A Rainy Day at the Nortown Theater

When I was about nine or ten years old my dad picked me up from school one day and took me to the movies. I didn’t see him very often since my parents were divorced and I lived with my mother. This day my dad asked me what I wanted to do and since it was raining hard we decided to go see Dragnet starring Jack Webb and an Alan Ladd picture, Shane.

I had already seen Dragnet twice and since it wasn’t such a great movie I was really interested in seeing Shane, which I’d already seen as well, but only once, and had liked it, especially the end where the kid, Brandon de Wilde, goes running through the bulrushes calling for Shane to come back, “Come back, Shane! Shane, come back!” I had really remembered that scene and was anxious to see it again, so all during Dragnet I kept still because I thought my dad wanted to see it, not having already seen it, and when Shane came on I was happy.

But it was Wednesday and my dad had promised my mother he’d have me home for dinner at six, so at about a quarter to, like I had dreaded in the back of my head, my dad said we had to go.

“But Dad,” I said “Shane’s not over till six-thirty and I want to see the end where the kid goes running after him yelling, ‘Come back, Shane!’ That’s the best part!”

But my dad said no, we had to go, so I got up and went with him but walked slowly backward up the aisle to see as much of the picture as I could even though I knew now I wasn’t going to get to see the end, and we were in the lobby, which was dark and red with gold curtains, and saw it was still pouring outside. My dad made me put on my coat and duck my head down into it when we made a run for the car, which was parked not very far away.

My dad drove me home and talked to me but I didn’t hear what he said. I was thinking about the kid who would be running after Shane in about ten more minutes. I kissed my dad good-bye and went in to eat dinner but I stood in the hall and watched him drive off before I did.