We had to wait till after the siren sounded.
And then we had to wait a couple more minutes ‘just to be sure’ my sister said.
Sure I said trying inwardly to match her nonchalance, but five uneventful visits in, I still couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread that sat at the pit of my stomach alongside the fried chicken we had for dinner (I had way too much). My nephew who was visiting for the first time, didn’t seem to care one way or the other.
He had announced during dinner that he was staying overnight in the city the next day at a friend’s and automatically raising protests from his parents as if he was 12 all over again. But it’s obviously way safer in the city, he argued.
To be honest, he may be 15 years older, but he still acted 12 most of the time. He had brought all his toys as he was always inclined to do on these trips and avoided any kind of meaningful family participation with the exception of meals.
He was in the lounge now with his console and playing a game through the large screen where he was a lost explorer blasting his way through a horde of alien monsters.
The game was so loud that every blast made me wince.
I think I said can we leave now a couple of times, annoyance creeping into my voice until finally, everyone trudged out, donning jackets and putting on boots.
A fog had descended and everything did look like an ordinary winter’s night, a Monday at that with school out. I caught my niece standing at the side of the road doing a small dance and I barked at her to get into the car.
When They first arrived, in the 1st spate of attacks that caught everyone by surprise, a story went around that instead of running and hiding, you could do small, repetitious movements and it would trick Them to think you weren’t, well, human. It spread like wildfire on social media but it was a cruel lie. People who believed it died in the thousands.
The cinema was a short 5-minute drive away. During the day, we could have walked instead but of course..
It looked deserted from the outside, but once we were in, I realised we were looking through digital screens that showed the external visual of an empty building. There were at least a dozen people- mostly kids- inside who like us, were booked for the 8pm showing. Suddenly, I felt a surge of nostalgia -some things never change- like the smell of buttery popcorn, the nervous teen tasked with manning the till, and several arcade-styled games scattered all over the small lobby.
My nephew plonked himself of course on the Tekken console while my niece begged her dad to spend a couple of dollars on the claw machine.
They were readying the theatre and we had minutes to kill. I bought a bag of Skittles and my sister got herself an ice cream cone. We made small talk and several times I glanced outside my mind saying what if, what if, but could only see my darkened reflection on the thick bullet and shatterproof glass.
And then the usher told us to go inside and the kids shuffled in first and I thought, have they even seen the previous movies to this sequel? Movies that were even older than their parents who were probably in their mid to late 30s??
There was a short intermission and then Harrison Ford came onto the screen in his prime at 40, ageless and virile. Turns out that if you were looking for immortality, all you needed was a legendary career, box office clout and the tacit consent of your estate to allow you to ‘act’ indefinitely 10 years on after you’ve died.
Dr. Henry Walton ‘Indiana’ Jones Jr. promised a last adventure way back in 23, but promises are made to be broken in the name of entertainment. First, there was a dial, then there was an artifact from the Trojan War, and now, a gate that opened both space and time.
The gate opened a ‘fissure’ in time and at the mention of the word, a kid screamed ‘anal fissure’ raising howls from their group which drew hushing from the adults.
Indy’s conflict was familiar; family was worth more than all the powers promised by any ancient artifact, and they had to make that decision now before the gate closed completely. And of course, the movie wants you to believe that they won’t make it, with the gate closing ever so slowly, sparks flying, making all sorts of racket when the lights go off in the cinema, as the red panic light came on.
Surprisingly no one actually screams. Mama, my niece called out, panic and fear in her voice, but my sister was seated several seats away and automatically, I took my niece’s hand and reassure her that everything was going to be alright. Elevator music played and then the usher’s voice comes through on the PA. The movie would be back on in five minutes; that it was a false alarm; that the authorities were checking just to be sure. That we all had to wait a couple of minutes after the movie to exit the cinema and get into our cars.
It seemed like forever and I was trying really hard not to look in the direction of the hallway, to imagine Them crashing through the glass, Their impossibly sharp claws and tentacles slashing and cutting everything within striking distance, as they made their way to a theater full of screaming people with no chance of escape…
Mercifully, the movie went back on, and to be honest, I couldn’t really remember how it indeed. I guess I would just have to wait till it drops on the streaming platforms to see what adventure Indiana Jones will be up to next.
I’m here, I’m here…catch me if you can
