Author's note: The names of the boys and their families have been changed to protect their privacy.

Part X

       Carl and I continued to meet on Thursdays until the winter holiday. I always get two tickets to the Rose Parade in Pasadena and told him he would be my guest for the 1996 parade.  He loved that, even though it meant waking up at 5:30 AM.

        We took many wonderful trips this year.  In March I had Carl stay at my home for the first time.  Barbara Jean felt comfortable about this and him staying overnight turned out to be a non-issue.

        We started the evening by going to LAX so Carl could have the same airplane visit that Jason  had experienced.  We met my flight attendant friend and Carl actually got to sit behind the controls in the pilots seat while I pretended to co-pilot.  We received first class treatment from my
friend who went out of her way to make his visit a memorable event.

        The next day we woke up rather early and prepared a fresh breakfast of pancakes and fruit for a friend of mine who would be coming over later in the morning.  He had fun turning my kitchen into a five star restaurant. He even served her.

        I was working in the library at school one day when a parent, Suzanne, came in and we started to talk.  It did not take long to find out her husband was a prominent camera man in the movies.  She provided delicious soups to the sets he worked on and currently they were both working on the new Tom Hanks film, "That Thing You Do."  She asked if Carl and I would like to visit the set.

        I can't remember the last time I said "yes" as quickly as I did that day.  I've been to my share of Hollywood events and met plenty of famous people.  However, to my knowledge, Carl had never had this opportunity and now he was invited to meet two time Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks.

        I phoned Barbara Jean and told her the exciting news.  I think she had grown used to me bringing Carl on some spectacular trips and took this invitation in stride.

        Carl can be shy if he wants and in the presence of a bonified movie star I figured he might not be able to say a word. As we drove to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, I suggested he
have a little fun and recite the famous line from Toms film "Forest Gump." 

        The phrase is "Momma always said Life is like a box of Chocolate, you never know what you're going to get."  He chuckled and began to practice.  I told him not to be nervous and just have fun.

        When we arrived at the hotel, we immediately saw the huge trucks and equipment associated with a big budget film.  We parked and marveled at how they turned this closed hotel into a five star establishment form another era.

        The setting we saw was in front of the hotel where bellboys were loading cabs and actors were rehearsing lines.  Gigantic lights illuminated the building.  My friend took us over to meet her husband.

        Carl chatted with another cameraman and I glanced around the set to catch a glimpse of Tom.  My eyes landed on a man in a black baseball cap sitting on a box.  He seemed relaxed and watched as people worked around the set.  I concluded he must be a production assistant waiting for directions.

        It turned out to be Tom Hanks.

        I tapped Carl on the shoulder and he peered up from the camera he had been examining.  Suzanne's husband asked Tom if he would mind posing for a picture and he happily agreed.  It was at this moment that I prompted Carl to recite the line from the movie.  To my amazement and joy, he did. Before he could finish Tom joined in and they ended the sentence together.

        Afterwards, Tom wrote in an autograph that Carl did the line perfectly. 

        Everyone made us feel quite welcome and we enjoyed watching them film a scene, both in person and through a video monitor which showed the camera's point of view.  We were watching the final scene being filmed and it included a rather long kiss between the two actors.  Carl seemed
particularly interested.

        It seemed innocent enough, so I let him watch.  I did want to set a good example and explained this is a movie and people do kiss.  He looked at me with a strange expression and said "duh."