Short Story: The Drive Inn Theatre. I had just passed my driver’s test that spring and my parents had finally become brave enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to allow me to take the car to the local drive inn theatre that summer. Besides the local pool, the drive inn was the place to be for teen-agers in the summer. It was a large gravel-based facility located next to the little league field. It originally was a cow pasture, then it was a dog racing facility, then it was a football field for the high school, and it eventually became a drive inn theatre.
All you had to do was to park your car next to a pole that had speakers, roll your window down, hang the speaker on the edge of your window, turn up the sound, and you were ready. Of course, you had to remember to remove the speaker before you drove away or it would break your car window as Ronnie found out last summer. There was a concession stand that provided soft drinks, popcorn, candy, and hotdogs. Just below the big screen were swing sets for small children. Once settled, you could listen to rock n roll before and between movies and then watch the best movies on this huge screen from the comfort of your car seat. And, of course, it was where you could take your girlfriend and “neck” all evening with few interruptions.
I was so excited because Woodstock and MASH were showing tonight. I went through our favorite carry out drive through and bought a case of Stroh’s beer, a bag of ice, and two large bags of potato chips from Bobby. He always let us buy beer, no IDs were needed. I put the beer on ice in a cooler and put the filled cooler in the back seat. I picked up my buddies, Willie, Ryan, and Daniel, and we went to the local hamburger joint. We ordered some burgers but mine came with cheese so I gave it to Willie. I hated cheese on a hamburger. They all laughed at me because this seemed to happen all the time. Later, I found out that the guys did this on purpose. They actually ordered it with cheese, knowing I wouldn’t eat it, so they could have an extra burger. You still had to love these guys.
They all jumped into the trunk of the car and we headed to the drive inn. As we pulled through, John, who was the starting end on the football team, was collecting the money. Fifty cents per person. John looked in the car, laughed, and said, “All by yourself tonight? That’s a lot of beer for you to drink.” He laughed out loud, walked out of the ticket booth, and pounded on the trunk laughing as he said hello to the guys. They all shouted hello back to him.
John simply shook his head, “See you later.” As I drove in I noticed that it was already pretty full. I drove around to the very last row and stopped the car to let the guys out of the trunk. Some other cars were doing the very same thing. Several guys were peeing all over the trunk of one car shouting that it was raining. The guys in the trunk were yelling to let them out. I drove the car up to the 3rd row next to where Marty and her friends had parked and had saved a space for me. A case of cold beer, a car full of girls next to us, and two great movies to watch. There was absolutely nothing better than life in my small town.
Ryan and Daniel took a few beers and one of the bags of chips and moved over to Marty’s car. Natalie got in the back seat of my car with Willie. Marty got out of her car and jumped in the front seat next to me.
“Hey you, Katie told me that she showed you her Dad’s fallout shelter today.” She poked me in my rib cage and laughed. She and Katie were best of friends and so very much alike: empathetic, curious, smart, independent, and strong-willed.
Suddenly, my door opened and Katie, who had a large bag of popcorn, laughed, “Fancy meeting you guys here. Move over!” I immediately knew that Katie and Marty had planned this.
“Who’s in the back?” Katie asked.
“That’s Natalie and Willie. Don’t mind them, they are not interested in the movie. Just ignore the grunts and groaning.” Natalie and Willie smiled and waved in the middle of an embrace. Katie and Marty laughed.
Katie had driven separately because she had to leave early. So with Katie on one side and Marty on the other, we watched MASH from the front seat of my Dad’s Chevy. Marty and Katie didn’t like the movie, they thought that the nurses weren’t respected for their knowledge and skills.
“The only thing the doctors wanted to do was to get into their pants and there are no women doctors,” Katie complained.
Marty decided the movie could just as well have taken place in Vietnam rather than Korea. Katie and I agreed. We all came to the conclusion that it was an antiwar movie. Marty predicted, “One day they will probably make a movie about nurses and doctors in Vietnam except the stars will be the nurses.”
As soon as MASH ended, Katie gently touched my arm, smiled, and got out of the car to leave, “See you in the fallout shelter. Talk to you tomorrow Marty.”
Marty and I got out of the car and walked around. Dozens of our friends were there. It was almost like walking the hallways between classes at school. We stopped at Barry’s car. He was listening to the radio when “Ohio” came on. “Barry, turn up the volume, I love that song.”
He shook his head, “You’re such a radical these days, although I have to admit that it’s a good song.”
We walked back to the car. Willie and Natalie were still in the backseat. I knocked on the back window, “Hey, you guys need to come up for air! And, someone get me a beer.” Willie told me to shut up as Natalie passed me a beer.
While we were watching Woodstock, I thought about my friend Sammy. The last time I had seen him was at a campout last summer right before he left for Woodstock. He never came back to our hometown. I hadn’t heard from him since then although his Mom said he was doing quite well playing guitar in the clubs in the Village in New York City. Sammy’s gift to me was the desire and ability to see the world through different lenses. Last month the National Guard had shot and killed students at Kent State. Many in our town, especially the adults, blamed the students. I blamed the National Guard and the Governor of Ohio.
After the movie Marty and I argued over who was the best band at Woodstock. Marty insisted, “It was either Sly and the Family Stone or Santana.”
“I think it was either Crosby, Stills, and Nash or the Who, although I also liked Santana. And, of course, I loved Country Joe and the Fish.”
Marty purposely squeezed my hand as she was getting out of the car. “See you soon.”
She and Natalie returned to her car and Ryan and Daniel returned to my car. As I left the drive-inn that night, I pushed the 8 track of Crosby, Stills, and Nash into the tape player. “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” was playing. Yes, they were the best band at Woodstock.
Marty and I went to the drive inn theatre several times that summer and Katie was always with us. Each time Marty teased me about my meetings with Katie in the fallout shelter. She’d laugh and tell us that people were talking and telling stories about us. Just like I did with Katie in her Dad’s fallout shelter, we often ended up talking about current events such as the Vietnam War, Kent State, the Apollo space missions, Nixon, and the proposed amendment to allow 18 year olds to vote. There were only a couple of teachers at the high school who even mentioned these issues in class. Katie was really upset that the government could draft 18 year olds to go to fight and die in Vietnam, yet they couldn’t vote. Her older brother had been in Vietnam four years ago. Fortunately, he returned home, although Katie said he had changed, and never talked about what happened while he was there. Marty argued that Congress also needed to approve the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. We talked about going to college and by the end of the summer we all had agreed that we wanted to go away to college. Somehow our small town had gotten smaller after that summer while we were at the drive inn theatre.
Marty, Katie, and I were the best of friends. We could talk to each other about anything. Katie moved away in the spring of our junior year and eventually become a scientist with NASA. I did get a letter from her when I received my Ph.D. in Texas. Every now and then we still keep in touch. Our senior year, Marty and I read All the Kings Men for a creative writing class. We wrote a report and gave a presentation to class about it. To this day it is my favorite book. After graduation, she was ready to go away to college but she was stricken by multiple sclerosis. Her doctor said that it was rare to see MS in such a young person. Marty never left our hometown. Next to Ryan, my best friend, no one had more influence in my life that summer than Katie and Marty and over the course of my life, they probably had even more influence than Ryan. And, anytime I watch MASH or China Beach on television, I fondly think of them both.
See related short stories: The Fallout Shelter (October 7, 2021) and The Campout (April 12, 2021)
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