Greased Lightning III - a John Travolta pr0n0 -- [Leave Your Mark]

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Date Posted: 00:00:29 07/09/02 Tue
Author: tint
Subject: Greased Lightning III - a John Travolta pr0n0
In reply to: bell 's message, "*cough cough*" on 18:37:57 07/08/02 Mon

True story. This is one of those things that usually only happens to "other people".

[setting the scene]

It's 1994. I'm 24, my (then) wife Rhonda is 18. We live in a one bedroom apt. with our 2-yr old daughter, who has a makeshift bed in the hall but usually sleeps with us. Rhonda works full time as a waitress, I drive a converted Wonder bread truck delivering window tint to the good window tint installers of Southern California. We live paycheck to paycheck.

[transition]

One day Rhonda gets a call from her Mom. Seems a great aunt died and Rhonda's mom Sue is tasked with having an estate sale for the pickings that the immediate family didn't feel like taking for themselves after they scavenged the place. She wants to know if Rhonda and I can help her go through what's left. I say "no way". I get the look. I go.

While Rhonda and her Mom go through closets full of clothes, I busy myself with a dusty old bookcase. We were told we could have whatever we want and the rest would be sold at the sale. I grab nearly 20 books. There were some neat ones. A bible from the 1800s. A first edition Catcher in the Rye. Other first editions in varying condition. Rhonda took a mink stole she would never wear (this IS Southern Cal, after all. PETA would hang her.) An old bottle of Perreir Joulet (or whatever, the champagne with the painted flowers).

[climax... ooh.. oooh... uhhhh!]

The next day I'm driving the bread truck when Rhonda calls on my cellphone. Seems she went through all the books I brought back and found a First Edition Dianetics, with a personal note to Agnes from L Ron Hubbard. Seems Agnes was an aspiring author in the 1950s and took a writing workshop with L Ron Hubbard at the exact time that Dianetics was published. Rhonda called bookstores asking what it was worth. She was immediately offered $500. After a few more calls she found herself on the phone with a Scientology artifact shop in Clearwater, Florida who asked that she fax a copy of the signature page, the dust cover, and the copyright page. After doing so, and after the Clearwater guy verified the authenticity of the signature, he offered $2,000.

To us at that time, $2,000 was one helluva lot of money. We took it, of course. The man in Clearwater was so anxious, he FedEx'd a cashiers check the next day. We could have kept the money and the book. We found out later he sold the book for $135,000 at Sotheby's auction. You see, to a Scientologist, a First Edition Dianetics signed by L Ron Hubbard is the equivalent of a circa 0 A.D. bible signed by Jesus Christ. What we also didn't know is that L Ron Hubbard did no book signings. Ever. This was a special favor for a friend. We had the only signed first edition Dianetics in existence.

[epilogue]

We were happy with the 2 grand. Besides, had Rhonda been less resourceful or ambitious, she might have ended up just taking the $500 from the first bookstore she called. Still, its hard to not wonder how our lives might have been different had we known what we had.

Oh, and if you want to see the relic I dug out of Agnes' dusty bookcase sometime, just get one of those "Map to the Stars Homes" in Beverly Hills. Look under T for Travolta.

[the end]

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Replies:

Summer days drifting away to oh oh the summer nights . -- bell, 03:44:57 07/09/02 Tue
- wella wella wella uh -- tint, 17:47:35 07/09/02 Tue
  - "Security to Aisle 4!" (NT) -- bell, 16:05:05 07/11/02 Thu