We were aiming to make the 7pm screening at a cinema at least half an hour from my parents’.
Bloody Canberra. Nothing is ever close.
No, that’s not true. Cinemas with convenient showing times are too far away.
There was an inkling that maybe we were being ambitious.
But surprisingly, dinner and bathtime proceeded seamlessly. Then, came bedtime. Holding my breath, quietly praying for one night of no screaming protests I kept a close eye on the clock.
6:30 on the nose, the twinlets miraculously fell fast asleep.
A packet of chips, a bag of Maltesers, a highly-critically acclaimed movie with my beloved in an airconditioned theatre.
Was it too much to ask?
With perfect cinema ettiquette, I had my phone on vibrate, tucked deep in my handbag. I was ready to soak in a couple of hours of escapism.
Mr Surfer on the other hand, was on standby.
“Put it away! ” I scolded in a loud whisper. “They’ll be fine…”
Husbands don’t marry on the account of becoming better listeners. Quite the contrary.
Throughout the first hour of a fabulous movie, mine kept nervously looking at his phone.
Just as the most magnificent scene of the movie started, where the majestic glowing whale jumps out of the water, came the emergency phone call.
Running out to take it and back in a flash, Mr Surfer told me the boys had woken up and were in hysterics.
The boys had been sleeping in new beds in unfamiliar surroundings. The last thing they remembered was saying good night to their parents, suddenly waking up with no idea where they were.
They were inconsolable.
“I’ll go home. You watch the rest of the movie and I’ll come and get you…” Mr Surfer suggested.
“No,” I sighed. “Let’s just go…” It was too good to be true.
For the entire half hour drive back, K-Bear’s high pitched screams over the phone’s loudspeaker made the movie’s intensity seem next to nought.
“Papa! Where ARE you??? Where are YOU???!” he wailed repeatedly.
I pictured distraught grandparents collapsing from the intense trauma that be baby sitting twin grandsons.
Just as we were about to enter the driveway, Mr Surfer confessed that the movie was too extreme for him anyway.
“I’ve never told you but I have recurring nightmares about tigers…” he muttered.
Oh, great. I had two boys crying for a father who was actually the biggest wuss of all!
Walking through the door, you could cut the parents’ guilt with a sharp knife.
“Bad parents! Bad, bad parents! Never EVER leave us alone like that AGAIN! How DARE you go out and try to have some FUN!” were the deathly stares they gave us.
So, don’t ask me how “Life of Pi” was.
I wouldn’t know.
But the massive glow in the dark whale was very cool.
Just watch out for the tiger.
Joining in Essentially Jess for IBOT
