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small town america

only in my small town could you have the experience i did last night!!

a friend and i always try to get together for our birthdays..well summer went by before we had a chance to celebrate hers. so a movie we had been wanting to see, becoming jane, arrived in our small town theater. you know...the old downtown local ones!!

so last night we met downtown at a local mexican restaurant. it is soooo yummy and i'm blessed to have authentic mexican here in town. we finished the supper and at 7 walked the 2 minutes down the street to the theater. we noticed the marquis lights were off and wondered if they were closed tonight. we arrived to find the elderly lady that owns it getting out of the ticket booth. we knocked on the window and asked for 2 tickets.

she replied, "noone was here at 7:00 so we closed down."

what.....it is only 7:02??? i mean don't most people arrive a few minutes late so they don't have to sit through 25 minutes of previews. so we gave her our best sad looking faces and turned to walk away. we stopped just a few steps away and just looked at each other. i know we were both thinking this is insane and i don't really want to go home to the kids yet....i was just about to suggest coffee at starbucks when the son who helps out opened the doors. this is what he said:

"i'll start the movie if you want to buy tickets, but the popcorn will be cold!"

we didn't care about the popcorn....we just wanted to see the movie. so we bought our tickets and went inside. she needed to go to the bathroom, but the ladies had a leak so she had to use the mens....the door didn't shut all the way but since we were the only ones there she felt safe enough to go ahead and go. i took my turn and feeling slightly guilty at them sticking around to show us the movie bought some candy for each of us.

the movie was great and we were joined by another senior citizen that we later learned parks his car acroos the street and waits for someone to buy a ticket so he can go to the movies. he doesn't want them to run it for just him so he just waits. weird huh?!!?


only in small town america can one get a private viewing:)

Comments

Julie said…
I love that mexican restaurant!!! I would like to see a movie there sometime (just looks like a fun experience), and becoming jane interests me. So, would you be interested in babysitting a sweet little angel sometime??? :)
September 18, 2007 at 4:50 PM
Anonymous said…
I still get a chuckle thinking about the experience. Everything you said was sooo true - just like it happened. I almost wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been there myself. Funny you were thinkin' Starbucks - in that split second before the door flew open, so was I! Great minds (and friends) think alike!!! A memorable experience!
September 19, 2007 at 3:04 PM
The Gang's Momma! said…
That's a great story! There's something so precious about that image of the elderly man sitting and waiting for someone else to join him at the movies - the antiquated manners at not wanting to impose on anyone (not even a public business) just for him and at the same time, sad that he has no one to go with him that makes it "worth" keeping the theater open for two. I love small towns and all the stories they tell!

Thanks for sharing this!
September 22, 2007 at 8:25 PM
Natalie said…
great story. and oh so true.
September 23, 2007 at 6:55 AM
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