The film the pastor chose was “Stock Car Cat,” a family comedy about a cat that learned to drive racecars. Several people quickly signed up, however most were older than the teen and young adult crowd O’Donnell was aiming for. As the deadline approached for him to order the group tickets, he asked his fifteen-year-old daughter Katie if she was going.
“Do I have to?” Katie asked.
“Of course not,” Pastor O’Donnell said. “You could always stay home and clean your room instead. I know your mother’s been bugging you to do that for weeks now.”
“Get me a ticket,” Katie grumbled.
The group met for lunch in the mall food court before the movie. In addition to Pastor O’Donnell and Katie, the “Little Old Ladies” were in attendance. This was the nickname for three of the senior members of the congregation: Henrietta Miggins, Celia Simmons and Betsy Davis. Church Secretary Tammy Billings and her husband, head usher Ralph Billings, were also present; and Carlos Lopez and his eight-months-pregnant wife Carrie completed the little group.
Despite just having eaten, the first thing the moviegoers did upon arriving at the theater was head for the concession stand. The place was crowded and the lines long. Katie ended up at the back of their group. Three teenage boys fell in behind her. Katie snuck a peek back at them. They weren’t from her school…but they were cute!
At the front of the line Carlos and Carrie had just completed their order. Tammy and Ralph Billings were next up.
“What do you want, sweetheart?” Ralph asked.
“Oh, let me see…” Tammy said. She began studying the concession menu as the cashier feigned patience. “Oh my, everything’s so expensive!” Tammy exclaimed. “What’s the difference between a small and a medium soda?”
As Tammy questioned the cashier at length about the various menu items, another line opened up. The three teenage boys quickly rushed over to it. Katie decided to follow.
“Hey, let her go first,” the cutest of the boys said. “She was ahead of us in the other line.”
“Thanks,” Katie replied.
“Isn’t it annoying when people don’t decide what they want until they get up to the counter,” he asked her.
“Yeah,” she laughed.
“So what’ll it be,” the new cashier said.
“Uh…” Katie realized she didn’t know what she wanted. But she dared not spend time perusing the menu. “Medium popcorn and medium soda,” she blurted out.
As the cashier went to retrieve her concessions, Katie turned back to the boys. “So what are you seeing?”
“Stock Car Cat,” Cute Boy said. “What about you?”
“Same thing,” Katie replied. Normally she would have considered the fact that the cute boy was going to the same movie as her to be a romantic sign straight from cupid. But as she glanced over at the other line and saw her father arguing with the cashier about not putting enough fake butter on his popcorn she kind of wished the boys had picked an action movie. Why were teenage boys going to a family comedy, anyway?
The cashier brought her refreshments and Katie paid. “Well,” she said to the boys, “guess I’ll see you in there.”
“My name’s Todd,” Cute Boy said.
“Katie,” she replied, feeling herself blush a little.
“Katie, come on!” she heard her father shout. She felt her blush deepen. She turned and saw the church group waiting by the theater door. Her father waved wildly at her. She walked over forcing herself not to look back at the boys. She imagined they were laughing uproariously and she didn’t particularly want to see that.
“Cute boys,” Carrie Lopez said. “Do you know them?”
“No,” Katie mumbled.
“You’re better off,” Henrietta Miggins snorted. “They look like hoodlums. Someone ought to tell them it’s rude to wear baseball caps inside.”
“Please don’t, Mrs. Miggins,” Katie said.
“You should invite them to join us,” Carrie said with a wink.
“Wait a minute,” Pastor O’Donnell interjected. “Who are these boys?”
“Forget it, Dad,” Katie hissed. “Let’s just get our seats.”
Finding seats turned out to be a complex problem. Not because the theater was full, but because nobody could agree on what area of the theater was preferable.
The Little Old Ladies wanted to sit toward the back. Carlos, who fancied himself a movie connoisseur, wanted to sit in the middle where the picture and sound were best. Carrie protested that she needed to sit on the aisle since she had to use the restroom roughly every forty-five minutes in her condition. Ralph Billings favored sitting close to the screen since he’d forgotten his glasses. As they were arguing other moviegoers kept taking people’s preferred seats. Finally they compromised on a location about two thirds of the way back and a bit left of center.
Katie quickly slumped down in her chair as the three boys from the concession line entered and took spots in the second row. Despite her best attempts to hide Todd saw her and gave her a little smile.
Carrie leaned across Carlos and said, “Did you see that? I think he likes you.”
“I highly doubt that,” Katie sighed.
“Why don’t you go see if they want to join us,” Carrie persisted.
“And invite them to come to youth group,” Tammy added helpfully.
“Maybe I ought to meet these boys,” Pastor O’Donnell muttered.
To Katie’s relief, Henrietta leaned over from the row behind them and poked the pastor on the arm, derailing the conversation.
“Pastor, why did you choose such an expensive theater,” Henrietta groused.
“What are you talking about?” O’Donnell replied. “This is a normal theater. This is what movie tickets cost.”
“Really?” Henrietta gasped. “That’s appalling. In my day a person could go to the movies and get refreshments for less than a dollar. A small soda here costs more than twice that!”
“They had real movie stars back then, too,” Betsy chimed in. “Cary Grant and Bob Hope. Men who had style and grace and charisma, not like the scruffy boys they put on screen these days, bless their hearts. Who’s in this movie, anyway?”
“I think the cat’s the star,” O’Donnell volunteered. The Little Old Ladies huffed their disgust in unison.
“It’ll probably be full of swearing and sex,” Celia moaned.
“Hollywood has gone to the dogs, alright,” Henrietta concluded as the lights came down.
If Katie hoped that was the end of her embarrassment, she was immediately disappointed.
As the first preview started, Henrietta shouted, “Why is it so loud? Turn it down!”
A moment later Pastor O’Donnell’s cell phone rang. “Oh Jeez,” he said. “Sorry, I forgot to turn it off.” He fumbled around trying to find the phone in the pocket of his coat. He finally got it out after only six rings, but spilled his popcorn in the process.
“Dang it,” he said, as he opened the phone. “I can’t really talk now,” he told the caller. “I’ll call you back.”
“Why didn’t you just hit the volume button on the side to silence it?” Katie hissed.
“It does that?” he replied studying the phone like some alien artifact. Katie rolled her eyes at her father’s lack of technical sophistication. O’Donnell didn’t notice. He was now looking down at his spilled popcorn. “Do you think they’ll refill this for me?” he wondered.
“I don’t know,” Katie moaned as the surrounding patrons cast annoyed glances their way.
“I’m going to find out,” O’Donnell said and shuffled to the aisle, eliciting a yelp from Carrie when he stepped on her foot.
“Tell them to turn it down while you’re out there!” Henrietta shouted after him.
The previews were over and the movie started. Maybe now everyone would finally be quiet, Katie thought. But her optimism was soon dashed yet again.
In the middle of the first scene, Henrietta leaned over to Celia and asked, “What did he say?” in a voice that was louder than the movie’s dialogue.
“He told his son he can’t have a cat because he’s allergic,” Celia responded.
“Oh,” Henrietta said. “And what did the kid say?”
“I don’t know,” Celia replied, “I was talking to you.”
Just then Pastor O’Donnell came back with a new tub of popcorn. “Excuse me, excuse me,” he said as he made his way back to his seat, somehow managing to step on Carrie’s foot again.
“Sit down, Pastor,” Henrietta said. “I can’t see.”
“SHHHH!” The reprimand came from the second row. Todd and his two friends were looking back at the group angrily. Katie sunk so low in her seat she could no longer see the screen.
“Well I never,” Henrietta grumbled. “Teenage boys these days are so rude.”
“What did the racecar driver just say?” Celia asked.
As Betsy repeated the line, Katie decided that next time the church did a ‘Day at the Movies’ she was going to stay home and clean her room.
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