Posted tagged ‘Saturday matinee’

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“The rain began again. It fell heavily, easily, with no meaning or intention but the fulfillment of its own nature, which was to fall and fall.”

April 2, 2016

“It’s raining. It’s pouring. The old man’s snoring. He went to bed and bumped his head, and he wouldn’t get up in the morning.”

The poor old man has been in bed now for two straight days. Yesterday it rained on and off with a few torrential downpours in between. Today it is raining constantly, but the rain is softer, quieter than yesterday’s. I woke up to the sound of the rain on the roof. I stayed in bed a bit and listened. I have always been a lover of rain.

I am going to the dump today, not my usual day, but I figure the rain will keep most people away so it will be a quick trip, no waiting. I need to go to the ATM and I need gas. How nice it is to need only a few things.

When I was a kid, a rainy Saturday probably meant going to the movies this time of year. My dad would drive us and most times we’d walk home in the rain. Whether the rain was light or heavy determined our route home. A light rain meant we’d go by the town barn and check out the horses. From there we’d stop by the ragman’s house. I remember his porch sagged under the weight of all the piles of newspapers. A second building was where he kept his horse and wagon. I don’t remember ever going into his yard. We just checked everything out from the sidewalk. I don’t know why but it is one of the brightest images in my memory drawers. The two buildings formed an L. The long part was his house. I could see the door but not the windows. The paper piles were too tall. I think at one time the house had been white but by this time it just looked dirty. The short part of the L had a wide doorway so he could back his wagon inside. The driveway was dirt and stones and led right to the horse building.

Sometimes we’d go straight home from the ragman’s house; other times we’d go back a couple of blocks and take the railroad tracks. The choice depended on how wet and cold we were. The tracks ran behind the ragman’s house, pass the old train depot and the red store. We’d stay on the tracks only a bit further until we reached the tracks closest to the field not far from our house. We’d then leave the tracks and walk up one street to where we could cross the field. That left only the hill to our house.

We were always soaked by the time we got home. Kids don’t mind being soaked. It is one of the neat things about being a kid.

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“Do you realize if it weren’t for Edison we’d be watching TV by candlelight?”

November 9, 2015

Today is a lovely fall day. It isn’t all that warm because of the cool breeze, but the sun is bright and sharp. My heat came on during the early morning so the house was comfortable when I came downstairs. It was my morning to sit and chat with my neighbor to help improve her English. She gets stuck on have or has. Usually she uses have for everything. She turns played and similar words into two syllables. We worked on that as well. She gives me the Portuguese word for what we’re talking about and helps me with the pronunciation. I guess that makes it a joint effort.

After Wednesday my dance card is empty. It is getting on to the time of the year when I tend to hibernate. I’ll see a movie now and then and play games with my friends on Sunday, but that’s about it, and I’m fine with that.

When I was a kid, my winters were about the same as now. We went to the Saturday Matinee a couple of times a month, but the rest of the week was pretty quiet. It got dark only a few hours after we’d get home from school, but most days we just stayed in the house as it was too cold to play outside. We’d watch television and we’d do our homework. Most afternoons we did both at once. I remember watching Superman and even back then I wondered how Lois and Jimmy didn’t recognize Clark. I guessed the glasses were a better disguise than we imagined.

Supper was usually around six. Most nights my father made it home in time. In my memory drawers I see him walking in the door wearing his overcoat and his fedora. He’d put them in the closet then change out of his suit. He always wore a suit to work. Supper was eaten around the kitchen table, but there was never enough room for all of us unless the table got pulled out and another seat was added at the end. I think that’s when my mother started eating at the counter as we never did pull out the table except for holidays. Much later, in a different house, the dining room table was big enough so the whole family and more could sit together and eat; however, we mostly did that only on holidays because by then we were scattered and it was only during the holidays we’d all together. My mother always joined us at the table.

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“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

November 8, 2014

The red flag on my mail box has disappeared. It isn’t on the ground anywhere. I find that confusing. Where is it? Are there marauders stealing red flags as trophies and leaving behind holes on the side of my box? My postman, Bill, would never check the mail in the box without a red flag flying, proverbially of course. I had to put my outgoing mail in my neighbor’s box. He’ll probably wonder why his red flag is up.

Today is sunny with blue skies but is a bit chilly. The sunlight always seems muted this time of year as if the sun’s best just isn’t enough. I chased the red spawn a couple of times earlier, and I picked up the hose so he ran, but the water has been drained from the hose so I have no weapon. I’m thinking I might get a potato gun. Any other sort of weapon would run out of ammo. Potatoes are plentiful.

I seldom go see a movie at night. It is more expensive than those in the afternoons but really not by much. I think it is because matinees are ingrained, a part of my psyche, as I went to the matinee almost every Saturday when I was a kid except in summer when there wasn’t one. Just about everyone I knew went to the Saturday matinee. My mother was probably thrilled. My brother and I were gone while she just had my two sisters at home. They were a bit young though I did take them once. It didn’t work out. I had to take them home before the movie was over. I was not happy.

The food in the movie theater is exorbitant. I admit I sometimes sneak in a candy bar and even some bagged popcorn, usually cheddar. I always buy a drink which makes me look less of a smuggler. I sometimes wonder how popcorn and the movies became forever joined. I’ve been in theaters where they sold hot dogs, ice cream cones and smothered tacos. That seems wrong somehow.

When I was young, I used to buy candy which lasted a long time, but they don’t sell Sugar Daddies any more, and I’d be afraid for my fillings even if they did. Nonpareils, Raisinettes and popcorn are now my three favorite movie foods.

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“It’s hard to explain the fun to be found in seeing the right kind of bad movie.”

January 27, 2014

Today is a lull from winter. The sun is bright against a blue sky and the temperature is already 42˚. But today is just a ruse: Mother Nature is chortling at our expense. Tomorrow will be 30˚ and winter will hold sway again.

January was always the dullest of months. We had no school holidays and nothing to celebrate. Our weekdays were filled with walking to school, sitting at our desks doing lessons all day then walking home. Day after day was endlessly cold. The afternoons were dark. The only bright spots every day were The Mickey Mouse Club and Superman. I think watching them was relief from tedium and kept us from killing each other. From Monday to Friday, we hungered for Saturday and the afternoon matinée, a wonderful, welcomed change in routine. We’d walk up town. The weather never mattered. We were going to the movies.

In winter every seat in the theater was filled for the matinée. Sometimes we were even allowed in the balcony, usually off-limits. My movie theater was kind of neat as it had a physical set-up which was different from most. The ticket booth was not a booth at all but was part of the side wall. After you bought your ticket you walked up an incline to the candy counter. It was the whole wall between the two aisles of seats so everyone had equal access. I remember the crowd was sometimes three deep in front of the candy counter, and everyone was trying to get the attention of the woman who manned the counter. She was Al’s wife and Al owned the theater. I can still see in my mind’s eye the counter in front, the mirror on the whole wall behind where Mrs. Al stood, and the glass popcorn machine on the left side of the counter. I loved to watch the kernels fly out of the popper to the bottom of the machine. That’s where the popcorn was scooped and put into the red and white boxes. The candy counter was glass with three shelves of candy inside. I always went for the candy which lasted the longest. Some of the guys went for candy which flew the farthest.

I forget when I grew too old for the matinée. It was probably around the eighth grade. I missed it at first as it had been so much a part of my growing up and my Saturdays, but there was a silver lining. I got to go to the movies at night.

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