The Kids
- outside the hotel -

It was May 16, 1998. Janet's 32nd birthday. I had attended her concert in Stockholm, and right after the concert I went to the Sheraton Hotel with my friends Madde, Annelie and Emilia. They had also been to the concert, but I haden't been there with them, I met them after the concert.

There were already fans waiting ouside the hotel, but we found out soon that most of them was there because of the support act Another Level. I suppose most Janet fans were waiting outside the night club Riche where she was going to celebrate her birthday. I never went to Riche, because I understood there would be so much people there that I would have a better chance of seeing Janet outside the hotel.

All we could do now was wait. After a while Another Level came down in the lobby, and then they came outside. They posed for pictures, hugged the fans, and signed autographs. I didn't pay much attention to them, because I was looking for Janet and the Kids. Another level went inside the hotel and I could see them staying in the lobby for a while.
Then a bus arrived and I saw Tina inside. I said to the others "Look! Janet's dancers!", but they just stood there. "I'm gonna get their autographs!" I said as I ran to the bus. The rest followed me.

First Gil stepped out.
- Can you sign this for me? I asked and held the tourbook and a pen in front of him.
- No, I don't feel like signing autographs. I'm sorry...
I understood him, because he had twisted his ankle and looked very tired. Using crutches he went inside the hotel. Shawnette came next.
- Can you sign this for me? I asked.
- Sure, but we have to keep walking, she said as she took the pen.
As soon as she had signed my tourbook I ran the fastest I could to catch up with Tina who had almost gotten inside the lobby. She stopped right outside the front doors to sign some autographs, and then it was my turn. I asked her to sign the tourbook and she took the pen and started to sign the picture of her.
- Thank you so much! I said. I really like your dancing!
- Oh really? Thank you!
- You're the greatest!
- I'm glad you liked the show.
- It was the great!
Tina gave the pen back.
- Thank you, I said.
She met my eyes and smiled before she turned to the next fan. She vas very sweet and nice. I'm very happy that I got the chance to meet her, because she's my fave dancer of the Kids. I also got autographs from Kelly and Nikki. Unfortenately Nikki signed on a black area of the picture so the autograph was almost impossible to see. Oh well... I saw John, the drummer, and thought it would be nice to have his autograph too. I went up to him and asked him to sign the tourbook for me. He took the pen and looked as if he didn't know where to sign since there was no pic of him there.
- You can sign wherever you want, I told him.
He took the tourbook from me and found a picture of him, and signed there.
Then Theresa came and I looked through my program to find a picture of her to sign but I couldn't find any.
- Are there any pictures of you? I asked.
- No, she replied. But my name is in the back.
She took the tourbook and when she had found her name I gave her the pen and she signed there.

A minute later all the Kids were inside the hotel, probably taking showers and getting ready for the nights party. The bus they had arrived in was still there and I guessed the Kids would take the bus to the party. I asked the bus driver, but it seemed like he wasn't allowed to say anything about it:
- Are you waiting for the dancers?
- I don't know. I can't tell you.
- Where are you taking them? Are you going to drive them to Riche?
- I don't know. I have no clue.
As I walked away from him I said to my friends:
- Yeah right! he's the driver and he has no clue where the bus is going...
I understood he was waiting for the Kids. So we decided to wait for them to came out. We waited and waited, but still no sign of Janet.

About an hour later the Kids came out and went into the bus. The bus left, and we were later told Janet had used the backdoor sneaking away in a grey limosine to the party around that time (01:00am). We had actually seen her car, but then we didn't know she was in it. A few minutes later Teresa came out.
- Was there a bus here? she asked us.
- Yes, it just left a minute ago, we told her.
- Oh no! It left without me! she said and looked so sad. I felt so sorry for her! She went into the lobby again. She later came out and waited for a car to pick her up, and she turned around, smiled, and waved to us. We waved back. When she looked at us I got the feeling that she knew exactly how it felt to be a fan waiting outside the hotel. Her smile was like "I know how you feel, I've been there too." Not strange at all, since before she became one of Janet's dancers she was only a fan too. Teresa left, and now we were waiting for Janet. We didn't know that she had already left. After something that felt like forever a guy from the hotel came and he told us Janet had left an hour earlier. Each one of us wrote a letter to Janet and gave them to him, and he promised he would give them to Janet, or anybody else who could pass it on to Janet. We felt there was no use waiting for Janet and the Kids to arrive from Riche, because they could be partying all night, so we decided to go home and get some sleep so we could come back the next day.

The next day Madde and I went to the hotel at 11:00 am. We sneaked inside the hotel and sat in the lobby. At 11:30 am a family who were staying at the hotel told us Janet was sleeping. I aske them if they had seen Janet, but they told us it was impossible to see her because there were secutity guards there. Five minutes later we saw Nikki and Kelly walking in the lobby wearing simple clothes. They went up with the elivator to their rooms. Around 15-30 minutes later a guy from the hotel asked us to leave the lobby and wait outside. At 13:15 two men started packing a truck with luggage and I saw it said "jdj" on one of the bags, so it was Janet's and her dancer's bags. At 14:30 I saw some of her dancers in the lobby, and at 14:45 they all came out. Teresa was first person to come out, I guess she didn't want to miss the bus today too. Michael was talking to some other fans and it seemed like he knew one of them very well. I later saw tina hug them and they looked very friendly, so maybe those fans had been following the tour around the world. I went up to Michael and got his autograph too. Then I went to Nikki and asked her to sign my book again because her autograph was almost invisible.
- Sure, just hold on a sec, she said.
She posed for pictures, and then she signed my tourbook.Tina came out and tried to sign Madde's janet. booklet, but the pen didn't work, so Tina borrowed mine. Then all the Kids posed for pictures and I hated myself for not having a camera. I would have loved to have my picture taken with Tina! About 30 minutes later the Kids went into the bus and the bus left.

Now I was getting really frustrated. I had been outside the hote for about 7 hours (yesterday and today) and I hadn't seen Janet at all. At 15:42 Madde and I was almost about to leave when we saw a car with black windows drive by and I saw Janet's hand wave to us! And that was all I saw of her...

Was it worth the wait? Yes, I think it was. Even though I only saw Janet wave for a couple of seconds I was very happy because I had met the Kids, talked to them and got their autographs. And I had seen Janet for about two hours during her birthday concert. I was right in front, second row, so I'm not complaining. The show was the best and I had the time of my life! Janet, you go girl!

~*~

© 1999, Kamali