls she spent so many hours watching, admiring, sometimes even yearning. The feminine yet somehow very handsome men, the sexy busty girls, stories that could instantly take her away to another culture, another time, another world…

The sound of Tim’s sarcastic voice snapped her back to reality.

Reality sucked.

“You’d rather spend the weekend with a bunch of kids watching cartoons than lay out on the beach?”

“You know I can’t lay out.” Celeste said, “I burn in minutes!”

“So use lotion babe! I’ll even help you rub some on!”

“Tim, I’m serious.” “I want to go to the anime con this weekend.”

“I told you, I’ve already made our reservation at Myrtle.” “I’ve already got my tee times babe!”

“Tim,” Celeste spoke slowly and clearly, “I’m not going to the beach this weekend. I’m going to the anime con.”

“You’re going to give up a weekend at the beach with me to watch cartoons with a bunch of kids?”

“They’re not kids.” She said, “I mean sure, I guess there’ll be some kids there, but most of the crowd is our age.” “I want you to come with me.”

“No can do babe. I told you, I’ve already got my tee times. You’ll just have to go to your cartoon show some other time.”

“There isn’t any other time Tim. They only do this once a year!”

“That’s because no one would go twice!” Time yelled back at her. “I’m outta here. I’ll be by at five Friday morning to pick you up. My first tee is at ten!”

That was a week ago, and that was the last she heard from him. Would it be the last time she ever heard from him?

Would that be so bad?

The traffic crawled forward and she looked again at her left arm, now definitely beginning to burn in the late afternoon sun.

She passed the convention center as she drove to her hotel. She couldn’t believe the line of people. The line stretched all the way down the street and around the corner.

She parked at the hotel garage and decided to go right over and get registered for the convention before it filled up. She hoped she wasn’t already too late.

She walked passed the people in line, some of them dressed in bright colored costumes. She recognized most of the costumes. Rather than a costume, several girls wore cat ears and tails with their regular clothes. All of them looked excited. All of them looked happy. Everyone was with someone, most were in groups.

As always, Celeste was alone.

When she got to the end of the block she looked in dismay at the line that ran all the way down the next street. She walked to the next corner thinking, “I hope this doesn’t go all the way around the building!”

The line didn’t go all the way around the huge building, but it did go three quarters of the way around. At the end was a short overweight tired looking man holding a cardboard sign that said, “Line Ends Here.”

Celeste took her place in the long line and looked again at all the people. She heard snippets of conversations. Some talked about anime, some about the parties they hoped to attend, some about what to do for dinner. Celeste usually skipped breakfast, going straight from the gym to her office at Landsline Accounting. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t had anything to eat all day.

The long line moved quickly and, about an hour after arriving, Celeste found herself going through the big glass doors into the convention center. The air conditioner was working and Celeste welcomed the cool air on her face and now sun burned arms. The line worked its way up the stairs and then through a small maze of stanchions. There were twenty people behind makeshift counters registering the con goers.

Celeste came up the desk and told the young man that she wanted a three day pass. He asked for her ID. Celeste dug her purse out of wallet and pried the driver’s license out of the plastic case. She handed it to the young man who typed her name into his computer.

“Hmmm,” he said, “when did you register? Do you have your email?”

“I’m just registering now,” said Celeste, “I’ve never been here before.”

“Oh, sorry, we’re just doing pre reg tonight.” The young man replied.

“Pre reg?”

“Yeah, you had to register and pay online to pick up your badge tonight. You’ll have to come back in the morning to register at the door.”

Celeste felt drained but saw that there was no use arguing with the young man or anyone else here. They all seemed to know what was going on.

Everyone here was part of the club, she was still the outsider.

“Will there be a line like this in the morning?” She asked.

“Oh no. The Friday morning line is huge. You’ll want to get her early.”

Huge, she thought. Compared to a line that went three quarters of the way around the convention center? What did he consider huge?

She left the convention center and walked back to her car at the hotel. Since she hadn’t decided to come to the anime convention until just last week she wasn’t able to get the convention rate. But at least she was able to get a room just across the street for the center.

All around her were people in groups laughing, playing, still many in costumes.

Celeste wanted so much to join this club. They seemed to be like her, in her love for anime. But they also seemed to be nothing like her in that they were all outgoing, some loudly dressed, some loudly behaved. Some laughing, some dancing, all smiling at each other.

She gathered her bags from the trunk and walked down to the hotel. The line to check in was long, but at least it was all contained within the hotel lobby. This line moved much slower than the one across the street at the convention center.

She finally got to the desk. The lady behind the counter smiled at her. Her name tag said, “Phyllis.” Celeste handed the Phyllis her credit card and said she had a reservation.

“I’ll just need to see your driver’s license Ms. Nightenlane.”

Celeste looked at her wallet. She looked at the little plastic window where the unflattering picture from her driver’s license usually looked back out at her. She realized that she had left her driver’s license with the young man at the convention center.

“I left it with the guy at the convention center!”

“Oh,” Phyllis said, the pleasant smile running away from her face, “You’re with that group?” “Well, I’m sorry, but that’s the law. We can’t check you in without a driver’s license.”

“Can’t you just let me leave my bags in the room? I can run across the street and get my license and be right back?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, we can’t do that.”

Celeste took her credit card from Phyllis and marched out the door. She struggled to get her two bags past a noisy crowd of costumed guests as they were coming into the hotel.

Dragging one bag and carrying the other, Celeste walked back down the street and crossed at the light. Traffic was still heavy. She went to the big glass doors at the convention center and a guard stopped her.

“The line starts back there.” He said. Rudely pointing down the street.

“I need to get my license.” Said Celeste, “I left it here when I tried to register a few minutes ago.”

The guard just looked at her as if he didn’t understand a word she had said.

“The registration guy upstairs has my driver’s license.”

“Registration doesn’t start until tomorrow morning. This here’s just the pre reg.”

“I know!” Celeste said. “I was just here and I left my driver’s license with the pre reg guy upstairs.”

“Oh, Ok,” said the guard, “you need to go on up.”

Celeste dragged her bags up the stairs, went past the line, and found the same guy she had spoken to a few minutes before. He was busy with a couple of teenage girls.

“I like number four, but number twelve is cool too.”

They were looking over the twenty four badge designs, trying to decide which ones they wanted.

“What about number three?”

“Excuse me.” Said Celeste.

“No way! Are you serious?”

“I’m taking number twelve.”

“Excuse ME.”

“No fair! I wanted number twelve! We can’t both take the same badge.”

“EXCUSE ME!” Celeste yelled.

Everyone in the convention center stopped and looked at her for half a second, then they all went back to their own conversations.

“Ok, you take twelve and I’ll take three.”

“You’re not taking four?”

“I left my driver’s license here a few minutes ago.”

“You think I should take four?”

“If you’re not taking three then I’m taking three.”

“My Driver’s License?”

“Ok, I’ll take three and you take four.”

The young man handed the girls two badges and they walked off still talking and giggling.

Celeste stepped in front of an older man in who was dressed like Darth Vader. “I left my driver’s license here a few minutes ago.” Celeste said to the man behind the counter.

“The line starts outside.” Darth said, rudely.

“I just need to get my driver’s license.” Said Celeste.

“Oh, I remember you.” Said the young man behind the counter. “Registration doesn’t start until tomorrow. The line will be huge. You’ll want to get here early.”

“I’m not here to register. I left my driver’s license here when I spoke to you a few minutes ago.”

“Oh right. Let me see.” The young man looked off into the crowd for a minute. “Oh right, I gave it to lost and found.”

“Where is lost and found?” Celeste asked.

“You’ll have to check at the information desk.”

“Where is the information desk?”

“They won’t be set up until the con opens tomorrow but I think they’ll be in the hallway on the second floor.”

“But I need my driver’s license back tonight. Right now. So I can check into my hotel.”

“Oh, right. Let me call someone.” He picked up a walkie-talkie and said something Celeste couldn’t hear. “Just wait here for a minute.” He motioned for the Darth to come up and Celeste moved over a couple feet to wait.

The Darth Vader guy took ten minutes to register and pick out the badge he wanted. He was upset because they didn’t have any Star Wars themed badges. As the next people in line started over, Celeste stepped in front of them and asked again about her driver’s license.

“Were you in line?” The lady she’d stepped in front of asked.

“She was just standing there.” Said the man with her. This couple wasn’t in costume.

“I need to get my driver’s license.” Celeste said. “I left her a few minutes ago and someone’s supposed to be coming from lost and found. The hotel won’t let me check in without it!”

A young woman came up behind Celeste and tapped her on the shoulder. “Here you go!” She said, holding out Celeste’s driver’s license.

“Thank you so much!” Celeste said.

“No problem,” said the young woman, “enjoy the con!”

Placing her driver’s license back in her wallet and her wallet back into her purse, making sure she wasn’t leaving anything else behind, Celeste dragged her bags back down the stairs and to the street.

She waited for the light to change, cars zooming past on the crowded street, crossed over and went back to the hotel.

Phyllis was still the only one working behind the counter and the line at the desk looked exactly the same as when she had left. Although she was sure that couldn’t be the case. She took her place in the back of the line and waited.

Finally she got to the desk. No smile this time. Celeste handed Phyllis her driver’s license and credit card.

After several minutes of typing into her PC and looking through files, Phyllis looked up. “How many keys?” She asked.

“Just one,” said Celeste.

Phyllis gave her one key. The key was like a credit card. The same type they used at the hotel in Myrtle Beach where Tim had taken her.

“These are the rules for this hotel.” Phyllis said, handing Celeste a folded piece of paper. “No parties in the room, no loud noises, no running down the halls.”

Celeste didn’t say anything in return. She took her credit card, driver’s license and the room key. She left the copy of “the rules” on the desk and headed for the elevators.

There were at least ten people waiting for the elevators. One arrived and it was packed. Everyone got out and the people waiting started to file in. After the fourth person, the car looked full but they just kept squeezing in. In a moment, Celeste was the only one waiting.

“Come on in,” called someone from the back of the car, “we can fit one more!”

Celeste squeezed her way in, dragging her bags behind her. As she struggled to turn around someone said, “you’ve got to get all the way in or the doors won’t close.” She squeezed in a few more inches and the doors slid shut.

Finally she got to her room. She slid the key into the lock and the red light came on. The door remained locked. She tried again, same thing. After a few more tries, flipping the key over and trying it backwards as well, she gave up and went back to the elevator to go back down to the desk for a new key card.

She waited for the elevator. It finally arrived, this time so packed with people she didn’t even try to squeeze in this time. She just smiled and said she’d wait for the next one. The doors started to close and she pushed the down button again. The door reopened and everyone looked out at her. “Sorry.” She said.

She waited a few seconds, and then pushed the down button again. After a few minutes the same elevator reappeared, again packed full of people! 

“Oh well,” she thought, “I’m only on the third floor, I guess I can just walk down.” She looked around and saw a door at the end of the hallway. There was an exit sign over the door. Dragging her bags behind her she went into the stairwell and started down.

To her surprise there was a large group of people coming up the stairs toward her. They all had bags, suit cases, and or backpacks. Two guys were caring a large ice chest. A few of the girls had cat ears and tails. Celeste squeezed passed each person, careful not to step on anyone’s tail. Finally she reached the lobby.

The line at the desk still looked the same.

Celeste went around the line and up to the desk where she tried to get Phyllis’ attention. Celeste waived at her, but the Phyllis just ignored her. Celeste spoke up, “The key you gave me doesn’t work.”

Phyllis came over to her and took the key. She looked it over and handed it back to Celeste, saying, “You have to insert it this way. With the arrows on top pointing toward the door.” Without waiting for a reply she went back to the file she was looking through.

“I did insert it that way.” Celeste called out to her. “I tried it every different way and it doesn’t work.”

“Let me call someone to help you.” Phyllis continued looking through the file and then proceeded to check in the man that was waiting there. She gave him his keys, and then picked up the phone. After a couple of minutes she hung up and greeted the next person in line. An older man with a old blue fishing hat.

“Excuse me?” Said Celeste.

Phyllis looked over at her. “Someone will be here in a few minutes to help you.” She said.

As Celeste waited, Phyllis continued her work. The man in the fishing hat had asked for four keys. The next guest, a young girl in a school girl outfit that looked to be no more than 13, asked for eight keys! Phyllis didn’t ask any questions, she just counted out the keys.

After ten minutes, a large black muscular man came out from the door behind the desk. He looked at Phyllis and she pointed to Celeste.

He came around the counter and greeted Celeste. “I’m Mr. Baxter, hotel security. What seems to be the trouble?”

“My key won’t open the door to my room.” Celeste said.

“You have to insert it with the arrows on top pointing toward the door.”

“I did insert it that way. I tried it all different ways. It doesn’t work.”

Mr. Baxter looked down at Celeste. “Are you here with a group?”

“I’m here for the anime convention.”

“How many people are staying in your room?”

“Just me.”

Mr. Baxter continued to look down at Celeste. His look made her nervous. She felt as though she was trying to get away with something.

“Maybe you were at the wrong room.” Mr. Baxter said. “What’s your room number?”

Celeste gave him the little paper folder that held the key. The room number was clearly printed on the folder, 314.

“Are you sure you were at 314?” Asked Mr. Baxter.

“Of course I’m sure,” said Celeste, “the number was clear on the door.”

“Ok,” said Mr. Baxter, “no need to get defensive. Most of the time when someone says their key doesn’t work it’s because their using it wrong or they’re at the wrong door. Let’s go up and I’ll try the key.”

With Mr. Baxter of hotel security leading the way, Celeste dragged her bags back to the crowded elevator area. Now there were even more people waiting.

After a few minutes, they got on and went up to the third floor. Celeste had to check the sign as she got off the elevator to remember which way to go to her room.

“It’s this way.” Said Mr. Baxter.

They got to her room and Mr. Baxter inserted the key. The red light came on. He removed the key and tried it a few more times with the same result.

“You’ll have to have Phyllis reprogram the key. It doesn’t work.” He said. He then turned and went to the door at the end of the hall to go back down the stairs leaving Celeste standing in the hall outside her door with her bags.

Celeste looked down the hallway at the elevator area then decided to go ahead and, again, take the stairs down three levels to the lobby.

When she got to the lobby she saw that the line was much shorter. Phyllis was no where in sight but there was a young, good looking, black man checking people in. He seemed to have a smile for everyone and was getting people checked in at roughly twice the speed of Phyllis.

Celeste went around the line and up to the desk and, as he was just handing over a small stack of keys to a man dressed all in red Celeste called out, “Excuse me. Mr. Baxter said that I need to get my key reprogrammed!”

The young man came over to her and took the key. “What’s your room number please?” He asked. His name tag said, “Charles.”

“314.” Celeste said.

Charles punched in some information on his computer and ran the key though a device that looked to Celeste like a credit card reader. He handed the key back to her. “Here you go.”

She took the key back from Charles and again headed towards the elevators. This time it wasn’t as crowded and the wait was short.

She got to her room, inserted the key, (arrows up, pointed towards the door!), and the green light came on. She opened the door and finally entered her room.

The room was small, but it was clean. Celeste had a view of the parking lot. She unpacked her bags and looked at the clock next to the bed. The big red numbers showed 9:30.

Celeste checked the hotel directory and found the number for room service. She was starving! She ordered up a chicken Caesar salad a half carafe of white wine. As she waited for her food she set the alarm for 8:00 AM. She wanted to get up early to get a good spot in the huge line. She wondered again just how long the line would really be.

Celeste flipped through the TV channels but found nothing of interest. She booted up her laptop and found that the hotel had free wireless internet. She checked her email and then looked at some anime on YouTube. It wasn’t bad watching the anime in short 15 minute segments, but sometimes it was frustrating trying to find the next segment of an episode. Celeste soon lost herself in the anime.

An hour later her stomach started to growl. How long could it take them to make a salad? She called room service again and got a recording saying that they stopped serving at 10:00 PM but would be ready for breakfast starting at 7:00 AM. She hung up and called the front desk. Charles answered and told her that room service didn’t deliver after 10:00 and that, if she hadn’t gotten her salad by now it most certainly wasn’t coming. Charles suggested that she try one of the restaurants in the Inner Harbor, just a short walk down the street.

Celeste wasn’t comfortable walking around a strange city at night so she asked Charles for the number for Dominoes and ordered up a pizza instead. The pizza arrived 45 minutes later and Celeste dove in, finishing almost the entire pie.

She finally went to bed at 12:30.

She was awoken an hour later by the people next door coming in to their room. They were loud and, from the sound of it, there were at least eight people sharing the small room. They finally quieted down and Celeste got back to sleep around 2:00.

She was sleeping like a rock when the sound of her cell phone woke her. She looked at the clock. The big red numbers showed 5:05. Worried, Celeste scrambled for her phone.

“Hey babe!” Tim’s voice greeted her, “you gonna keep me waiting down here all morning? My first tee is at 10:00!”

“Tim,” Celeste said.

“Yeah babe!” Tim answered, “In the flesh. Let’s get going, I don’t want to miss my first tee!”

“Tim,” she said again.

“Uh, are you Ok? You didn’t just wake up did you?” From the sound of his voice she didn’t think his concern was for her, he confirmed this by saying, “I told you I was picking you up at five, my first tee is at ten!”

“Tim, I’m in Baltimore.”

“Baltimore? What the hell are you doing in Baltimore?” The concern completely gone now, he sounded angry.

Celeste looked at the clock, the big red numbers showed 5:06. She looked at the phone. She started to explain to Tim that she had told him she was going to the anime convention but instead, hit the end button and turned the phone off.

Her last thought as she dozed back off was that this really was the last time she would speak to Tim. The thought made her smile and sleep took her away.

She thought she heard music playing. So soft and light. She drifted in and out of sleep. Finally she woke to the sun light streaming in between the curtains. She glanced over at the clock, the big red numbers showed 10:14.

Celeste jumped up out of bed. 10:14! She looked at the clock. She could hear, just barely, the sound of music coming from the top of the clock. The alarm had gone off but had been turned down to low to wake her!

She rushed through a shower, got dressed, and hurried out of the hotel.

The elevator came quickly but was again jammed full of people. She took the stairs. This time no one was coming up, but there was a steady stream of people going down with her.

She started to cross the street and a car blasted it’s horn. The driver flipped her off and sped on down the road. Celeste went up to the light and waited to cross with a large group of people.

She could see that the line was again all the way down the street. But this time there seemed to be a second line, just outside the first. She asked and was told that the end of the line was in the opposite direction.

Confused, she went the other way and then realized that the line now wrapped around the entire convention center, twice. Huge, indeed.

Could all these people even fit inside?

Celeste took her place in the back of the long long line and waited.

Everyone seemed so happy. People smiling and talking and laughing. About half were in costume. The line crawled forward, much slower than it had last night.

It took her three hours to finally get inside.

She saw that, again, some twenty people were working to get everyone checked in. It was taking longer because everyone had to fill out the paperwork and pay for the registration.

Celeste took a clip board from a young man and filled out the registration form. She looked at a folding board where they were displaying all the badges. Her eyes settled on one that she didn’t recognize, but liked nonetheless. A magical girl with a sparkling wand. Number 17.

A young woman at the head of the line motioned for Celeste to go to one of the desks. A young man took her registration form and quickly entered the information into a computer.

“$45.00.” He said.

Celeste handed him her credit card and he swiped it through. After a minute he tried it again.

“Denied.” He said, handing the card back to Celeste. “Do you have another card?”

“Can I write a check?” Celeste asked.

“Sorry, cash or credit cards only.”

She couldn’t imagine why her card was being denied. She was no where near her limit. She dug through her purse and pulled out three $20’s. Luckily she had brought a hundred in cash.

The young man gave Celeste her change and she asked for badge number 17. The young man got the badge and attached a small multicolored sticker to the back. He handed it to Celeste along with a flimsy looking lanyard and a big plastic bag.

Celeste took the bag and excited moved away from the desk to look through the contents. She attached the lanyard to the badge and hung it around her neck. “Now I’m just like everyone else!”  She thought to herself. In the bag was a schedule of events, a program book giving details on all the events, an anime magazine, and several anime postcards. Celeste felt like she had finally arrived!

She made her way into the main part of the convention center, happily showing her badge to the people checking at the doors, and found a small coffee shop. She decided to get some breakfast and coffee, look through the program guide and schedule. As she paid $12 for a bagel and coffee she also decided to find out what was wrong with her credit card. She was supposed to have a three thousand dollar limit and had only used the card to buy gas on the way up and to check in to the hotel.

Using her cell phone she called the number on the back of the card. She keyed in all the information and navigated her way through all the prompts to speak to a live person.

“I see the problem.” The woman on the phone said. “You checked into the Day’s Inn last night?”

“That’s right.” Said Celeste. “But that shouldn’t have put me anywhere near my limit!”

“The hotel put a hold for three thousand dollars on your account.” The woman said.

“Three thousand dollars!” Celeste exclaimed. “That’s ridiculous. The room is only $250 a night and I’m only there for three nights!”

“Hotels usually put a hold for some extra money to cover room service.”

Room service? That was a joke, Celeste thought remembering the salad that never came.

“Some extra shouldn’t be three thousand dollars!” Celeste said.

“The hold should be released in fourteen business days.” The woman said.

“I can’t wait fourteen business days, I’m out of town!”

“Then you’ll have to get the hotel to release the hold. There’s nothing I can do.”

Celeste hung up. She looked over the schedule. There were so many things she wanted to do. But, with less than $50 left she knew she had to try and get her credit card fixed first.

Celeste looked around.

Everyone was smiling. Most were in costumes. People rushing back and forth down the long halls. Some standing in circles. Several people had lap tops and were watching anime in small groups. Everyone belonged. Everyone was with someone. Everyone except Celeste. She felt herself start to tear up.

“No way!” She said to herself. “I’m going to go over to the hotel and get this straightened out right now. Then I’m coming back here and having the time of my life, even if it kills me!”

Celeste went back out the doors where everyone else was coming in. She looked at her hotel right across the street but then, looking at the traffic, decided again to walk down and cross at the light.

Everyone else was going the other way.

As she waited to cross she thought about her parents. They were always so concerned for her safety.

She thought about her job.

She thought about Tim.

The light changed and Celeste stepped off the curb. A car making a right turn sped through inches from her body. The horn blared. The drive flipped her off and yelled, “out of the way weirdo!”

Celeste felt something inside break. She actually heard the sound. Like an old tea cup shattering on a cold hard floor.

Then she heard someone crying.

Then she realized it was her.

Tears streamed down her face as she crossed the street and started back for her hotel.

People stared then looked away. A small group gathered at the intersection.

“Did anyone get the plate number?” Celeste heard someone say.

“Why bother?” She thought to herself. She continued to sob uncontrollably as she made her way down the street. No one seemed to notice her, no one at all.

As she started to go into the hotel a small group of costumed people were coming out.

“Are you Ok?” One of the men asked her.

Celeste nodded but her tears wouldn’t stop.

“Wait.” Said the man.

Celeste looked and saw that there were two men and two women in the group. They all wore bright costumes that sparkled in the mid day sun.

The man who had spoken came toward her. Celeste backed up.

“It’s Ok.” He said. “I want to help you.”

Celeste saw the concern in his eyes but then, what could he possibly do? She just shook her head.

Then the man did the most unexpected thing.

He hugged her.

He hugged her hard and pulled her close. He whispered in her ear. “I don’t know what happened. But I want you to know that I care. My friends care. And, even though we don’t know you, there are twenty thousand people here this weekend that all care about you and love you.”

Celeste pulled back. She looked at the man and saw that there were tears in his eyes. She saw that his friends all now looked very solemn.

“My name is Paul.” He said. “This is Greg, Sharon and Cathy.”

Celeste wiped her eyes. “I’m Celeste.” She said. The hotel put a hold on my credit card for three thousand dollars and now I have less than fifty bucks to survive for the weekend!

“Well, let’s get that fixed right now!” Paul said. He took Celeste’s hand and led her into the hotel, his friends following along behind smiling.

No one was at the front desk. Paul went around the counter and opened a drawer. He glanced up to his friends as he looked through the drawer’s contents, they nodded.

Paul came back around the counter.

“It’s Ok,” Paul said. “Everything is taken care of now.”

“What did you do?” Asked Celeste.

“He took care of everything!” Said Greg, “He did the same thing for me a while back. You don’t need to worry.”

“Say,” Sharon spoke up, “Do you have a costume?”

“What?” Celeste felt her head spinning. She didn’t know what was going on. What could this stranger have done behind the hotel desk to fix her credit card? She hadn’t told him the credit card number, she hadn’t even told him her last name!

“A costume?” Sharon repeated. “See, we had a friend that was supposed to join us here this year but she’s still in the hospital. They say she will make a full recovery.”

Sharon smiled, her friends smiled as well but also seemed a little disappointed.

“Wait,” Celeste said. She took her cell phone from her purse and pushed redial. She dug the credit card out of her wallet and entered the numbers. Paul smiled at Greg. Celeste punched in her number and the automated voice confirmed that he had three thousand dollars available credit and a zero balance.

“Yeah!” Said Cathy, still smiling. “You’d be a perfect fit!  It’s a magical girl outfit!”

A magical girl outfit? Celeste thought, that would be perfect. But she didn’t even know these people! How could she borrow an outfit from them?

“Come on up and try it on,” Cathy said, “Won’t you?”

Celeste heard herself saying Ok. Cathy took her hand and they headed towards the elevators. Celeste’s head was spinning. Who were these people? What was she doing?

An elevator opened and a bunch of people got out. Celeste and the others got in and Greg hit number 24. The top floor of the hotel.

They went down the hall and Paul used his key to open the double doors. The room was huge!

“We always get a big suite, so we have plenty of room for everyone.” Paul said.

They went in. Celeste saw that there were two bedrooms with double beds in each. A large living room in between the two bedrooms with a huge sofa.

Cathy took Celeste into one of the bedrooms and took a garment bag out of the closet. As she opened the bag Celeste saw the costume. A beautiful blue and green dress with lots of lace and frills. Bright green slippers.

“And,” Cathy said, “this!” She reached to the bottom of the bag and brought out a long silver and gold wand. The wand sparkled even in the dim light in the bedroom.

“What do you think?” asked Sharon.

Her voice startled Celeste who was mesmerized by the costume.

“It’s beautiful.” Celeste said. “But I couldn’t borrow this, I don’t even know you.”

“It would be a shame for the costume to go to waste.” Said Greg. Celeste saw that he and Paul were standing behind Sharon in the doorway.

Cathy moved to close the door. “At least try it on?” She asked.

Celeste nodded. She took off her pants and blouse and started to lay them on the bed.

“Let me take those.” Cathy said. Celeste saw that her clothes had pizza sauce stains all over them. Some of still looked wet!

“Where did those come from?” she thought to herself. Had she been that sloppy with the pizza last night? She had been hungry.

“You must think I’m a pig!” Celeste said.

Cathy just smiled and took her stained clothes into the bathroom.

The dress went on with no effort. It was a perfect fit, as were the shoes. When Celeste picked up the wand she felt like she was transforming into a real magical girl.

She looked at herself in the mirror. A beautiful magical girl smiled back from the mirror. “Is that really me?” Celeste thought to herself.

“It’s perfect!” Said Cathy.  “Let’s show them.” She opened the door and Celeste walked out into the living room.

Paul, Greg, and Sharon all stood up and looked at her. There faces were all smiles and they applauded. They actually stood there clapping and smiling. Celeste felt wonderful! She couldn’t think of a time when she had every felt better!

“Well,” said Greg, “Let’s go to the con!” And they all headed out.

“Have you looked over the schedule?” Greg asked Celeste.

“Just a little,” She answered, “This is my first time here and I really don’t know what’s going on. Everything looks like so much fun.”

“Everything is so much fun!” Said Paul. “Hang out with us, we’ll show you what a good con has to offer.”

They watched anime, went to a panel on costume design, went to another hosted by the director of some of Celeste’s favorite programs. They watched the Anime Music Video contest and voted for their favorites in each category.

“Let’s get something to eat before the Masquerade.” Said Paul. “Are you hungry?” He asked Celeste.

She hadn’t even thought about food all day! She didn’t really feel hungry but nodded her head yes.

“The food in the convention center is Ok,” said Cathy, “But let’s head over the inner harbor for some fresh fish?”

“Sounds great!” Said Sharon.

“We’ve got three hours before the Masquerade starts.” Greg said. “Let’s eat and then take a look at the dealer room?”

The group left the convention center and walked to the inner harbor. There were walkways going over the streets so they didn’t have to worry about traffic. Celeste had never been here before but had heard about all the good food from some co-workers. Paul seemed to know exactly where he was going and led the group up some stairs to a food court.

“Grab a table and I’ll bring the food.” He said.

In a few minutes Paul came up carrying two trays loaded with food and five large sodas.

Celeste dug in her purse and brought out a twenty.

“Put that away!” Said Paul, “I’ve got everyone covered.”

Celeste put the money back in her purse but felt uncomfortable. Attending the con she was having so much fun she hadn’t stopped to think. Now that she did she wondered again just who these people were and what she was doing with them. Sharon seemed to since her discomfort.

“We’re your friends Celeste.” Sharon said. “I know we don’t know each other but you need some friends right now and we’re one short so, just hang with us, Ok?”

Celeste smiled and nodded yes. Why not? She thought to herself, why not? She picked up a piece of fried fish, it was delicious!

After dinner they went back to the con and watched the Masquerade. The line to get in was long but it moved quickly and, despite the crowd, they got good seats.

Celeste was amazed at the number of people that put on skits. Some were really funny, some were really dumb, but all them were fun to watch.

After the Masquerade they went through the dealer’s room. There were hundreds of stalls selling anime, dvds, manga, books, art work, weapons, and a great number of things Celeste had never seen before. They all bought several items and left carrying their bags of treasures.

“Let’s drop these at the room, get a little rest, and come back for the dance.” Cathy suggested.

They made their way out of the con and went down the street to cross at the light. Even though it was getting dark, Celeste noticed a large oil stain near the curb where they crossed. No one else paid any attention.

When they got on the elevator Celeste hit number 3.

“I’ve got an idea.” Said Greg, “Why don’t you share our room for the rest of the con?”

Celeste was stunned. Share a room with a bunch of strangers? No way!

“It’s Ok,” said Sharon, “We girls have one side and the guys have the other.” “You’ll have plenty of privacy.”

Celeste declined but allowed the group to walk her to her room. When she put the card key in the door the red lights blinked. She tried again, turning the key over and around, more red lights.

“Celeste,” Paul said, “come on up with us. You don’t need this frustration.”

“But,” said Celeste, “my stuff is in there and…” She thought again, why not? What stuff was in there that was more important than her new friends? She went with them back to the elevator and up to the room.

They went into the big room and Sharon led Celeste to the girls bedroom. They piled their bags in a corner and Celeste laid down on one of the beds. She was exhausted, but not really tired. She felt so alive, so invigorative, so animated. She smiled to herself.

Celeste started to get up and felt a sharp pain in her side. She moaned and lay back down. Sharon and Kathy rushed over to the bed. Celeste felt dizzy, the room was spinning, and the lights were getting brighter and brighter. She heard Kathy say, “It’s looks like she’s going to make it after all.”

Celeste couldn’t see anything but a bright white light above her head. She sensed someone at her side, “What happened?” she asked. She tried to sit up but again felt the pain in her side.

“It’s Ok,” a girls voice next to her, “Your going to be fine.”

Celeste’s vision cleared and she saw that she was in a bed with metal rails on the side. A small window in the corner of the room showed that is was dark out.

“The dance!” She said, again trying to get up.”

“Just relax,” The young girl next to her was dressed as nurse.

A tall white man came into the room. He was wearing a lab coat.

“She’s awake Doctor.” Said the girl in the nurse’s uniform.

“Good, good,” said the man. “Hello Celeste, I’m Doctor Breamer.”

Celeste looked around confused.

The Doctor shined a light in her eyes and asked her to follow it as he moved it back and forth. “Good, good,” he said again, “We thought for a while there that we were going to lose you. You took quite a hard hit.”

“You’ve been in an accident. You were run over trying to cross the street yesterday. Do you remember?”

For the next half an hour Celeste answered questions. Her name, her address, no living relatives, yes she had insurance, no drug allergies, no illegal drug use. Finally the nurse, (I guess she wasn’t cosplaying a nurse), thought Celeste, came in and gave her a shot. She turned down the lights and showed Celeste how to use the call button.

Celeste lay there in the darkened room. Her eyes filled with tears. Not from the pain in her side, which was subsiding into a haze, but for her new friends whom, now, she realized were nothing more than a drug and pain induced hallucination.

She was, as usual, alone.

She drifted in and out of sleep.

She heard someone come into the room.

She looked over, expecting another nurse or maybe Doctor Breamer again.

“Hello Celeste.” Paul said.

“Oh, that shot must have been more morphine,” Celeste said out loud.

Paul smiled. “We’re all glad that you’re going to be Ok.” He said. “I just wanted you to know that what I said was true and what we did today was real, even if you weren’t really there.”

“I don’t understand.” Said Celeste.

Paul smiled. “What I said was true. You’re not alone. There are twenty thousand people here this weekend that all care about you and love you.” “Greg, Sharon and Cathy all said to send their love too.”  “I have to go now and, hopefully, you won’t be seeing me again for a long long time.” “But, I wanted you to have this.”

Paul handed Celeste the magic wand that went with the magical girl costume they had let her wear.

The car that ran over Celeste Nightingale hadn’t killed her. It had stopped her from going to the con, but not from experiencing the con. But, most importantly of all, it had given birth to Magical Girl Celeste. For that was how she thought of herself from that moment on. She wasn’t alone, she wasn’t without her powers, and she always carried with her the wand that Paul had given her.

See you at the con!