an afternoon at the cinema i’d like to remember
the two girls run up & hug my legs tightly as soon as they spy me, followed by sarah who greets me with a big hug. we get copious amounts of pick&mix and the kids buzz around the lobby excitedly. they take it in turns to sit on my lap for the movie and they slip & slide so my feet keep getting pins & needles.
we all put our 3D glasses on. sophie keeps referring to them as sunglasses and she looks so little when she sits on her own chair. she spends nearly the whole film with her blanket round her neck & her arm firmly fixed in her huge bag of pick&mix that goes up to her elbow, just holding onto the sweets in her tiny right hand. (and she clings onto my fingers with her left hand when its her turn to curl up on my knee.) maia can’t get her 3D glasses and her big purple-bowed headband to co-operate and the glasses keep slipping down her nose. eventually she takes the headband off - her hair is so long now, it goes all the way down her back. she keeps grabbing at the air in front of her trying to touch the 3D movie.
“aunty tori, it’s right there in front of us!” she says, hands waving in front of her reaching for the screen. it’s ‘beauty & the beast’ & i know every line from when i was little. (it was my favourite.) i love seeing which bits they laugh at: any time someone accidentally shows their underpants, every time someone gets hit in the head. there’s a moment when sarah & i laugh at something subtle but the girls don’t get it and maia asks confusedly what we’re laughing at but there’s no easy way to really explain it.
when the movie’s finished, we say goodbye. the girls clunk heads in their enthusiasm to give me a hug as i kneel down.
“will you come home with us?” maia asks, wide-eyed. followed by, “can we come to the cinema with you next week? no, not next week - tomorrow!” and in that innocent way that only five years old can ask things, she finally sighs, “aunty tori, why can’t you come and live with us?!” then she yawns a giant yawn and sets sophie off yawning and the two of them look like they’re about to drop asleep any moment so i give sarah another hug, then wave goodbye & they head home for tea.
