Our flight from Boston to Las Vegas was a disaster. After a delay of 2 hours in Boston (broken breaks) we had to do emergency landing in Chicago:  this time airplane’s cooling system failed. We spent 7 miserable hours in Chicago waiting for another plane.

A girl was sitting next to us the gate’s waiting area: she slipped from her chair to the floor, put her head on the knees and was looking into the dark window complete frustration. She was clearly very tied with no hope to get a relief. Poor child!

“My book! That should cheer her up!” I thought and reached out into my purse. Now, when I was on my way to becoming a published author, I always had a book with me.

The bright color of the book drew her attention. Our eyes met and I asked if she wanted to read with me. She nodded, I slipped to the floor near her, and we transcended into different world.

“Loxan’s Box of Memories: A Book with a Game…”  I paused as she moved closer.

I read slowly giving her enough time to look at pictures, and comment on them. She told me that her name was Anna and that my Loxan character looked a lot like her. That was true!  

We finished reading, then played the game and talked about all those fun memorization strategies. When she was able to name all first 15 toys in order, I congratulated her and said that she deserves a prize. “Here you go, the book is yours! Accept it as a well-deserved award!” She took the book and smiled. And it was a smile of a very happy person!

And then I finally told her that it was my book and the story I wrote was about my own daughter when she was 9 years old. Anna looked at me very surprised. I felt like she needed a proof of my authorship claim, and I pointed to my picture at the back of the book.

Her parents joined our conversation. Anna told them that she’d met a real author for the first time in her life and that she got a book. We played the game again – this time altogether, and in 20 minutes our happy chatting company boarded the plane.

Halfway through the flight I was walking in the isle and passed Anna’s family. The girl was peacefully sleeping while hugging my book. What an amazing sight! Her mom thanked me again and said that Anna was really excited by the idea of putting her own toys on the tree.

I returned to me seat feeling very accomplished. The first copy of my book is out there in the hands of a wonderful child. And it was worth writing this book to make at least one child that happy even under very unfortunate circumstances.