One October, I attended the National Book Festival. On the plane from Florida to Washington, Serena Williams was sitting right behind my bride, Sue, and me. During the flight, half a dozen people came up to Serena and asked for her autograph. She was gracious and polite, which I love.
The flight landed, and Sue and I stood up and started to hoist our bags out of the overhead.
Serena stepped up close to me and said in a low voice (which I can still hear today), “They want my autograph, but I want yours.”
Well, I turned a bright shade of red. I loved the compliment, but I couldn’t believe Serena Williams was talking to me. Even better, she said she liked my books.
Sue, Serena, and I walked together to baggage claim. Serena kept saying, “I can’t believe you’re James Patterson.”
I came back with “I can’t believe you’re Serena Williams.” It was a nice, funny, very human moment for the three of us. It showed that Serena and I could laugh at ourselves.
The night before the National Mall filled with tens of thousands of readers gathered to hear from poets, authors, and storytellers, I entered the Jefferson Building inside the Library of Congress to attend the fundraising gala. The late Tom Clancy was the dinner speaker. Tom was a very successful thriller writer, but his speech in the Coolidge Auditorium that night was not all that thrilling.
While dessert was being served, Sue went wandering off. She ran into First Lady Laura Bush, former teacher and librarian and host of the gala and festival. She came back to our table and said, “The president wants to see you. Get your butt over there.”
So I wandered over to meet George W. Bush for the first time. I was kind of surprised that I could walk right up to his table. No wanding, no pat-downs.
President Bush and I stood there chatting a little bit. I liked him right away, and I’m not even a Republican. He said, “Jim, I hear you’re pretty good at speeches.”
“Well, not as good as you,” I said, and I should have stopped right there. But I went on. “I might’ve done a little better than Tom did tonight.”
As I was saying what I shouldn’t have been saying, Tom Clancy came walking up behind W. I don’t know how the president saw Clancy, but he was quick on his feet. Suddenly he said, “Oh, hey, Tom, Jim was just saying what a great job you did tonight.”
President Bush covered for me. W. turned out to be an excellent wingman.