Lucas and The Time-Traveling Fog

The rest of that day was great. I told Gary’s dad that I got a girl’s number. He was both surprised and impressed that it happened so quickly. As promised, he handed me my keys back and not a moment too soon. I had plans to see a movie with Janet and her friends that Saturday night. Around noon on Saturday, I called Janet to find out what theater we should meet at. Janet said that everyone was meeting at The Silver Fox theater at 6 p.m. I finished my outdoor chores at home and took a shower to get cleaned up.

I was so happy to get my car back. I left home early just to cruise around for a while. As I drove towards the entrance, I realized that this wasn’t a theater at all. It was an outdoor drive-in. This will be cool, I thought. I’d heard of these before but never actually seen one -- let alone watched a movie from the driver’s seat of a car before. I hope they have buttered popcorn. I saw Janet’s car and managed to park just a few spots away. I turned my car off, got out of my car, closed the door, and headed toward Janet and her group of friends.

Janet spotted me walking towards them and said, “Hey Gary, glad you made it. We were just talking about you. I want you to meet my friend Catherine -- close friends call her Cathy,” Janet said with a wink.

Just then, Cathy turned around, and our eyes met. That’s when I said, “Hey, haven’t we met before?”

She replied, “Yeah. I think we did.”

“Right, you helped me pick up my books after Henry’s posse ran into me in the hall.”

Janet interrupted us and said, “Hey, the movie is about to start in five minutes, let’s get something from concessions before the line gets too long.”

As we walked towards the concession stand, I looked around and quickly realized that Janet set me and Cathy up on a blind date. Whoa, now I was getting nervous. How did Janet know that I liked this girl? Like, really liked her.

While we were in line, I looked at the menu board of prices for snacks and drinks that was hanging right above the concession counter, and before I ordered, I asked Cathy, “Hey do you want anything to drink or eat before the movie starts?” She said she’d just have a Coke. I asked, “Are you sure you don’t want any popcorn with that? Because it’s a movie experience without it.”

She chuckled to herself and said, “Maybe at intermission.”

When it was finally my turn, the old man behind the counter asked, “What do you want, son?”

“I’d like to have two bottles of Coke and one large bucket of buttered popcorn, please,” I replied.

He looked at me funny and said, “Did you happen to bring a bucket and a cow with you? We only have one size bag of popcorn, and it comes salted.” Well, so much for impressing my blind date. I laughed it off embarrassingly and replied, “Ha, ha… that’s right, just the one bag of popcorn, please.”

As we walked back to Janet and her friends sipping our drinks, Cathy asked me, “Hey, do you mind if I watch the movie in your car?” I nearly spit out my drink, thinking to myself that I must be dreaming. I replied with a resounding “YES! ... I mean, uh, yeah, sure. My ride is right over here.”

As I opened the passenger door for her, she hopped right in and said, “Thanks.” The movie that was playing tonight was North by Northwest, featuring Cary Grant. It’s kinda like a James Bond movie. As we were watching the movie, Cathy seemed to like me and moved closer, and that’s when I offered my bag of popcorn to her.

After the movie was over, Cathy said, “Thanks for the popcorn, Gary. We should do this again sometime...you know.” As she was about to open the car door, I said, “Wait. Cathy...I was wondering, uh do you have any plans for next weekend?”

“No…. I don’t think so?” she replied.

“Oh, maybe you and I could go to King Frosty’s Ice Cream Parlor downtown? I... I could pick you up,” she said.

“Ok …. Sounds like a date, then.” I replied

“Yeah, I guess it is…. pick you up at 6?”

“Perfect,” she said, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and bolted out the door.

I watched her skipping towards her friends. They all turned toward me and waved goodbye. As I waved back at them, somewhat in shock of what just happened, I thought to myself that this was not just a great day; it was a great life. Too bad it wasn’t really my own.