moving so fast my arm is completely outstretched in front of me One stair at a time Vi I remind her She stops and waits for me to catch up before she continues forward again Sorry she says She gives my hand a squeeze and my whole arm tingles So Janelle’s not coming And Nico’s never been on time for anything in his life I smile She’s right about Nico He is always stumbling into class well after the bell rings I can hear the sound of nails clacking on a keyboard when we enter the projection projection booth The typing stops Hello Mr Craft Hey Mrs Colander I say feeling my way over to a seat against the back wall of the small room Vi stands beside me Her foot bumps against mine but I don’t think she notices 4 Mere Joyce
My mom hooked the laptop up to the projection system before she left this afternoon she says to me Mrs Colander just tested it When we hit Play on the laptop the movies appear on the big screen Vi’s parents bought The Chestnut before she was born They divorced when Vi was eight but they still run the theater together Vi and I grew up in this cinema It’s the best spot for the film festival I still can’t believe Vi’s mom gave us permission to use it on Friday night Okay so I think everything’s ready to go for Friday Mrs Colander says She begins typing again her long fingernails loud against the keyboard I’m just finishing up my report for Principal Saunders I’ll email it to myself and then I’ll be ready to go Are you sure you don’t need anything else from me 5 Shadow
No we’ve got it covered Mrs Colander Vi says in the sweet voice she always uses with authority figures All right well I’ll leave you to it Mrs Colander says She finishes with the computer Then her chair scrapes against the floor as she stands up Thanks again for letting us help out Vi says Not a problem I can hear the smile in Mrs Colander’s voice Thank your parents again for letting us use the theater It’s a great venue for our film festival I will Need me to see you out No I’m good Good night you two Have fun screening the films Definitely I say waving a hand in the air even though Mrs Colander’s already walking down the stairs Her footsteps fade as she reaches the first floor and then trails through the lobby Suddenly it’s just Vi and me 6 Mere Joyce
Tonight we’re going to watch all the films that will be played on Friday We need to make sure there are no sound issues or problems with the files As far as I’m concerned it’s the perfect way to spend a Wednesday night I love watching movies It doesn’t matter if I can’t really see them I don’t have to There’s a lot to a movie besides the actual picture There’s music There’s dialogue There’s witty humor tense sound effects and well-placed shrieks Besides I’m not totally blind I mean I guess technically I am But I can still detect light I know when there’s an absence of light too And I can make out shadows So I know when movies are shot in the day or the night I can even tell if a scene’s been shot on a busy road with headlights shining off traveling cars I watch movies in my own way I love watching movies in my own way 7 Shadow
