3:54pm
As the heavy hotel room door closed behind her, Jeannie felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Finally.
She glanced around. The room was nicer than she’d expected, with a computer desk and chair and a big flat screen HD tv. More of the same warm earth tones from the lobby, a clean white duvet on the bed, and Jeannie was glad to see a full-length mirror.
Her job as a trainer required her to travel several times each year and Jeannie had developed a routine. She always brought earplugs, her own hairdryer, a nightlight, and Tazo Passion herbal tea bags. She had airline-approved plastic bags and 3oz containers for liquids.
She had learned it was much better to unpack right away; it helped her settle in and be comfortable. Putting away toiletries and makeup and hanging clothes up immediately also helped her discover if she’d accidentally forgotten anything so she could take care of it first thing.
But fuck all that.
Jeannie left the suitcase standing inside the door and flopped face down on the nearest bed.
4:17pm
A loud knock on the door woke Jeannie.
“Maintenance!”
What? She raised her head up off the drool spot on her pillow. Oh, right, the refrigerator.
She moved the suitcase out of the way and opened the door.
“Hello,” Jeannie said to the tall man with khaki pants and a dark gray work shirt. His gold name tag read ‘Tom’.
He wheeled the little refrigerator in on a dolly and put it next to the dresser.
“Good afternoon,” he said.
“Thanks so much for this,” Jeannie said. “I’m so glad to get a refrigerator.”
“Ice bucket just doesn’t do it, huh?” he said, and reached behind the dresser to plug it in.
Jeannie laughed politely.
“There you go, you’re all set.” Tom stood up.
“Oh, hey, can I ask you a question?” Jeannie said.
“You already did!” Tom grinned at her.
Oh boy, a clever one.
“Ha ha. So, this weekend, there’s a convention in the hotel?”
“Oh yeah, big convention. Takes over the whole hotel.” He looked at her pink sneakers, her jeans, her pink boatneck sweater. “You’ll be checking out before then? You’ll miss all the fun!”
“No, I’ll be here.”
“Oh. Well, it’s possible you’ll run into some of the celebrities, they usually all stay here at the hotel.”
Celebrities? “Really? Cool, do you know which celebrities?”
He laughed. “Oh, no one I would have ever heard of. I’m not really into those kinds of movies.”
Jeannie frowned. “The front desk guy said they were scary?”
“Well, sure - I mean they have scary costumes, and it’s all horror related, you know. But everyone’s always really nice. I actually volunteered to come in and work overtime this weekend. It’s always a great bunch of people.”
“Okay,” Jeannie nodded, more confused than ever. What kind of weird convention about horror movies wouldn’t have anyone famous? She’d heard of plenty of mainstream horror movies playing in theaters. Even if it wasn’t really her thing. “Thanks again, I appreciate it.”
