So I was in Borders on Friday evening, (yeah- it was Friday night and I was alone at a book store. What of it? Screw you) and I noticed that outside the door, there were several rather large men in suits, with little wires running into their ears. I assumed that the mayor was shopping there, or maybe the governor. A presidential candidate, perhaps? As I went further into the store, I saw more of these guys- one at every other unit of shelves in the store. Whoever the muckymuck was, they sure had a large security detail. At this point, I assumed it had to be one of two people- Hilary or Dubya.
Were it Hilary, I might have approached her to let her know how much I liked her book. (Mind you, "Living History", not that one about it taking a village or the one that Socks "wrote".) If it was Dubya, it would be a different story. The guy's a jackass, so I have no interest in meeting him. But, his douchbaggery nonwithstanding, he's still the president- it would be cool to see one in person.
However, I saw no one who seemed important. No groups of handlers surrounding a bigwig, with the store manager following nervously behind- ("Can I get you a latte, sir? The newest Grisham, perhaps? Would you like to join our Borders Rewards program?").
Finally, I asked an employee what the deal was. So who was it? Our dipshit president? The Queen? Some sort of Pope? Tom Cruise and his fembot wife? No- it was the Botswanan ambassador to the U.S. Yeah- Botswana. It would seem that the Botswanan ambassador (Lapologang Ceasar Lekoa, according to state.gov) was doing a little book shopping during his visit to Boston, and according to the employee to whom I spoke, "Not buying a fucking thing."
Does His Excellency from the great nation of Botswana really need a security team larger than your average American public elementary school class? Given the type of person who frequents a Borders at 6pm on a Friday night (yours truly), I doubt he has much to be concerned about. Is he worried that someone pissed off about Botswana's recent surge in the exportation of diamonds, textiles, beef, and soda ash (thank you, online almanac!) will try to bump him off with a hardback copy of "The Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire"?
I never got to meet His Excellency Mr. Lekoa, but I did get a discount Japanese cookbook. Once I make the shabu-shabu found therein, I'm gonna put together a big gift batch for the ambassador from Senegal. He doesn't overdo the bodyguard thing. I just hope that Dr. Amadou Lamine Ba isn't allergic to shrimp.
