But, what if?

When I was in high school, living in Bend, my mom worked in the emergency room of the only hospital in town. Early one evening, a call came in on the nurse hotline and she was the one who answered. The man on the other line briskly stated that he was a very famous actor and had fallen while running out in Eastern Oregon. He demanded that the best plastic surgeon that the hospital had come in and fix the cut that he had sustained on his face. My mom scoffed and told the actor that the plastic surgeon would not come in to work on demand.

"Miss," he said. "I am W.H. (keep reading and you may figure it out, if you follow actors and local theater) Do you know who I am?"

"Sir, I don't care who you are," my mom replied. "The doctor is off and, I'm telling you, she's not going to come in."

"I'm going to fly in, and when I get there, you'll see who I am, then you'll feel silly for not believing me." The actor hung up the phone and my mom moved on to other things.

Several hours later, sure enough, W.H. walked into the emergency room and as my mom attended to him and introduced herself, the actor asked, "do you believe me now?"

"I never doubted you were who you said you were," she said. "But this is Bend, Oregon, not Hollywood, and the 'best' doctors don't rush in to work when another doctor is already on duty." The two were considerate to each other, but it was a bit tense for awhile. They eventually began to talk more freely and my mom told W.H. that her daughter wanted to be an actor. His suggestion was to take acting classes (I don't recall what else he said). I couldn't believe he was there and she hadn't called me.

By the time he left, the two were able to laugh with each other, and he later sent a bouquet of flowers and a letter of thanks, which my mom let me have (and I still have). It was quite a memorable experience for the both of them.

Fast forward several years. I am living in Portland, going to PSU. Me and a friend of mine that I had met in the New Play Development class, chat during a break between classes. We haven't seen each other in awhile. Turns out, he's just been cast in an upcoming play at ART, with none other than W.H. I am absolutely thrilled for P.W. What an amazing opportunity! And I had nearly forgotten of my mom's experience with W.H. but something in our conversation triggered the story and I told it to P.W. He said that W.H hurt mentioned that he had property in Eastern Oregon, but had never said anything about ever getting hurt.

I knew it would be pushing it to ask him if there was any way that I could somehow meet W.H. I never asked, but I still wish I would have. If for no other reason then to say, "hey, remember when you went to the hospital in Bend and you had that bitchy nurse? That was my mom!"

I went to see the play. Waited for P.W. after the show. Spoke with him for a bit. Wanted to wait longer to see if I could catch W.H., but didn't want to seem like a star struck fan, waiting with nothing to do, never to see him leave, so I left.

Fast forward a month or so after seeing the play. My mom and I were visiting some friends and somehow it comes up that W.H. was in a play in Portland. My mom recalls her experience with the actor to our friends and at the end of it she adds, "yeah, he told me to send his secretary a letter about Aislinn and he would see what he could do."

"What!" I bolted up right. "You never told me that? Did he really?"

"Yeah, but I just thought he was saying that to be nice. I didn't think he would ever follow up with it."

"But, mom!" I was shocked and distraught. "What if he did? We'll never know." I was so upset. W.H. gave my mom his secretary's information and said to send her a letter. Sure, I see my mom's point. He's a famous actor and incredibly busy and he most likely wouldn't have followed up. But, what if he had?

But, what if?

Love,
Aislinn