Hank's Place

Back in the day My Lovely Wife Natalie and I lived in Minnesota (foreshadowing: the home of the Artist Who Is Once Again Known As Prince). MLWN had a job that required her to, from time to time, get on planes and fly to other cities. Being the loving husband that I am I would drop her off and pick her up. I would even meet her at the gate (you can tell it's a story from long, long ago since I could get to the gate to meet her) instead of idling outside at the curb. On one such day I was waiting for her flight from LAX to come in. I noticed that amongst the sparse crowd waiting for the plane was a really Big Guy wearing a black overcoat with a strange emblem afixed to it (this was in the days when the Artist Who Is Once Again Known As Prince was still just Prince. Later I learned, along with everyone else, that the symbol on this guy's coat was the Glyph by which the Artist Who Is Once Again Known As Prince would someday want to be known). Big Guy was pacing like he was really nervous and talking into a cell phone (that's what really drew my attention, it being in the early days of cell phones). Eventually the DC10 pulled up to the gate. As soon as the gate agent opened the door to the jet-way Big Guy bolted down to the plane. Meanwhile one of those really irritating electric old-people-ferrying cars backed up right to the opening of the jet-way door. Eventually Big Guy and Another Big Guy (in an identical coat and glyph pin) emerged from the jet-way with the World's Smallest Pop Star between them. They all plopped onto the cart and drove off. In a fit of sanity I managed to not yell out the question that was on the tip of my tongue: "Hey! Aren't you Michael Jackson?" I like to think that if it had only been Big Guy instead of Big Guy and Another Big Guy I would have said it, but I really didn't want to get pushed down by one or more body guards. To top it all off MLWN didn't even know that Artist Who Is Once Again Known As Prince was even on the plane.