The Movies

            (A movie theater.  MOLLY is already seated.  AIDAN walks in.)

AIDAN:  Uh…hi?

MOLLY:  Hi.

AIDAN:  Are you here for the movie?

MOLLY:  No, I was told there’d be a buffet.

AIDAN:  Really?

MOLLY:  No, that’s a joke.

AIDAN:  Oh.

MOLLY:  I’m here for the movie.

AIDAN:  Oh.

MOLLY:  Are you here for the movie?

AIDAN:  No.

MOLLY:  Oh.

AIDAN:  I work here.

MOLLY:  Really?

AIDAN:  I’m not in uniform because—they called me in.  Nobody else came to work but the manager.

MOLLY:  Oh.

AIDAN:  But nobody’s here.

MOLLY:  Okay.

AIDAN:  Except you.

MOLLY:  Right.

AIDAN:  You’re here.

MOLLY:  Yeah.

AIDAN:  So.

            (A moment.)

MOLLY:  (Simultaneously.)  I just didn’t have anything else to do.

AIDAN:  (Simultaneously.)  Do you know the world is ending?

MOLLY:  Yeah.

AIDAN:  Okay.  Just…um, checking.

MOLLY:  There IS going to be a movie, right?

AIDAN:  Yeah.  We usually run it even if there’s nobody in here, just in case somebody shows up late or something.  Theater policy.

MOLLY:  Great.

AIDAN:  Have you seen this one?

MOLLY:  No.

AIDAN:  Oh.  (A beat.)  I see all of them.

MOLLY:  You mean because you work here?

AIDAN:  No, I come in on my days off and watch whatever’s playing.

MOLLY:  Is that a joke?

AIDAN:  No, I don’t joke.  I’m not very funny.

MOLLY:  Oh.  Well.  You must really like movies then.

AIDAN:  It’s something to do.

MOLLY:  Right—that’s why I’m here. I was sitting at home thinking—I should be doing something.  But I couldn’t figure out what to do.  I’m a little nervous about being outside because all these people are just standing around looking up at the sky trying to see the comet even though they’ve told everybody we won’t be able to see it until it’s really close to—you know, and that’s if it does, you know—but anyway that was bothering me, so I thought I’d better do something indoors, and this was the best thing I could come up with.

            (A beat.)

AIDAN:  Oh.

            (A beat.)

Do you want popcorn?

MOLLY:  No, I’m okay.

AIDAN:  So you’re just going to sit here?

MOLLY:  Well…yeah.  Until the movie starts.

AIDAN:  I feel like I should…do something.

MOLLY:  You don’t have anything else to do?

AIDAN:  Well, just—work stuff.

MOLLY:  Well, you’re working…so…maybe you should do…that stuff.

AIDAN:  Nobody’ll notice.  I mean, not when the world’s ending or whatever.

MOLLY:  Am I the only person waiting to see a movie right now?

AIDAN:  Pretty much.

MOLLY:  Great.  That doesn’t make me feel like a loser.

AIDAN:  I can sit with you and watch it if you want.  I don’t think my manager will mind.  He’s on the phone with his wife explaining how he had to open up the place because otherwise corporate would bitch him out and then he’d lose his job and they’d have to move back in with his mom.

MOLLY:  Well, that’s—I have no idea what to say about that.

AIDAN:  Am I creeping you out?

MOLLY:  No—if anything it should be the other way around.  You’re just at work, I’m the weirdo sitting a movie theater while the world ends.

AIDAN:  This is actually exactly where I’d want to be if the world was going to end.

MOLLY:  Really?

AIDAN:  Yeah, why do you think I came in when everybody else took the day off?  It’s so isolated and enclosed.  The sound drowns out anything that’s in your head.  If you sit all the way in the back you feel like you’re on some sort of spaceship taking in this story beamed to you by aliens.

MOLLY:  Well, it doesn’t—Okay, yeah, I guess.

AIDAN:  It’s just the most amazing experience ever given to humanity.  Movies, art, cinema—the shared viewing, the emotions, the tradition of it all.  I mean, Whoa, right?  Seriously?

MOLLY:  I just needed some air conditioning.

AIDAN:  Yeah, that too.

MOLLY:  But you’ve made me feel a lot better about being here, so—thank you.

AIDAN:  No problem.  You really didn’t have anywhere else to be?

MOLLY:  Everyone wants to be around people right now.  Go to parties.  Go to bars.  Kiss somebody.  Dance with somebody.  Take somebody home.  I heard on the news that if the world doesn’t end they’re expecting the population to double in nine months because everybody’s—you know—because the world’s going to end, so why not?

AIDAN:  Totally.

MOLLY:  I just wanted to sit and be…not quiet, but…reverant?  I guess.  Just sit and wait for it if it’s going to happen.  Like, not know it almost, you know?  If it’s going to happen, I’d rather just…not know, so…

AIDAN:  Then you’ve come to the right place.

MOLLY:  Thank you.

AIDAN:  But then, should I leave?  I mean, if you want to be—

MOLLY:  No, I mean—one person couldn’t hurt, right?  I mean, everybody always says they want to be alone, but what they really mean is—I want somebody in my near vicinity who I can access if and when I choose to.

AIDAN:  I’m good for that.

MOLLY:  Well then, have a seat.

AIDAN:  Good deal.

            (He sits.)

This is a really good movie.

MOLLY:  That’s good.  I’m glad it’s…good.

AIDAN:  It’s really good.

MOLLY:  Good.

AIDAN:  But, you know, when you love them—I mean, when you love movies, it’s kinda like—they’re all good, you know?  Because they all give you something—that experience.  So what’s not to love, you know?

MOLLY:  Yeah.  You’re—yeah.

            (They sit and wait for the movie to start.)