Fanatic Fan

I have a fan.

No, not that fan you use as an attempt to get rid of heat, usually at some party. But a fan every celebrity has. It makes me feel like Angelina Jolie indeed, only even better, for I don't have to do nude scenes to gain recognition.

This fan - a mother of teenage children who also has passion for good food - is an avid reader of my travel and food columns. She has kept calling me to meet up but since my hectic traveling schedule, I still haven't been able to meet her.

I should have met her last week, though, but Jakarta International Film Festival with all the 12 tickets I had bought made me have to cancel the appointment. I did some white lying to her saying that I was assigned to cover the event for the newspaper. It's not a very nice thing to do to my first and perhaps the only fan I would have in this life time, of course. But on my defence, I've never had any fans that I don't know how to treat them properly.

However, she didn't give up so easily. Some time last week she called me again and asked where would I watch the movie on Saturday night. When I told her I was gonna be at Jakarta Theater, never had I thought she would really follow me there. And eventhough she had said that she would, I didn't think she would really be there to see me for a short while before the movie.

Little did I know about fans, apparently, though I've seen examples from the death of John Lennon to the act of some lunatic fan who during 26 years of age has gone through 30 times of plastic surgeries for the sake of having a famous face.

When I was frantically chewing a pizza between movies at a small cafe located few flights down the theater, my cellphone rang. It was her. Picking it up, she told me she was already at Jakarta Theater and asking where I was. Oh my, she was really there! Instead of rushing to finish my pizza, I took my time at that little Parisian cafe chatting with a friend and smoking the minutes away. Until another call from her urgently asking why hadn't I gone up to the theater.

What a demanding fan!

She also asked what movie I would watch. She mentioned a title, but when I denied it's not the one I was going to watch, later I only found out that she bought a ticket for the same movie I did. When I went up, she - along with a bundle of a teenage kid and a husband - were already waiting at the end of the elevator.

She was surprise of how young I was, because according to her, whenever she read my writings, they seemed to be written by an old lady. (Thank you very much!) We didn't have the chance to talk much, for the movie had started that we had to hurry going inside the cinema. But all through the movie and before we said goodbye that night, she reminded me again to keep my promise to meet her some time to eat out.

Till now I still can't hold my grin whenever I recall the fact that I have my very own fan who stalked me. It's just hillarious! At least one day I can tell my grandchildren: "I remember the day I had a stalking fan..."