Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Xanadu Fighting

No, not this one
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

When I was about in 8th grade my Mom dragged us all, my three brothers, my Father and me to see a movie.  She was a fan of disco and roller skating at the time (she and my Dad even both bought roller skates (hers, white; his, black)).

The movie was Xanadu.  I won't go into what the movie was here.  If you don't know about it you can check Wikipedia.  What I will tell you is that is was a disco-roller-movie and of course the only one happy to go was my Mom.

Not this one either
Behind us, about two rows were two men.  If I remember correctly they looked like toughs, bearded, leather jackets, tattoos, each about 200 lbs.  I don't know why exactly they were there, I won't even take a guess at the several ideas that immediately spring to mind.  The only thing I know for sure is that they were not there to enjoy the movie in silence.

They talked loudly through the movie, and not to each other.  They complained how bad the movie was to the screen and they berated the audience.  I'm pretty sure they used words not in our First Communion books (if you know what I mean), but I have no clear memory of that.

My Mom kept shushing them.  Then she would lean over to my Dad and tell him to do something about them.  I don't remember what my Dad said.  I'd like to think he said something like, "What do you want me to do shoot or arrest them?"  All I remember is that he didn't do anything while the movie played.

At the end of the movie my Mom stood up and gave them a piece of her mind.  They stood up and challenged my Dad.  He stood up and said something about them leaving quietly.

The thing I remember so clearly and what amused me to no end was that when my Dad stood up and it looked like he was going to have to step outside with these two; several other men, most likely other fathers or husbands who had been drug to this horrible movie by their wives, who had been sitting and steaming at just having to be there; stood up behind my Dad.

I heard one of them say, "We got your back, man."

Several angry father/husbands just looking for something, anything to relieve them, to clear their minds of this roller-disco experience against these two loud-mouths.  They decided discretion was the better part of valor and left quietly.

I don't know about the adults, but that made the movie for me.