WHO: Hattie Caplan WHAT: Hattie is not sure why she thought watching two horror flicks on the scariest night of the year would be a good idea, but she just loves the drive-in! WHEN: Halloween WHERE: Personville Drive-In STATUS: Semi-narrative, but open!
There in the darkness, on the spookiest night of the year, a disturbingly large silhouette loomed over the back row of the blacktop, eerily illuminated by the flickering screen far ahead, familiar and mysterious at once: the milk truck.
The big squat automobile - associated with mornings and hair rollers, cereal and bird chirps - was now framed by shrill screams of horror and delight that bounced around the drive-in like ghostly echoes.
Hey, this is the only vehicle that Hattie can get. So if she wants to see the double feature tonight at the drive-in, well, there you go. She and Mattie were scrunched together on the front bench as they'd been many, many early mornings making the rounds, either on their own as adolescents or squeezed in side by side as youngsters with one of their fathers or brothers, playing cat's cradle or giving each other cooties shots, or waving to anyone and everyone on the streets, delighted at how many people knew her family - it was like being royalty or something.
Tonight, Hattie was less interested in being social. Not that she didn't basically always want to hang out and talk and see new people, but she was a complete mess at the moment, cowering behind the steering wheel with her face in her hands, peering between her fingers like a child. The first movie was bad enough, making her skin crawl and securing what would probably be a life-long aversion to New Mexico (but who are we kidding, Hattie has never been out of Illinois). Now this lagoon man kept trying to kill everyone and he was gross and scary and slimy. What was up with these crazy monsters, anyway? Whatever happened to "boo!"? Anyway, Hattie still wanted to be Kay, the desirable and brave heroine. She just wasn't doing such a hot job right now, jumping every time the music amped. In her head, Hattie would rise to the occasion and be able to fight off the beast, just like Kay. Even if she couldn't swim.
She took a deep breath. "I'm gonna get us some more candy," she announced, as if the act itself was an act of great courage, her own adventure. Really - and surely Mattie could see straight through it - Hattie just thought that she'd take a stroll and miss some of the creepy stuff that was probably coming up now that the action was getting good. She slipped out of her seat and felt good when her feet hit the pavement, even if it meant leaving the security of the big strong truck that always made her feel so special and safe out on the streets.
She shook out her limbs in a little dance to get the jitters out, and patted her hair and face to make sure she wasn't as much of a disaster on the outside as her nerves felt on the inside, and she set off on her quest with a big smile of relief. Escape back to the real world. Who else was here tonight, anyway?