A big-girls' evening

Friday 24 October 2008

My cellphone alarm went off at 7.20 this morning while I was still in the car on the way to school. Jessy looked over from the other seat at me. 'Is that--?'

I nodded briskly. 'You know it is!' And we shared an excited giggle then.

'High School Musical III' has been announced over and over for months. It was to open tonight and for at least the last six weeks my cellphone alarm has been set to remind me when this day came. We went through school all agog with the excitement of knowing that this afternoon we'd be off on our way to see this long-awaited feature. Along the way we were able to entice both Becky and Rita to join us. Oddly Anna was not interested in seeing it. And Josie would be seeing it with her cousin and younger sister. Most importantly we were to pick up a very special guest, en route to VB immediately after school.

When Roger arrived with the dark-green Cadillac the booster seat was already in place. We swung round to the primary school and I got out, to stand in the warm, almost-raining afternoon mist to meet little Lisa as she scurried out from her classroom door. 'Janine!' she squealed, crashing headlong into my arms.

I scooped her up at once and hugged her. 'Are you all ready to go?'

She nodded enthusiastically. 'I told all my friends I was going to see the movie,' she said. 'With my big sisters.'

I kissed the side of her head. 'We're going to have ourselves a big-girl evening, right?'

She made that nod again.

Of course I rang Mother from the car to let her know we had collected Lisa and were on out way. Rita and Becky were amused and impressed that Jessy and I were having out five-year-old sister join us. But that was half the fun. Lisa sat in her booster seat in the middle of the back seat, with Jessy to her left and me to her right and Rita and Josie in the other seats facing us. We went over the 22-mile bridge into VB and pulled up at the Lynnhaven mall at about 4.00. First we ran over and got tickets. There was a bit of a queue there so Becky and I left Jessy and Rita there with the money and took Lisa to the toilets. It was fortunate that we were able to get booked for the 6.45 show. Then we had the chance to wander round the mall a bit, looking in all the shops, and I bought Lisa a kid's-size shirt in Aero.

'I want to wear it next school day,' she said. 'I'll be cool.'

She just loves thinking of herself as being just like Jessy and me. Even as she idolises us we both adore her for it. 'You sure will be,' Jessy said. 'And I can wear my Aero shirt too,' Jessy was saying, 'and we'll be twins.'

Lisa giggled hard at that. 'And I can wear mine,' Becky was saying to her, 'and maybe we can all be cool together.'

Lisa beamed, dangling along on the end of my arm. This really was a thrill for her.

We had supper at Chick-Fil-A and then got ourselves to the cinema-- after a precautionary trip to the toilets again-- for the movie. Jessy noted that the first for-film edition of an HSM movie appeared 'juiced' or as Rita called it 'amped up'. The colours are crisp and the close-ups are vibrant and alive somehow. I don't know how else to describe it. It just hits you like spice or lightning or a drum crack or something. We all adored the story from start to finish. There really are no dull spots in the whole film. The ending (I won't say what happens yet) was satisfying because you are expecting that Troy will choose one option for his future, and then another, and the option he chooses is a total surprise and yet perfect for both his future and his character. Many Christian and children's groups have consistently praised the 'HSM' series because it is more like what Disney used to do-- entirely G-rated, you know, with nothing at all inappropriate, and a definite moral center. After all Troy never even kisses Gabriella till the end of the second movie! But it's still very romantic, especially the dancing scene on the rooftop. Jessy observed that Gabriella wears a cross round her neck. The stuff about Troy as a little boy is adorable (half the cinema sighed 'Awww!').

The best part for us is that little Lisa, who is a smart little girl but still just five years old, got most of the details of the movie including the ending. All the way home over the bridge we all talked about it, till Lisa fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. That was good because we would avoid any superfluous stops for the potty.

Roger delivered Becky and then Rita at their homes and Lisa finally woke up about five minutes from our house. It was 10.25 when I carried her up to the door. Mother met me as I was starting up the steps. 'How was it?' she asked softly.

'Everyone had a nice time,' I said. 'Some of us sort of overdosed on big-girl fun tonight.'

She smiled. 'Well, no one has to get up early tomorrow.'

'I won't,' I said. Lisa sighed sleepily. I got her into her pyjamas and helped her brush teeth and Mother came up to say prayers and tuck her in. In my room I got undressed and started typing in this but I fell asleep... and so what is typed here has been done over this weekend.

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