Oh, You Have One of Those, Too

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I noticed Cheryl Morgan agreeing with Hugo-winner John Scalzi:

You were probably wise to ship it home, though we had all been looking forward to you trying to take it through security.

I packed mine in my suitcase, and TSA did indeed leave one of their calling cards letting me know they searched the bag before letting it on the plane. The contents seemed little disturbed, however, as if the search had only been done out of a sense of obligation, because you could never explain to a Congressional committee that there really was no need to check something that looked like a mortar round on the x-ray screen.

The Hugo I brought home from Australia in 1985 was packed in my carry-on and I lightheartedly wondered how much explaining I’d have to do when I walked through the metal detector. None, as it turned out. The security guard smiled and said, “Oh, you have one of those too.” I was deflated, and didn’t bother to answer Sure, fella, a tourist practically can’t get out of Australia without somebody forcing one of these on him. The real explanation proved to be that Fred Pohl and Charlie Brown had taken their Hugos through the same security checkpoint just before I arrived.

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One thought on “Oh, You Have One of Those, Too”

  1. In 1994, following the Winnipeg worldcon, I had disassembled the Hugo for Mimosa to make it fit in carryon. But going through security I forgot to mention to the guy at the X-ray machine what he could expect to see. What happened was that when he saw the image of the rocket, he called his supervisor. About 10 minutes worth of explaining and bag inspection later Nicki and I were allowed to go, but by then we were late for boarding and it was a race across the terminal to make it to the plane before the flight closed out.

    But I can still remember the expression on the X-ray guy’s face. It was almost worth the hassle.

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