Last night my girlfriend and I went to the movies to see the much anticipated Green Lantern. Our cable company has special promotions that allow it’s users to see movies for free on Tuesdays. As a result we’ve been able to see a lot of really great movies, especially big screen blockbusters like Green Lantern, without breaking the bank.

We had gotten to the theatre early anticipating great crowds because Green Lantern had just been released the previous Friday. We stood in the lobby chatting while they finished cleaning up from the previous showing and admired the old house feel of the theatre. It’s one of our favorites with a chandelier in the entrance and candelabras down the lone hallway. There are only three showing rooms and a tiny concession stand in the lobby. Small and adorable and old and perfect in every way….well, almost every way.

Once the showing room had been cleared of the debris left by its previous patrons, we filed into the dimly lit room and took our seats. The room is not large with about eight to ten large reclining chairs in each row. My girlfriend was sitting in an aisle seat and I sat next to her. We were chatting about our days when my girlfriend stopped speaking and got this look on her face. I can only compare her expression to sheer horror. I thought a man in a hockey mask had someone snuck over the rows of tall chairs and was now directly behind me waiting to pounce. Finally, she found her voice and with a shaky finger pointing behind me she said, “A rat!” I whirled around, not wanting to be attacked by a rat either and was just in time to see a large rodent bottom with a thick rodent tail shimmy under the seats in front of us and disappear. Of course we were in shock having never shared our movie experience with someone of the small, furry persuasion before. After we yammered on with gesticulating hands and high-pitched sounds that tried to form words, my girlfriend ran to tell the movie theatre staff. I meanwhile tucked my feet up underneath me and peered into the gloom trying to see if the little miscreant would make a return appearance. When she came back, I asked what they had said. Would they come in and announce the movie would not be shown? Would they give her free popcorn for saving the day and letting them know? “They said – ‘okay,'” she told me. “Okay?” I asked. “That’s it?” “That’s it,” she said.

Now we were faced with the dilemma of should we stay or should we go. Stay and the room gets darker and a large fuzzy creature could crawl across our flip-flop clad feet, go and miss out on a blockbuster we’ve been wanting to see. In the end we decided to prop our legs on our seats, stay and pray that people sat between us and where we last saw the rodent, just in case it decided to venture out for more popcorn.

What a movie adventure! 🙂