"Michael (fucking) Turner!"

This past Thursday started out like any other Thursday. I was in bed and the phone rang around eleven. On the other end was Leah, Mathias' girlfriend. She was wondering if Mathias was up and about, but unfortunately he was still sleeping.

The subject then changed to how my schooling was going. "Good, little stressed about exams," I replied. She then told me about being in Barry McKinnion's class and reading Hard Core Logo by Michael Turner.

I had just been introduced to Michael Turner's work through Graham (one of my instructor's at CNC), and had just finished reading Hard Core Logo a few weeks prior and had started on American Whiskey Bar. "I would love the opportunity to meet Michael Turner!" I announced to her. She admitted that one day she would also like to meet him. Little did I know that later on that night, I would in fact meet this great author.

After I got off the phone, it was time for work. The shift was nice and short, I liked this because I had a lot of studying for my exams the next day. After my shift, I "hit the books" hard.

Kristen called me around five pm to see if I cared to spend her break with her. I agreed. I love spending time with my lady, so it is rare (generally having to do with school) that I turn down any opportunity to see her.

I picked her up at seven from the office she works at, and we went to the mall for poutines and over sized sodas. At the entrance, Kristen and I ran into my long time friend James. I hadn't seen him for a few months due to my course load, so it was great to see him.

James and David (another friend I hadn't seen for sometime) joined Kristen and I for greasy mall goodness. Soon, though, it was time to get Kristen back to work. James and David needed a ride as well.

After dropping Kristen off (and a few other stops), we found ourselves at Books & Co. on 3rd avenue. This mostly had to do with me wanting to show my two friends what exactly I had been up to with the semester. (Serving God is usually there now-a-days).

James tends to get excited about things his friends accomplish, so it was no surprise to me that he would get excited over Serving God. However, what I didn't expect him to do would be to turn to the group of people sitting in Cafe Voltaire and scream, "EVERYONE SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK".

Now, this is where things took an interesting turn. My first reaction was to slap my forehead in embarrassment. James and I do this to each other all the time, but since we hadn't seen each other for a while, it was his turn (I have the weird habit of keeping track of these kind of trivial things).

The reply to James' outburst came from the table. "I have plenty of those already." I looked over to the table for the first time since we got there. It was Graham! The embarrassment faded. Sitting with Graham was Matt (a guy I don't really know all that well, but he is pretty cool) and Barry McKinnon. The other people sitting around the table I didn't know.

Graham called me over and began the introductions, "Hey Andy, this is Michael Turner."

"The Michael Turner?" I felt my eyes widen with shock. My jaw may have went slack as well. I don't remeber as a rush of excitement came over me. As I had just recently discovered Michael as a new hero, most of what I said has been forgotten.

"A Michael Turner, yes." He replied.

Graham interluded as I gathered my thoughts. "Andy was one of my students this past semester. He wrote a letter to the editor slander his chapbook, (chuckles a little), and they actually printed it! It started sort of a mini cult following on the Citizen forums."

I had a million questions, but I knew the friends I was with were not the reading types, and they wanted to leave. However, when someone meets someone else they look up to, then that someone just can't leave. Regardless of how many people want to leave!

I explained what Serving God was about and the two directions I was debating about going with it.

"That's a good title." Michael replied.

He then suggested a book I should read, referred me to his blog and told me he would like to keep in touch! But he did give me a piece of advise as a young writer, "Be willing to commit a crime for your art, as long as it does not break any laws."

He then suggested I catch up with my friends, who were waiting for me outside smoking. I thanked him for his time and said my goodbyes to everyone, then left.

"What the hell was taking you so long!" James questioned me.

"Dude! I just met Michael fucking Turner!" I replied.

Both of them looked lost and indifferent by this. They just didn't understand the magnitude of the situation! I think they may have been a little high though.