And For My Next Trick: I Shall Hop Onto The Bandwagon!

Now I believe I slyly hinted in my last blog that I would be talking about Doctor Who this time around. Well slap me down and call me the little dorky liar. Sorry fellow children of time, I promise to get there eventually. See something recently got in my mind’s way. I’ll give you a hint: it involves a time of day (and a super hot vampire lovah). Yes, yes. I, like so many other estrogen-filled bodies, have Breaking Dawn on my mind. I happen to adore the Twilight books. I also happen to now work at the same Barnes and Noble where I attended the midnight parties for Books 4-7 of Harry Potter. So I figured a little side-by-side analysis on my part was inescapable.

I suppose I just can’t help but want to draw my comparisons between Harry Potter and the Twilight Saga; it must be in my fangirl blood. I’ll spare you the book to book comparisons that I’m sure we’ve all heard now- specifically that this is twice now that I’ve fallen completely in love with a series who’s main character drives me BONKERS. I mean I didn’t think I would find another character who annoyed me more than Harry. Then in strolls Bella and all I could do was shake my head in amazement. Although, while I sit here trying not to spoil anyone, I will say that at some point in Breaking Dawn she all of a sudden didn’t bother me anymore. The same happened for me with Harry when he walked into the forest near the end of Deathly Hallows. With Bella¦well I do believe that would count as a spoiler (and would reveal me to be the shallow brat I truly am.)

But back to the task at hand: the midnight party. I was actually pretty excited because I wanted to see what it was like to be on the other side of the fence. To be the cashier struggling to get the book into the hands of the eager fans, and trying not to lose a finger when handing their change back. The store I work at is fairly small (we don’t have a DVD or Music section) but we had 130 or so reservations and the Borders up the street was closed, so we expected quite a few people. I made my Team Edward t-shirt when I got home from work on Thursday and was a little disappointed because apparently we had nothing special planned. The Burlington store (40 minutes away) was having a full prom and Brookline (25 minutes away) was having all sorts of games and prizes and et cetera. Even though we had nothing special planned I kept my hopes up. I remember coming to my store four times for Harry Potter and the activities were only a mild distraction at best. I didn’t need anything but a few books and magazines to flip through and my friends to last-minute theorize with. It was enough for me to simply be in the atmosphere of the buzzing bookstore as the last minutes ticked by before the end.

I’ll mention once more that we are a fairly small store in a Boston suburb. But I had been told that for the last Harry Potter they sold 400 books in the first hour at midnight, and while I didn’t expect that at all, I still felt like we should have had a good crowd. The first person to sign in at the store arrived at 9:30 at night, and there was a random trickle in after that. More than one person asked if they could get their books sooner than midnight- I honestly had to struggle to keep my mouth from falling open (I’m sure the sarcastic responses out of my mouth would have gotten me in trouble.) Many people came in, saw that nothing special was going on, and left again. I heard one group of girls leaving the store: “I think my mom knows the way to Burlington- think we have time to get our prom dresses first?”- This was at 10:30pm. I honestly can’t imagine not being more prepared¦10:30pm?! At 10:30 before each Harry Potter release I was already starting to get nervous simply leaving the cashier floor, let alone the store itself!

When one of the managers wheeled the dolly with the boxes up at about 11:40 I started to squee- and only three other girls in the store even noticed. The three were actually the only ones, besides myself and a few co-workers, who honestly seemed to even care that very shortly they would begin the end of Bella’s journey. Each of the girls had a red ribbon tied in their ponytails, and a beater displaying their team alliances (two Edwards vs. one Jacob.) I had fun teasing the girls throughout the night. When they saw the dolly wheeled up they automatically jumped in line, and I picked up a stapler and pretended to fend them off.

When my manager announced that it was midnight and let loose the box cutters I saw the girls jump up and down and squeal but that was it. There wasn’t the fervent screaming I remembered from years past, or the unconscious surge in the crowd. No, the line of maybe 30 people stood calmly and waited their turns. My manager told me later that when the Team Jacob girl got the book placed in front of her, she bent down and kissed it before handing over her money. So my manager rewarded her with a free t-shirt she had (I got the other one). I had a few giddy faces pass by me, but for the most part everyone looked as though this was just another day at Barnes and Noble.

I bought my book just as eagerly as the girls in the beaters, jumping up and down and everything and, when I was finally in the car I found myself itching to crack it open while I drove. And yet, as excited as I was to hunker down with Stephenie Meyer’s addicting tale, I found myself dwelling on Harry. I remembered screaming and crying when midnight hit July 21st last year. Swiping my debit card so fast I thought it’d catch fire, and running from the store screaming still. My best friend, who had gotten out only minutes before me, was in his car staring at his copy with his headphones blaring (he was convinced he was going to be spoiled- constant vigilance.) With his sister and another friend in the back seat we drove home while one friend read the titles of the first three chapters (our rules allowed for no more than that). We unwrapped our special editions, and my friend, while he was driving, took off the jacket, opened it up completely and held it in front of him- over the windshield. We all proceeded to¦well screaming was basically second nature to us at that point. In present day land, I looked briefly at the book on my passenger seat before I got out of the car, and sighed. I sadly realized, with sudden clarity, that I was never going to experience anything like the Harry Potter release again.

Was it the atmosphere of the store- that we had no special activities and not many customers? Was it the blasé attitude of those customers- looking as though coming to a bookstore at midnight was their Friday night thing? Was I in the wrong location- did I have to go to New York City (where my sister was) to get the real experience? I tried to put myself on the other side of the register; what would I do if I was in that store? I may have picked a store having a bigger party, but I don’t think so. I had four HP releases there, so it was full of good memories. Not to mention that it’s a ten minute drive from my house (5 minutes if I am speeding with a very important book in my hands.) I would not, for anything, have left the bookstore just because there was little to do. Not if that meant that the agonizing ride home would be prolonged for any reason.

Do not take this blog to mean that I am for any reason chastising Twilighters. On the contrary- the three girls in beaters, and the stories my sister brought home from NYC, both show that Stephenie Meyer has plenty of rabid fans; I consider myself to be one. All I am saying is that, as Harry Potter fans living in the zeitgeist, we should consider ourselves lucky. I truly believe that nothing will ever compare to those releases. No movie, book, comic, or television release will ever come close to the hushed and exited anticipation that fell over hundreds of thousands of fans one night last year. I know, I know: you’re all telling me to get off my soapbox and quit preaching to the choir. But please, heed my warning- the second you feel any part of your memories of that night slip do something about it. Write down what you did. Call up your friends and have an hour long conversation about that night. Re-read the book while trying to remember what it was like that first time. That was an unequivocal moment in your lives- trust me on that. I am only 21 years old writing this. I’ve lived through high school and most of college. I’ve lived through the endings of my favorite movies, TV shows, and a few book series now; and I can already tell you, without a doubt, that I know what the single most anticipatory moment of my life will have been.

I mean until I get like- married or something.

I’m off kiddies. I have some MAJOR packing to get done (I leave for Terminus in 14 hours.) Please don’t post spoilers in the comments…this is Leaky people: we put the major smackdown on spoilers.

Oh, and for the record…I loved Breaking Dawn.