A Risky Day Off

This was the perfect time to enjoy a long weekend. I was in my first year of high school and this story happened in January 2002. About a month after Christmas. I was 13 by then. The school had given us a three-day weekend. I was off on Friday followed by the weekend. Gosh, I was so happy!

 During the holidays, Christmas 2001, a month earlier, one of the greatest movies of all time came out. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The movie was a masterpiece. A great work of art.

 I did not go see the movie when it was released on its first weekend. I should have asked my parents if I could go see it. My parents were always on my back. Making sure that I was doing well in school and not hanging with the wrong people, the wrong crowd.

 I never been to the movies on my own. Only with my parents, or with the school as a group outing. My mind was made up when I heard about the movie’s great reviews and that it was based by a famous author’s work… J.R.R. Tolkien.

 I remember the first trailer when it came out in summer 2001. A teaser trailer. That was unforgettable. The theater went silent… and I was impressed, mesmerized by what we were going to witness soon. The story from a great novelist to the big screen. Coming to life on the curtain.

 This should have been a great movie to watch with friends and even family. In my case, with my parents always being busy and always thinking about saving money, work, and paying bills… the drill of being a responsible adult, I guess.

 On Friday, January 25^th, 2002, I was off from school and I have not told my parents that I was off that day. How were they going to know? I was not skipping school. It was a day off. I was not missing new material to study. What can go wrong, right? As long as I leave the house in the morning on time and return home on time, as if it was a normal school day.

 The day had come. What was not a fun thing to do is to wake up early and knowing I had no school but thank God, I had gone to bed earlier. I left the house around 7:50 AM. I am at usual bus stop. My uncle who was returning home from work, he works the night shift, crosses path with me. He was driving and saw me at the bus stop. Damn! He has the eyes of an eagle or what? I was standing on a crowd of a dozen people.

 ‘’Kurt! Want me to drop you off to school? For me, it will be a pleasure.’’

 ‘’Uncle Dan! No, no, all good. You will be going out of your way and waste ten minutes.’’

 ‘’No way, it will be my pleasure. Common, hop in!’’

 ‘’Uncle Dan, I will be fine…’’

 ‘’Don’t say no to me. It is a cold morning. Please, get in.’’

 I did get in and when we got to my school, he saw that the parking lot and the school surroundings are like a ghost town.

 ‘’Are you sure the school is open?’’

‘’Yeah, it is a day to catch up and I will spend the day with a few students and some of our teachers with respect to the classes involved. ‘’

 ‘’Oh, I see. A full school day?’’

 ‘’Pretty much…’’

 ‘’Be safe, study hard, and have a great day Kurt.’’

 ‘’Ciao Uncle Dan. I will see you over the weekend maybe.’’

 Thank you, God, Universe, or whatever is out there, my uncle left the premises and did not wait for me to enter the school’s main entrance door.

 It was only 8:20 AM and the movie started at 12:15 PM. I decided to the local public library. I had some reading to do for my English class and then I was going to tackle my math assignment for next class. That would keep me busy for a few hours.

 I left the library at 11 AM so I could grab a lunch. After, headed downtown. On my way on the bus, I saw my cousin, who had the day off. He is not the kid of Uncle Dan. That was a relief but this cousin, Jake, had a big mouth. He saw me with my school bag and asked me where I was headed. I made up a story. I did not want him to join me for the movies.

 ‘’I need to go see a classmate about a project we are working on.’’

 ‘’Aren’t you off from school today. Our school board gave all its schools the day off.’’

 ‘’I am off, and I know that. I must get off. Talk to you later.’’

 As I get off from the bus, he looks at me… perplexed.

 Now, I am not sure what he would to say to his parents… that then would contact mines…

 I reached the cinema. I saw Rebecca. My crush… and this was not the time to socialize because more people I interact with, more I ran a chance of sabotaging my outing. But…My God…I just loved her…everything about her…

 With the money pocket from my parents back in those days, I had saved for this unique event. I had enough money for a medium popcorn with butter and a medium Coke. For me, the best combo at the movies.

 Rebecca was alone and she saw me…from far… eagles’ eye, like my Uncle Dan. I tried to not look at her but it was too late. She approached, we talked, she smiled at me, and eventually, she asked me which movie and watch time…

 Guess what? Same cinema hall, same time as me.

 I offered to share my popcorn and my drink. I grabbed a second straw for her. I can’t believe that this stress-free outing was going to become a date. There was almost no way I could have refused to watch this great story with a lovely girl like her.

 The movie was once in a life time experience. All went well. She even grabbed my arm during frightening scenes.

 I told her this was great and hope we can do it again. She mentioned that she hopes my dad will be fine with that… then we left to our own paths.

 I did not get what she said before we left each other but I was in a hurry to be home by 3:50 PM.

 On the bus, on my way home, I saw my mom, return from work. I was surprised to see her and I miscalculated my time. When she saw me, she asked me on the spot, where I was going or returning from. I told her we had a school outing… and I kept my cool. She seemed to have believed me.

 We both got off, got home, and my dad asked me about my school day. I mentioned it was a great day. We had an outing. My mom was with me in the bus so that also reaffirmed my situation. I had a witness.

 Well... I got a call about a girl from your class. Her name… Rebecca… and she wanted to ask if she could talk to you, and even maybe plan to check out Lord of the Rings at the Paramount downtown... she told me you guys had the day off…

 Holy Smoke! Damn, the girl I have a huge crush on, where I just had a date, was the one that got me trapped…and how the heck she got my home number? Maybe my friend Tom?

 My parents did not trust me after this incident. No outings on weekends and after school for four months. My feelings were too strong for Rebecca but you know what? Today, she is my wife and she keeps reminding me about how I got entangled in my own web and teases me about it whenever she has a chance. My plan was almost perfect but it failed because of love…