The Movies

The Texan Theater was the only source of entertainment in our small town during my high school years.  Most of my peers were traveling to the neighboring town to indulge in dancing, dining and having more than one movie to pick from at the theaters.  Mama wasn't comfortable with allowing me to go out of town on Saturday nights {there are too many things that can go wrong} so I was usually on babysitting duty. 

Kelli and I were regulars at the Texan on Saturday nights.  Armed with sugar goods, we would take our seats and wait for the magic to begin on the movie screen.  We both cried when we watched "The Fox and The Hound".   "Flashdance" was so good that we convinced Mama to go with us again on Sunday night.  Kelli connected with Drew Barrymore's character in "ET" and wore out the line "ET phone home."  "Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "Tootsie", "Caddyshack", "Star Wars:  The Empire Strikes Back", "Airplane"; we loved them all.

Kelli was five and then six when we went through a series of  scary movies beginning with "The Shining".  Next in the line of creepy movies was "The Fog", "Friday the 13th", "Halloween and Halloween II"..... and the one that scared the poop out of both of us was "Nightmare on Elm Street".  We just knew Freddy Kruger was waiting for us in our dreams.  I decided I had better stop with the scary movies for fear that I had scarred my poor little sister for life. Okay, I admit I was a little spooked as well.

"Gremlins" and "Ghostbusters" were on the mild side of scary of the movie spectrum.  As a matter of fact, six-year old Kelli said, "Ghostbusters is the lamest scary movie I have ever seen. A giant marshmellow man?  Really?" 

The Texan Theater has been closed for several years.  I drive by it several times a day and every once a while I will glance over at it and remember the smell of popcorn and hot dogs in the lobby and a little blond-haired, blue-eyed Kelli who was my movie date and always a good sport no matter what kind of movies we watched.  :)