I was an older kid, when an older girl invited me to the movie. She was the daughter of a man I worked odd jobs for; pickin eggs year round, bucking bales in the summer and wrangling firewood all winter. He was also the one who introduced me to deer camp, Obie's Cafe, and Gentleman Jack.
She was two years older, so daddy let her take the car. It was a '75 Monte Carlo, and it had a vacuum gauge to show how far your foot was buried in it. Kinda cool to watch. Pretty sure if you timed it and held your tongue just right, you could sync the movements of the fuel and vacuum gauge pointers.
Our last movie together was to see that Gremlin show, and it was cool, right up until the point when all the mommas started hauling their snowflakes outta the drive-in. I'll never forget that scene; little kids crying and mothers complaining. Apparently it was a bit different, and scary, than expected.
After the mass exodus, there were just a few of us left wondering what had happened. The movie host changed it to "Every Which way but Loose", which seemed ancient at the time.
Good memories. Good Lord, was that 40 years ago?
