Well my most interesting experience was the midnight showing of the Return of the King. Since I had school the day after my mother forbade me to go, but after missing the past two years and this being my last chance, I formulated a plan. First off, I had to get a ride because if I were to take one of our own cars my parents would hear the garage door, would notice the loss in gas, etc. So I arranged with on of my friends (who was allowed to go) to pick me up. I started planning weeks in advance. My escape point form my house was a series of windows in my basement right above the couch. It was simple, remove the screen, clamber up onto the couch and slither out onto the dewey grass above. But wait, this was December and I knew my plans would be ruined if there was snow to show my tracks. I got lucky in that aspect and was eventually able to crawl out onto relatively dry grass, no traces left behind. My planning for this endeavor took a long time to put together. I gradually smuggled jeans, a sweatshirt, and shoes down to the basement and hid them in various places such as the DVD movie rack or under the sofa's cushions. Now the worst part about this was the incredible time crunch I would have. My parents usually went to bed around 10:30 and with the wondows I planned to escape from directly beneath their heads, I had to wait a full hour for them to fall asleep. Then I had to trek to the entrance of my neighborhood to be picked up without any noise of car doors or engines near my house. My arrival at the movie theater was planned for 11:50, which is, needless to say, cutting it extremly close for the midnight premiere of the biggest movie of the year. Tuesday, December 16, I headed off to bed at 10:00 wishing my parents a good night's rest as they watched on the news the lines building outside of the theater. I had my underwear and socks on underneath my pajamas so that I could slip into my clothes once I was downstairs. After waiting a half hour I crept to the top of the stairs and waited as my parents bustled about locking doors and turning out the lights. It was already past 10:30 when my mother decided that it was high time the dishwasher was unloaded. Great Scott, I swear it took her forever. I forced myself to wait patiently until she had gone into the bathroom to brush her teeth. My plan had been to sneak by as they were both in there with water running, but my mother's dishes took her long enough that my father was already in bed not five feet from the foot of the staircase I had yet to descend. Pretending I was Bilbo creeping down to meet Smaug, I took more than a hobbit's care to wiggle by the dangerous door. After a few breathless moments, I was in the basement. I laid there silent for a full hour (and a bit more) waiting for the bed above to stop creaking and the whispers to quiet. By 11:37 I was more or less back on schedule as I decided it was safe to don my escape garb and climb out the window. I did so with little trouble and was soon on my way towards the main road where I was to be picked up. I pulled out my 'borrowed' cell phone and punched in my friend's number to let him know that I was ready. He didn't answer so I assumed he was in the car and couldn't hear it or something. At 11:50 I tried again, getting a little worried, having an eight minute drive from my house to the theater. Still no answer. When 11:56 rolled around, I began a series of one call every 45 seconds. Never answered. After the dreadful hour of midnight struck I knew I was doomed. After such careful planning, I
had missed the premiere of the RotK! With less than a grain of hope left I waited ten more minutes. Perhaps my friend had car trouble and he would be along presently. No such luck. At 12:08 I started my despondent trek home. I reached my own backyard and wondered how much I really would enjoy my warm cozy bed that night. I pulled open the window and stuck one foot through when... Glory and Trumpets!!! The phone rang! I was so startled that I almost fell through the window. I couldn't get it out on time and it stopped ringing. No! That could have been my chance! Quick call him back! I did and he picked up and frantically rattled off to me, "Ben! I'm SO sorry! I fell asleep and I lost track of time. I'm doing 95 down 82nd right now, I'll be there in a few minutes!" I was so flabbergasted I didn't say anything until he was done except "Ok, I'll be waiting." When he rolled up (hardly a minute later) I jumped in the car, and we roared off to the theater. I couldn't decide whether to be mad because he was so late or to be happy because I was actually gonna make it. In fact I haven't decided even now what to think. We got to the theater in record time and sprinted into the lobby. The attendant seemes to know what we were about and chuckled at us, glanced at our tickets and sped us on our way. I made it just in time to see Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimili and Legolas be greeted by the Merry and Pippin at the ruined gates of Isengard. We had, of course, bought our tickets in advance so there were only two seats left in the house. Mine and his, but they were so buried it took us fifteen minutes to find them and they were separated by eight rows.
Great flick.
After it was over he drove me home. That ride seemed so much slower for some reason.
He dropped me off at the neighborhood and I walked back home gleefully running the movie though my head, thining about the parts I liked, the parts I missed, the parts that were just plain 'out-there', and I found that I had arrived at my trusty window. Dead tired, I slid back in. I was so tired i hadn't noticed that my coat pocket had gotten caught I was stuck, and I was suddenly hanging upside down over the couch. After a bit of struggling and too much noise, I plopped to the cushions and hurriedly began to change back into my pajamas because the clamour had woken my parents and they were already on their way to investigate. Here I must tell you that I am prone to sleep walking and occasionally wake up in odd spots around the house, thus I was able to pull this off. I landed my self on the couch just as the light flipped on and my dad groggily shuffled over. I knew he was gonna either wake me or try to carry me up to bed, but I couldn't let him touch me because my skin was still cold from the frigid December air. So at the last second I opened one eye and rattled off some sleep induced gobbledy-gook that usually comes out of my mouth when sleep walking. It worked and he let me guide myself back to bed under my own power. I flopped into my bed and prepared to wake up in two hours for a beautiful day at school the next day.