browser life

A few weeks ago, some friends told Dan and I that Alison Arngrim, the actress who had played Nellie Oleson on the TV series "Little House on the Prairie", would be at a local bookstore signing copies of her new book entitled "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch". I said, "sure, I'd like to go to that" and then of course forgot all about it. Luckily, Dan remembered, and we went to the signing on Friday night.

We went to the book store an hour early with me in the wheelchair, unsure if there would be a line or crowd because my experience has been with signings in Denver where such things are the exception rather than the rule. But Sioux Falls is pretty small, so even though we weren't the first ones through the door, we were just 15th. We took a ticket and were told Ms. Arngrim would be doing some Q and A at 7pm, but there wasn't any particular place we had to gather before then, so we were free to wander the store after purchasing her book.

I also acquired Janet Evanovich's 15th book in the Stephanie Plum series, which was on sale in hardback for cheaper than what the paperbacks go for. Then we killed time looking at various things until our friends arrived. They had brought a camera, which hadn't even occurred to me to do because most of the signings I've been to didn't allow photographs.

We made our way to a section of the store where a black curtain and temporary staging area had been set up. A smallish crowd filled in around us, mostly people my age who had watched the show when it originally aired, but also some older who were participating in that weekend's book fest plus some kids who had probably been watching the show on the Hallmark Channel. An employee of the store gave everyone with a book a Post-It note on which to write our names so the autograph could be personalized.

Right at 7pm, Alison Arngrim arrived, her hair still blonde but in a cute short bob, wearing a leopard print blouse with a bright red jacket over it with a sparkly pin on the lapel that read "bitch" and the same twinkle in her eye that she'd had on the show. She had a pink smart phone out and was actually recording the audience as she walked in. She brought with her a bag that had been made by the actress who had played Miss Beadle on the series, and inside the bag, believe it or not, were a Nellie Oleson-style wig and two prairie bonnets which she had brought to wear in photographs.

She also had two clipboards to pass around. One was an e-mail sign-up sheet for those who were interested in updates on her book tour, her one-woman show and other activities. The other was a petition for tougher legislation regarding online predators (I signed both).

She talked a bit about her book, the full title of which is: "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated". In it, she discusses the role that made her famous and how it changed her life. Ms. Arngrim also mentioned that she has maintained friendships with the woman who played her mom on the show and with Melissa Gilbert and saw the musical of "Little House on the Prairie" (in which Melissa Gilbert plays Ma) in rehearsal.

Her anecdotes were quite funny, and she really seemed to enjoy taking questions from the audience. When asked her fave "Little House" episodes, she mentioned the two I remember best: the one about the music box, and the one where she is pushed down a steep hill in a wheelchair. She saw me in my wheelchair laughing, and said, "You haven't had that happen to you, have you?" to which Dan replied, "not yet", heh heh.

She talked about when her character was married off and a little bit about the camping episode. I asked her what the audition process was like for the show and was surprised to find out that she actually auditioned first for the role of Laura and then for the role of Mary! But when she read the lines for Nellie, everyone loved the way they were delivered, and she was told she had that role and not to change a thing.

After everyone who had a question had been answered, she sat down at a table to start signing books. It was before she started posing for pictures that someone informed her that she had a lock of hair standing straight up. She was not fazed by this but simply opened up her water bottle, dabbed a bit on her hand, and slicked her hair back down.

The tickets we had been given before the signing roughly determined our place in line, so we didn't have to wait long at all. When Dan and I had our turn, she said she really liked the pink wheels on my chair (I put hot pink duct tape on the rims so the airlines and hospitals wouldn't mistake my chair for theirs), and jokingly asked if I had planned to match her pink phone and pink nails. She signed our book, putting our names in it, and then I put on a blue prairie bonnet, she put on the Nellie wig, Dan stood between us laughing, and our friend took our picture.

Our friends were further back in line, so Dan and I waited until they'd had their turn before we all headed for the door. Definitely the most fun I've had a book signing in several years. And now I am even more eager to read the book.