Everyone had fish for dinner, (there’s a surprise!), with mashed potatoes and gravy. After dinner, in order to avoid having to help clean up, Dylan and William went out for a walk. They figured that the girls could do it, that was only fair, they didn’t catch dinner.
Once they were down by the water-front, the weather, which had been threatening all day, crapped-out and it started raining – hard! They ran across the road to the nearest shelter, which happened to be outside the Mayfair Theater, the town’s small cinema.
“Hey, very cool.” William studied the posters in the glass-fronted cabinet. “They’re showing that new Indiana Jones film. Let’s go to the movies.”
“Sorry Wills, we can’t. I’ve got no money on me.”
“Not a problem. I’ve got my bankcard. Come on, Dills. Come to the movies with me.”
“Yeah. Okay, as long as you’re paying. Thanks.”
They went inside. The middle-aged lady behind the concessions counter moved over to the ticket sales area.
“Hello Boys. Great weather for ducks. Going to see Indiana are you?”
“We are.” He looked at the notice with the admission prices on it. “Two tickets please. One, umm, adult and one child.”
Dylan frowned. That was a reminder of the age-difference between them. He didn’t think much about it, William seemed like he was the same age, but he wasn’t.
“My pleasure.” She took two tickets from the big rolls in front of her and pushed them across. “That will be $13.50.”
“Fine. Oh, and can we have two ice-creams too, please? Do you want a coke, Dills?”
“No thanks. Just an ice-cream would be great. I’ll pay you back.”
“Shut up. You will not.” They exchanged grins.
“When you’re ready,” the lady smiled. “Is that one scoop or two for the ice-creams?”
“Two scoops each, please. What flavours have you got? I’d like lime if you’ve got it.”
“That’ll be another $6 then. You can have any flavour you like, as long as it’s vanilla. We don’t have anything else. But, you could have them dipped in chocolate for another 50 cents each.”
“Sounds good. We’ll have that then. That makes $20.50.”
“Yes. Call it an even $20, that saves messing around with change. This is a community run theater. We’re trying to make it an old-style experience. The prices are not old-fashioned though. We have to pay the bills.”
“Still seems cheap enough to me. $10 each for a night out, nothing wrong with that! Thank you.”
William looked around, he couldn’t see an Eftpos machine, so he pushed his card across the counter.
“What’s this? A bankcard? Sorry, Lovey. We don’t have Eftpos here, we can only take cash. Like I said, it’s an old-style experience.
“Oh. I’m sorry too. We haven’t got any cash. I guess we’ll have to give it a miss and come back another time. Sorry.”
“There’s no need for that. Just take your tickets and pop the money through the slot in the front door when you’re passing sometime.”
“Really? That’s great. Thanks!” William beamed; he didn’t want to go back out into the rain. When she moved across to get the ice-creams, he turned to Dylan.
“I don’t think we’re still in Kansas, Toto,” he grinned.
“No,” Dylan agreed. “There’s a lot to be said for living in a small town.”
“There is! I feel like I’ve wandered into an Enid Blyton story. I wonder if she’s got a dog named ‘timmy’?”
They went through to the auditorium. There were a few people in there, but not a lot. They were mostly strangers – tourists filling in an evening. Going to the movies was something to do on a rainy night in Kaimoana.
It was, as usual for Indie, a very cool movie, but the action-packed adventure and excitement was not conducive to cuddling in the dark. They didn’t do any of that; probably nobody did.
When they came out after the movie finished, it was still raining, even harder now. They stood, sheltering under the verandah roof and waited for the rain to stop. It didn’t, it just kept on raining.
“Oh, Blow this!” Dylan ran out of patience. “I think we should just go. We’ll get wet again, but we can dry-off when we get home. What d’you think?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” William replied. “We could be standing here, waiting, all night.”
They walked home in the rain. They were both cold and wet to the skin by the time they got there, but, after a couple of showers and vigorous rub-downs, they were soon warm and dry again. They went to bed.
Dylan turned off the light, and then realised that the moon was shining outside, the rain had stopped and the clouds were gone. “Wouldn’t that rock ya?”
“Yeah,” William shrugged. “Such is life. At least we’re here now, no harm done.”
They lay quietly, in their own beds, in the dark. William suddenly said, “Dills, why did we go to the movies?”
“Why? Well, it was raining and it was something to do. It was a good movie, I thought. You liked it, didn’t you?”
“Of course I liked it. It was great. But why did you go with me?”
“Because you were paying. No, seriously, because I wanted to. Why do you ask?”
“You spent the whole day with me, and then you spent the night too. You’ve got lots of friends, why are you spending all your time with me?”
“Because I like being with you. You’re my best friend, Wills. I mean that.”
“You’re mine too, but I don’t think you should cut everyone else off. You’ll lose your other friends.”
“No I won’t, not if they’re real friends. If I do, so what? I’d rather be with you.”
“If you do, you’ll be like me and have no other friends.”
“I’ll still have a best friend though I don’t care about anything else.”
“Ah, Dills. I’m not worth it, you know.”
“You bloody are so!”
“Dylan, are you screwing with anyone?”
“Am I what?”
“Are you screwing – having sex with anyone?”
“No, I’m not.”
“I thought not. Are you a virgin, Dills?”
“Well, yes I am. I told you, nobody knows I’m gay, except you.”
“Except me. I’m not a virgin. I’ve done it, years ago.”
“Years ago? Wills, you’re only 13. How old were you?”
“I was 10. I slept, a few times, with an older boy – well, he was 12. He showed me. We did everything and it was great!”
“At 10 years old? Damm, you were an early starter.”
“I guess I was, but I was ready. I’m ready now.”
“Yeah? Me too! Just be careful who you hook-up with, Wills. Don’t go getting hurt.”
“I’m trying not to. G’night, Dylan.”
“Good night, my Friend. Sleep well.”
They both rolled over, facing away from each other, and both lay castigating themselves. They wanted to say more, but didn’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment