Once upon a time...

I always start a story for my 1yr old daughter this way “Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, there lived a little angel. Little angel had many many friends but her best friend was,...drumroll... Daddy!” And after a lot of twists and turns and drama, I would end it this way “…and they were so happy that little angel is there for them and they lived happily ever after. The End” I take great pride in my story telling abilities but they are purely based on my daughter’s reaction and take no account of the immense ridiculing by my wife.

So I am going to put my story telling ability to test here…but it is not a children story and it is PG 13…there are no angels or fairies or witches in this story…so here it goes.

Once upon a time, in a city far far away (at least from here it is), there lived a teenager. The teenager had many many friends (ok, not so many) but his best friend was…Well, that is not important. Moving on… Ok, I am sensing I am not doing so well…yet. Just wait, it gets better. And besides I am unable to give the hand gestures and funny voice that I use with my daughter.

Every day the boy and his friends would walk on the streets of this city and be very curiously amazed and get a serious rush of their-teenage-hormones looking at the not so subtle “A” rated posters on the wall. They would wonder how one could get into one of these movie theaters. There were always rumors and hear-says about what was in these movies but they had never seen it themselves so had no idea if they were just rumors or had any truth to it.

They were 16 yrs old now. The boy and his friends decided they were old enough to make their own decisions and the decision they made was to check out one of these movies. It required a lot of courage, considerable planning and had to be done with total secrecy. If a word of this plan gets out, everything will be in jeopardy. You are talking about getting the punishment without even doing the crime. You would be forever seen as an A-movie-goer without having ever been to one. How terrible! So they came up with the plan. Firstly, they needed an alibi for the 3 hours because the movie theater had to be as far away as possible from anything that was even remotely related to anything to home. That ruled out most of the theaters in this city. Secondly, decide on the movie and timings. Now this wasn’t hard because once you ruled out most of the theaters, the choices were pretty slim. Finally, they needed a clear entry and exit strategy to and from the movie hall.

The movie they picked was Lady Terminator – Amazon link.
You can click; it is clean. The boy and his friends picked it because of the tremendous potential the poster displayed. They decided on the date and an entry-exit strategy which was pretty simple. Enter after movie has started; use the darkness and sneak into an open seat; exit out before the end of the movie; darkness used then as well. Also had a brilliant back up plan in case of being caught during this well planned entry and reentry – was in the neighborhood to buy books and was offered tickets by a friend who mysteriously vanished right then. One of the friends backs out. No, he said. I will not be part of this. I will suppress my curiosity and not be tempted by these sinful posters. So be it.

That left the boy and his friend…Two brave boys, into the darkness, to come out enlightened.

The day arrived. The boys make their way to the movie theater. Shut off the bike couple blocks before and push it through the complex. Park at a very discreet corner and even try to cover the plates with branches of a nearby tree. Yes, they had thought it all out. It was perfect! Now the boys were nervous but they couldn’t display it to anybody else. The ticket counter clerk wouldn’t sell tickets, they thought, if he sensed they were underage. The boys nervously walk in total confidence and demand two tickets. Done. Now that they were in possession of the tickets, they have to “hang out” somewhere and wait for the right time to make an entry into the dark movie hall. Tick tick tick…tock tock tock…Done.

They make entry into the dark movie theater. It is loud. Lot of gunfire and explosions. It is a good sign, they thought to themselves. The adrenaline rush from being secretive and from being on the verge of uncovering a teenage boy’s greatest mystery! Wow! They are unable to secure two adjacent seats except for the ones without a back rest. Hmm, they nodded and didn’t look any further. It must have been few minutes into the movie but their curiosity has only increased. There is still lot of gunfire and explosions. It might not be a good sign after all, they thought to themselves this time. Time passes…10 minutes…15…20….still nothing but a lot of shooting. Their curiosity is overtaken by nervousness, guilt, shame and fear! They are both thinking to themselves that this was a bad idea. They both wished they were some place else then. It must be 30 minutes into the movie when they both decided it was best to leave. Since they weren’t paying any attention to the story (if there was one), and it was just mindless gunfire, they had no idea when the movie would really end so it was safer to take off now.

The movie theater is still dark…still gunfire and explosions…pretty much the way they found it when they came in. The exit is also uneventful, as is rest of this whole plan. They make their way to the bike and the plates are still hidden by the tree branches. Identity is still concealed. Brilliant!

The boys were so relieved they got out of the theater without being caught. As they ride blocks and blocks away from the theater, they shed away all their nervousness, shame, guilt and shame. Their curiosity remains and it might appear to others that the plan was a disaster but they executed it perfectly. For they knew, that their plan was perfect and it was only the movie that slightly messed it up…

The boys are all grown up now but they haven’t forgotten about that afternoon. The plan. The theater. Lady Terminator. They are very happy they showed courage and executed an almost perfect plan. And they live happily ever after!

The end…