Queen Norma
By Jenny Butler
Norma read the invitation for the fiftieth time that hour;
To: Norma Willes (her last name was Wills, just a minor misspelling)
You are cordially invited to participate in the 1st annual
National Science Fiction convention…
The remainder of the letter gave the details of where, when, how, and why.
This was what Norma had been waiting for for decades.
She glanced from the invitation to the mirror, making last minute adjustments. She surveyed herself. The shimmer of her costume had forfeited its luster for a washed out brilliancy. The stiff folds of her skirt faded to limp creases. The curve hugging outfit once a testament to well formed youth, now seemed to groan under its herculean task of supporting an aging physique determined to let gravity drag it to her knees. Norma didn’t seem to notice the changes years of life had stamped on her body. She carefully removed her galactic tiara and placed it in her purse.
She straitened her silver hair. At one time she had sable curls. Her once smooth cheeks were now a life’s road map; full lips now thin and colorless. But this didn’t matter. Norma’s excitement ignored the vast changes. She glanced at her 22yr old image on the promotional poster lovingly tacked to the wall facing her bed. She was suggestively posed on the alien throne, begging for help from her savior-astronaut from planet earth. Starring in “Lost in the Cosmos” had been the highlight of her life.
It was time. She gathered her things, gave a once over in the mirror, and carefully put on her coat, making sure to cover her stunning costume. No need to cause a panic of fans at the bus stop. She left the box she called home and practiced her stately swagger on the way to her ride.
Norma boarded the bus and smiled at driver Mike before taking her seat. The bus was always a tight fit on Saturdays. The hum of activity moving on and off at each stop didn’t bother her, though. She was in a nostalgic coma, she was 22 again. The queen of Planet K. She was one part stately ruler, one part damsel in distress. Captain Vince was her rescuer and forbidden love. It was wonderful. The best thing she had ever done. It was the jewel she kept locked and ever present in the back of her world where realities like B-ratings, limited release and poor audience response couldn’t hurt it. Her memory kept the movie alive and well while the film was left in an anonymous warehouse to rancor in dust and cobwebs.
But now, after all these years, Norma was no longer a faceless member of the crowd. Now she would be recognized for who she really was; Zorna, supreme ruler and queen of Planet K.
She tripped back into reality in time to make her stop. She exited the bus, crossed the street and entered the massive convention center. Norma was in a new world of bright lights, interstellar displays, and table after table of exhibits, each for a particular Sci Fi movie. Young men in black t-shirts seemed to be everywhere, busily talking into cell phones and walkie talkies. They were the ones in charge here. One of the t-shirt boys nearly ran over Norma but pulled up short when he finally decided to pay attention and stop ogling the leggy alien fem fatale across the floor.
Norma spoke before he did. “Can you tell me where I will be stationed…I’m queen Zorna…from “Lost in the Cosmos”? She took out the invitation and handed it to the t-shirt boy. He looked at it but didn’t seem to know what to do or say.
“Hold on, let me call this in.” He flipped open his cell phone and made a call. For the next 7 minutes as the same request was made to at least 3 different people on the other end of the line, Norma waited patiently, if not a little perplexed herself. This was a major motion picture. How could they not know where she would be? They should know who she was.
The phone call ended. “This way,” he motioned for her to follow. She walked fast to keep up with her guide as he passed a long row of tables, a second row of tables and then a third row. They traveled down the third row and stopped at the last table.
“Yeah, here you go. Pens are for autographs, bathrooms right behind you, food at the concession through those doors. Have fun.” And with that the t-shirt clad guide sped off in the direction they had come. No one would have dared to treat Queen Zorna like that…once upon a time.
Last table in the last row. Norma looked at her plain, austere, table. The only decoration being an exact replica of the poster she worshiped at home propped up on an easel and grossly overshadowed by oversized exhibits from the tables across the aisle. Not ideal, but she was sure the hoards of fans would find her. She was here. She was queen once again. She quickly pulled out her tiara and gently placed it on her head. She removed her coat, revealing all her long-gone glory, took her seat and waited for the admirers to come to her.
The convention started and soon a constant flow of the unreal milled around the center. Characters and costumes wove in and out of aisles while bigger exhibits had demonstrations of the fantastic. People walked up and down, stopping by tables, gushing over current and former stars, squealing for pictures and autographs.
Norma was a statue. The pens lined up in perfect precision. The poster was silent and unchanging. The human river flowed past Norma without slowing. Occasionally a smile, sometimes an impertinent snicker, but never a stop.
The convention continued. A young man dashed to her table. Norma was excitedly reaching for a pen when he pleaded to know the location of the bathrooms. Abashed, before she could answer, he saw them behind her table and sped off in that direction at breakneck speed. She was once again alone and adrift in an overflowing arena of the strange.
Her cheeks began to ache from holding an unseen smile. She watched the changing faces, still hoping for some type of recognition of who she was. Wasn’t she a queen? Hadn’t she played her part well? Well enough that someone would remember what an awesome adventure her movie was? Didn’t they know she was a star from the stars?
The crowd thinned and the convention ended. Attendees made their way to the exits. The smile had long faded from her still face. Her eyes were tired and her body felt heavy. Her lips trembled as she rose and carefully removed the tiara to put it in her purse. She threw on her coat with no great precision and walked measured steps toward the door that would take her to the bus stop that would take her to her empty home.
It was over.
She didn’t notice the elderly man with the brown hat who stood by the door studying her. He watched her pass, a warm smile growing across his face. He followed Norma out of the building and closed the short distance between them.
“Hail queen Zorna!” the man boomed in a deep voice.
Norma, startled, spun around to face the speaker.
“You’re Queen Zorna aren’t you? From “Lost in the Cosmos?” The man’s smile widened as he spoke. “I saw that at least 10 times when it came out in the theaters.”
Norma couldn’t quite believe it. A huge mass of people totally ignored her, had no idea who she was, and now here was what she had waited for for all these years.
She quickly raised herself up to full regal height, reached into her purse, retrieved her galactic crown and placed it on her head.
“Yes Earthling, I am the supreme ruler of planet K. I am Queen Zorna.”
