Close Encounters of a festive kind

WordSmith

I was travelling home for Christmas when I heard a mega movie maker was scouting Ireland’s midlands for potential locations. I smiled and thought to myself, ‘What if I were to see him in Cavan?’ And, as absurd as that seemed, I told myself, “I can always hope!”

I’m a firm believer in the power of hope.

I arrived in Cavan on one of those gun-metal-grey December days. I dashed into a supermarket to escape the sharp cut of a slicing wind. Once inside, I walked towards the Quality Street hoping they had a special box of my favourite ones: The Colour Purple. On the way, I stopped in my tracks: struck by a star.

I remained rooted to the spot with gaping Jaws – it was him, Steven Spielberg. No kidding! In SuperValu Cavan, a giant of Hollywood browsed the sweet aisle.

My heart paced at the prospect of having a Close Encounter of the Real Kind, with an Extra Terrific Hero. I held my phone in shaking hands, not to phone home, to snap a selfie of Spielberg and I.

I stared, watching Christmas shoppers mill around a man whose star they didn’t recognise; I suppose they assumed him to be one of themselves: Raiders of the Special Offer Sweets.

Of course, I was aware the man could be a doppelganger of the iconic movie maker. But, being an avid fan of the man, I was 95% sure he was the real deal. When he spoke to a cashier and I heard the dulcet drawl of his American accent, I was left in no doubt as to the veracity of the Super-Star-in-SuperValu.

After all, why wouldn’t Spielberg be in Cavan? For his Oscar winning compatriot, Hollywood producer, director and writer, Adam McKay, extols the virtues of Ireland’s LakeLand County. Mr McKay has said of how he flees the frenzy of Hollywood for his lakeside home in deepest Cavan.

“My friends in Ireland ask me, ‘Really Cavan?’ I hate to let the secret out of the bag, but it’s beautiful and peaceful and we’re right on this big lake. It’s stunning. It couldn’t be a better place for my purposes, which are mostly to write,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Back in SuperValu, I imagined Spielberg and McKay movie-dealing while sipping warm eggnog by the lapping shores of Lough Sheelin.

And now that I had Spielberg in my sight, I couldn’t let him slip.

Yet, I did. My phone pinged, and in the time I looked at it and back up, Spielberg had left the sweet aisle. I raced round the store, but he was gone. I felt like Eliot from E.T. – bereft.

I’d missed my chance to meet a hero. Whilst I headed for home, I consoled myself with the old adage, “They say you should never meet your heroes.”

Then, I began to lament a lost opportunity: I could’ve pitched my memoir to him, I should’ve taken that selfie...

I told a friend of my near brush with celebrity. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, “Don’t be stupid, it was probably Steven O’Spielberg, his long lost cousin.” I didn’t listen, because I knew I saw a star, and I sensed the man’s quality.

Christmas Eve arrived, and as per-usual panic ensued – I raced round town last-minute shopping.

A shop sign caught my eye: J&B Hope. Intrigued, I entered. Immediately I was immersed in the shop’s ambient Americana. I was taken out of Cavan and into the comfort of cinematic Spielbergian-Blockbusters. And that’s when I saw him, again.

He was standing behind the shop’s counter. Whilst I stared, he smiled and asked, “Would you like some eggnog?” I nodded, “Yes, please.” I took a sip, and whilst luxuriating in the liquid gold I was struck by the man’s warmth. Eventually, I spluttered, “I saw you in SuperValu and thought you were Steven Spielberg.”

He laughed out loud and nodded, “Yep, I get that,” he said.

The themes of Spielberg movies encapsulate the ‘Fantastical’ and ‘Humanist.’

My fanciful belief of seeing a much loved movie-maker in a Cavan supermarket was balanced by the humane reality of sipping eggnog with the proprietor of J&B Hope – and that’s movie magic for me.