Grand Hotel, Mackinack Island

Tonight I had to put on a jacket and tie
to make a phone call.  My children were
sleeping in our hotel room, and the Grand
Hotel where we are staying has a policy
that you have to wear a jacket and tie to
hang around in the halls after 6:30.

(It's a funny hotel.  There's a sign that says
Your Room is Free if our Clerks Don't Smile
above the check in desk, and our clerk didn't
smile.  How do you collect on that?  "Excuse
me, but you didn't actually smile, can I stay
an extra night?"    There is also a big sign
which warns, No Tipping!  which may well
be the reason the clerks aren't smiling.)

Still when I got to the lobby to make my
call, the director with whom I'm collaborating
had to bag out for a sick child, and I spent
the time working on my short play,
The Youngest Detainee, about the youngest
detainee at Guantanomo Bay.

Walking back to my room, I passed photos of
John Kennedy and Harry Truman and other guests
of this hotel which has played an outside role in
history - given its remote location - and I wondered
if part of its lore would someday be that Hurt
McDermott worked on The Youngest Detainee in the
lobby.  If so, the little factoid will never compete
with the fact that Somewhere In Time was shot here.