With Andy fully recovered from his engine-falling-off-the-plane-trauma, our trip to Ohio to meet the Those Characters From Cleveland execs was back on. Andy again insisted we take separate planes so if there was a crash we won’t both be killed. Something told me the real reason he wanted to take separate planes was because he was flying first class and didn’t want me to be bummed I was flying coach, especially with the meeting looming.

Andy hired a Lincoln Town Car to drive me to LAX, which I thought was a nice gesture – not as nice a gesture as flying me first class, but nice all the same.

I got to the airport around eight that morning, entered the terminal and headed to the check-in counters. A young woman in her late twenties or early thirties was behind one of the counters. She had long brown hair, nice eyes and soft features. I motioned several travelers past me so I could wait for her.

As I approached, she asked, “You checking in?”

As I handed her my ticket I asked, “Can you upgrade me to first class?”

She looked at the ticket and said, “You’ve got a coach class ticket.”

Putting on my best sheepish look, I said, “Be nice to me. I write for the Care Bears TV series.”

She asked, “Are you putting me on?”

I grinned. “Yeah, I go around all day telling people I write for the Care Bears so they’ll be nice to me.”

She leaned forward with, “Where do the Care Bears live?”

I answered, “Care-a-Lot.”

“How do they get around?”

My grin getting more toothy, I said, “In Cloud Cars, of course.”

Typing on her keyboard she observed, “No one would go to that much trouble to make up a story.” She printed out a new ticket, handed it

to me and said, “You’re in Seat 2-A. Have a nice flight.”

I took the ticket, told her, “Thanks for ‘caring and sharing’,” turned and headed for the concourse. I was pretty sure Andy Heyward would approve.