Chalky, Dufus & Shirt
The launch
of the new Sarah Jane Smith audio series was being marked by the first two
stories, by SJS co-creators Terrance Dicks & Barry Letts, being released
simultaneously. Seventh Galaxy therefore invited both to the shop for a signing
of the new CDs. Having failed to get Barry’s signature on a previous occasion
(see CDS...Meet
Tewwance, Wichard and Sawah Jane ), our chums
decided to attend.
“Will
Barry Letts be there this time ?”, worried Chalky aloud, not wishing to trudge
all the way up to Barking just to meet Terrance again.
Being
unable to answer this question (which was probably rhetorical anyway), Dufus
and Shirt pretended not to hear him.
However,
on reaching the shop, it was the case that both Terrance and Barry were there,
along with music maestro David Darlington, SJS guest star Mark Donovan, and
Sarah-Jane ‘companion’ Jeremy James (the artist formerly known as Jez Fielder).
"Wasn't
Mark Donovan in the queue for Brian Blessed last week?", asked Chalky,
amazed at the sudden change-around.
Shirt,
however, was moaning – “Wish I'd known Jeremy James was going to be here, I'd
have brought covers for ‘The Marian Conspiracy’ & ‘Bloodtide’ ".
Only a few
minutes late, and the queue started moving.
Chalky was
first to meet the guests, and just about managed not to mention that he had
once mistaken a corpulent woman in a car for Terrance at Longleat.
Dufus had
a similarly standard move through, with no bungee moments to report.
However,
as Shirt handed his “Paradise of Death” cover to Mr. Letts, a
Cusickesque-flashback occurred.
Barry
Letts began signing Shirt's cover to Dufus, before realising and panicking, and
then managed to change it. Moving on,
Shirt
continued his pattern of offering an unusual item – namely a "The Baker
Street Irregulars" book to Mr. Dicks (its author). David Darlington was
very interested in this, annoying the man behind Shirt in the queue, as the
queue was held up whilst Mr. Darlington flicked through said work of fiction.
Shirt
finally left the ire of the man behind, rejoining Chalky and Dufus outside the
shop, where after a minimum of stops, they wended their ways home.
[PL]