by Norma Best Boucher
When I retired from teaching high school English and moved to Florida with my husband, I was still young. I decided that I wanted to do a variety of jobs that were different and interesting. One of those jobs was as a security officer at Port Canaveral for the Wonder ship owned by Disney Cruise Lines. We never boarded the ship but handled the security at the terminal. To remain alert, we rotated jobs throughout our shifts.
I pushed the large suitcase through the baggage opening to the X-ray scanner and looked up to the passenger with a welcoming smile.
Three feet from me across the conveyor belt was a handsome black man.
Quite taken aback, I said, “I know you.”
“Yes,” he answered with his signature perfect diction baritone voice. “I’m an actor.”
Quite starstruck I clumsily added, “And a very good one, too.”
TV star of Homicide: Life on the Street, movie star of Glory and one of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” for 1997 in PEOPLE magazine, Andre Braugher was, if even for only a few seconds, up close and personal.
A snapshot memory of his face and voice remains with me today. I guess that kind of vivid impression on people is what makes someone a star.
Sometimes I staffed the escalator. I especially liked that job because I saw every one of the over 2,000 passengers as they disembarked and went through customs.
I first saw him at the top of the escalator. He was talking with his two young daughters. Because I was scanning the area to be sure passengers were safe and following the rules, I didn’t see him again until he was right next to me. When I looked up, he was looking straight at me. He smiled a handsome smile, and said, “Hello.”
Of course, once again I was starstruck but managed a smile and a friendly “Hello” back to him.
The first time I saw Joe Namath was when my husband took me to Boston College to see the Boston Patriots play the New York Jets. The two things I remember about that experience are that I nearly froze to death and that Broadway Joe ran his own touchdown.
Although on this particular day I had only that brief encounter at the escalator with Namath, I remember the eye contact he made with me that made me feel special.
When he reached the bottom of the escalator, the stevedores taking luggage were all yelling at him. “Hey, Joe, your Alabama won yesterday.”
“Hey, Joe.”
“Hey, Joe.”
Broadway Joe shook the hand of every one of those 15 stevedores. He looked each of them straight in the eye just as he had done with me.
Now, that is stardom, charisma…class.
Many different types of passengers go on cruises, but on this particular cruise I noticed a few very large, long-haired, dare I say scruffy looking men. They came off the ship with their families. I didn’t have much time to think about this except to acknowledge that they seemed unusual for a typical Disney cruise.
Several security officers guarded the gangway when passengers disembarked, but a lone officer had to stay at the post until a ship crew member closed the ship’s gangway door.
On this particular day I was the lone officer on that duty.
I leaned into a corner against a wall relaxing. I had been standing for the last three hours.
Suddenly, a young very tall, muscular, long blond haired giant of a man ran down the gangway. He stopped with a low jump and assumed a stance of power with legs spread, arm muscles flexed and fists clenched. With a grimaced expression and glaring eyes, he scanned the empty hallway.
Then he saw me. Our eyes met. My 5’2″ body was frozen to the spot, and my one split second thought was,
“I’m dead.”
Seeing my stiffened body and the look of complete terror on my face, the man relaxed his muscles, removed the glare from his eyes, and smiled a very handsome smile.
“Hi,” he said to me.
Still in my flight mode, I answered with what was meant to be a “Hi,” but what came out as a rather high pitched, “Squeak.”
He motioned with his right arm toward the doorway. A beautiful young blonde woman and a little blonde girl came out onto the gangway.
The three disappeared down the hallway with each of them holding a hand of the little girl.
I had no idea what had just happened and couldn’t wait to share the experience with a co-worker.
“Didn’t they tell you?” he asked.
“Tell me what?” I questioned.
“The WWE was on board this cruise.”
“The WW what?”
“You know, World Wrestling Entertainment.”
With mouth agape – OMG!
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Hi Norma, I just wanted to say I loved this story of brief encounters. Once on an airplane, I came face-to-face with Martin Sheen during the heyday of West Wing. He smiled; I managed not to say, “Mr. President.” Later I watched him at the luggage carousel with friends. He had completely tamped down his star power and so was left alone.
I enjoyed our own brief encounter and conversation at the Cocoa book fair. I’ve bookmarked your column and will drop by from time to time to see what’s up in your world. Hope you enjoy the novel.
Terri