CELEBRITY SIGHTING

Hugo’s day was going rather well. He was ahead of schedule, and the sun was shining, adding to the joyous feeling of the day. Hugo was a bicycle carrier delivering packages from office to office or wherever the bag needed to be dropped off within the city limits.

He had been at this work for nearly a year, and things were looking up for him as he had saved up enough money to take his vacation to Thailand. The vacation came from a strict budget and taking on a few extra side jobs like house sitting and walking dogs.

Today, Hugo was on schedule and coming to his last stop before lunch. Up ahead of him on his path, he saw the roads were blocked off, and there were tons of paparazzi flocking around; being familiar with the ways of Los Angeles, he figured a celebrity was en route or already on location, which fueled the feeding frenzy of the paparazzi.

As he drew closer, he saw he was partially correct as the paps were there for celebrities, but the frenzy was to take photos of the actors on a live shoot. Upon hitting the intersection at the epicenter of the commotion, he knew he could bypass the cluster jam of people and stay ahead of schedule by dropping his last package before his break.

He took a sharp right moving up a few blocks, and crossed over through an alleyway that put him at the back exit of the office he needed to be. He secured his bike and walked in. He needed to reach the 5th floor by taking an elevator and walking out onto the 5th floor to deliver his package to the receptionist.

After a quick signature and a bit of small talk, he returned to the elevator with a giddy-up. He hit the button and then hit it again before the elevator doors opened after another beat. The doors opened to reveal a lone man standing there. The older gentleman looked familiar to Hugo, but he couldn’t place him. He saw the man was also headed to the lobby, so he stood there waiting for the doors to close and send them down to the front desk.

Hugo nodded cordially and stood beside the man, puzzled by his strong resemblance. Floor after floor in an awkward elevator silence other than the generic Muzik playing. The two men stood firm with each drop. Only Hugo seemingly became annoyed with himself feeling he was a real people person and always could put a name with a face.

Then just before the elevator hit the lobby floor, it came to him turning to look at the older gentleman saying, “Your East Clintwood!” The older man smiled as the elevator shuddered to a complete stop, and the doors opened with a ding. The man turned back to Hugo and said in a rustic gnarly voice, “Sorry son, I think you got the wrong man.” and walked out stoically. Hugo followed, swearing it was him feeling he had taken an elevator ride with an A-list celebrity only to realize much later that he had misspoken and missed his chance to meet Clint Eastwood truly.