Except Me

“Am I the only one here?” I inquired of the young man to whom I had just paid my $3.00 admission price.

“Yes.” he said, looking almost embarrassed, “...so far.”

The theater was decidedly empty. And all mine. Where to sit?

Being a little nearsighted, I usually choose a seat near the front in any given venue, so... I plopped myself down in the front row, center seat.

“No, this won’t do.” I said to myself as I realized that I’d have to tilt my head back rather awkwardly to get a good look at the screen, “Gotta move up.”

So... center seat, halfway up. As minutes passed and I watched the ‘coming attractions’ cycle across the Fryeburg Academy Performing Arts Center theater screen I kept listening for last minute arrivals...

“Will he show the movie if it’s only me? Should I tell him not to bother? How odd should I feel about this?” I didn’t feel odd, really. True, it was somewhat surreal sitting in a theater all by myself- sort of like, “I had this dream where I was at a theater watching a movie, and the theater was empty except for me!” only it wasn’t a dream...

As it turned out, the movie didn’t exactly live up to my expectations. It was entitled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and as I recall it had gotten a lot of hype when it was first released. It was OK as movies go, but if pressed I don’t think I’d be able to report that it was exceptional in any way.

But what’s with me being the only one interested? True, there had been not much more than a handful of folks attending the other two films I’d viewed at the new Performing Arts Center, but...

Nobody’s interested in a movie on a Friday night?

Except me.