Bitten at BEA

Karen at For What It's Worth mentioned me in her most recent blog post. I wasn't expecting her to, but she's sweet, thoughtful, and always looking to help others. I've known Karen for many, many years. We've been to a lot of different book events together (ALA, BEA), and she knew my husband before he was my husband. She also sent fortune cookie baby shoes when I was pregnant! They were adorable! If you don't know Karen, or don't follow her blog, you definitely should.

In her blog post she mentioned that I am the girl that was bitten at BEA a few years ago. I had no idea this story would become what it is today. Most people don't even know that it was me, they just know it happened, which I am perfectly okay with. I thought it was a fun story to share, even if it was slightly alarming when it happened. Seriously, who would bite someone for a book?? It wasn't even the last book, or a signed book. It was just one of many in a stack at a booth.

People at BEA would arrive early to wait by the doors before they opened for the day. Once the doors opened, it was madness. There were those who had mapped out the entire area and knew exactly where they were going, and then there were those who just dashed around randomly and hoped to find something exciting. If you went with friends, or family, and were not tied together, chances are you were separated until things died down.

I would wait until things were less frantic before I went inside. Normally, I would find a coffee stand and buy breakfast before entering. It usually meant I wouldn't fall on my face trying to maneuver through the crowd. There was always a steady stream of people, but it was nothing compared to the initial onslaught.

On this day, with coffee in hand, I entered a good thirty minutes after everyone else. Book sellers and publishers had become wise to the ways of crazy book bloggers (and other just crazy people), so they wouldn't start dropping books until the first wave had passed. I just happened to be walking by when After Obsession by Carrie Jones caught my eye. The stacks looked undisturbed, so I assumed it had been missed by the masses. It wasn't long before people started overwhelming the small area. There was a way in to grab a book, but getting back out was going to be tricky, or so I thought. I have never seen so many people pushing and shoving each other over a book. It was ridiculous idiotic. There were a few people that grabbed multiple copies before crawling on the floor to get out. I stood there in shocked silence as men shoved children, and women yelled at each other for no apparent reason.

I watched for a few minutes before deciding to reach my hand over two people arguing on the floor. My plan was to gently extricate myself, but as I am pulling my arm back, it stops. Not the madness around me, my arm. What was happening didn't register at first, and it wasn't until I made eye contact with the older woman attached to my arm, that I realized what had just happened. She bit me. She was still biting me. She was looking me in the eye while her teeth sunk deeper into my skin. I dropped the coffee I was holding in my other hand and went to do, I don't know, something, when she let go. She gave a satisfied shake of her head, like this was perfectly acceptable behavior, and then disappeared into the crowd beside me.

What do you do when something like that happens? How are you supposed to react? Was I supposed to angrily look for her and demand retribution? Did I find security and tell them what had just occurred? There were so many thoughts going through my head, but they all stopped as I saw the imprint she had left on my arm. "SOMEONE JUST BIT ME," was the only remaining thought I had. Others had witnessed what happened. There were those who looked as shocked as I was, a few asked me if I was okay, while others insisted I needed medical attention. I waved everyone away and went to find a familiar face. I needed to tell someone I knew what had just happened to me, but it didn't take long for the story to travel on it's own.

By the time I found friends, they had already heard about someone being bitten, they just didn't know it had been me. I did have to clarify a few details, like not having rabies, and never being rushed to the hospital. We laughed. The teeth marks faded. It was just another day at BEA.