Star One 2004

Photo with Paul and Michael

 

    

Photo of all three of us, and details of them only

 

This time I was near the front of the queue. As Paul approached, we could hear him joking with his minder. "Who on earth would pay to have a photo of Michael Keating?"

"Me, for one!" I said. He gave me a startled look.

In front of me was a young blonde woman beautifully dressed as Soolin. (You can see a rear view of her on the Wobblevision of Gold made at the con, here.) I peeped round the door when she went in to have her photo taken. Paul asked Michael if he recognised her and Michael looked at her thoughtfully. "One of the girls … Ah yes! It's Soolin!"

"Do you know where Chris Boucher got the name 'Soolin'?" Paul asked. Michael and 'Soolin' shook their heads and Paul explained that Chris told him he'd been watching Dallas and that it was a contraction of Sue-Ellen. I winced.

Then it was my turn. When Michael saw me, he smiled and asked solicitously—possibly remembering from the dinner that I was jetlagged, "Did you sleep well?''

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask, Michael? Do you snore?"

I laughed, and the photographer promptly took the photo. Paul then said, "I forgot to pull in my paunch, but it hardly matters with Michael here." Hardly fair given how trim and fit Michael looks.