Image via worldofsuperheroes.com
We wanted to see all three.
Last week, the Liberian Girl found an ad. It said the AMC in Georgetown was showing the first two Dark Knight movies this Thursday. And then the third one at midnight. I went to buy trilogy tickets. They were sold out. A week before the show. But they still had plenty of tickets just for the midnight premiere. “Let’s do that,” she said.
I left work early on Thursday evening. Found the Liberian Girl at the hotel bar next door to the house. She was eating sweet potato tater tots. I stole a few. Several. Well, half. She finished her Malbec. We dipped to U Street. A friend was doing a soft launch for a new bar. It was hot outside. And scary dark. Lightning flickered violently. Looked like it was in Maryland. There was a storm coming. A big one.
We got to the bar just before the skies opened up. First floor was packed. So was the second. Found our friend behind the bar on the first. Hennessey for her. Makers for me. The DJ played an old Wu Tang song. Outside, the rain dumped. Inside, the people sweated. Us, too. “It’s almost 11. Should we make moves?” The Liberian Girl settled our tab. I braved the elements to hail a cab.
There was no line to get into the theatre. That was good. Cause rain still fell. People who didn’t get cabs didn’t stay dry. Two dudes in the men’s room used the Dyson to dry their socks.
A ticket taker tore our tickets. “You can enter theatre 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6,” he said. “Just pick one?” “Yep.” Theatre 2 was iMax. The Liberian Girl doesn’t like to wear glasses to watch movies. Neither do I.
People scampered everywhere. In every direction. We weaved through them. I blocked. She carried the umbrella. We picked theatre 5. It was 75% full. At 11:10. We found two seats together. They were at the end of an aisle halfway up. The end seat had a wet spot. I pushed the Liberian Girl into the seat next to it. The guy in front of us was recording a video with his iPhone. The guy next to him was scrolling through something on his iPad. Two seats over from them, two people played a game on a Droid.
“Hungry?” That was me asking. The Liberian Girl ordered popcorn with light butter. I departed for the lobby. Every concession stand was open. And all of them had lines. Long ones. I stood behind a guy wearing a Batman shirt. It was the old school comic book version. And it said, “Pretty fly for a night guy.” A different dude walked through the line. His shirt said, “Raheem & Steel & Bishop & GQ.” I told the second guy his shirt was dope.
Front of the line. Finally. “Pepperoni pizza, small popcorn, Milk Duds and a large water. Please.” It was 20-some dollars. Pricey. But cheaper than buying a proper dinner. The guy came back with everything but the pizza. “You can pick it up over there.” It was 11:35.
I waited 10 minutes for my pizza. The girl in front of me had been waiting 15. “Do you know how many screens the movie’s showing on?” I asked. “All of them,” she said. “What’s that, like, 3,000 people?” “Uh-huh.” Two small, cardboard pizza boxes from Uno’s appeared. They were microwave warm. Like a 45-second reheat.
The Liberian Girl defended our seats against a frustrated couple. The couple thought five minutes before show time was early enough. I think they had to sit in singles. I handed the Liberian Girl our snacks. “Crap. I forgot the butter. Be right back.”
I braved the crowds again. A dude who didn’t forget the butter bumped into me. “Sorry, man.” I only lost a handful of popcorn. Found the butter station. How much is light butter? Three squirts? Five? I picked four. It was 12:05.
“What’d I miss?” “The first trailer.” Total Recall. “How much butter did you put on this?” “Um, four squirts.” “Darling, that’s kinda heavy.” The trailer for that Denzel Washington movie about the pilot played. The Liberian Girl stole a pepperoni. I turned my phone off.
And then the movie started.
