Getting Carded

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"Huh?" Manny replied, not sure if he had heard right.

The girl working the ticket stand rolled her eyes. "Your ID, sir. Can I see it, please?"

"Oh, uh, yes." He fumbled out his wallet and began rooting around in it, meanwhile wondering why he needed an ID just to get into a movie. It'd make sense if he were a kid trying to sneak into a gory picture. Thing was, he was 37 and the movie he wanted to see was rated PG. He found the ID card before he found an answer, and held it aloft, somewhat confusedly.

The ticket girl, for her part, idly thumped a few buttons on the register. "Eight-seventy-five, please," she said in a bored voice. No explanation seemed forthcoming, so Manny forked over the money silently and escaped with his ticket.

He kept an eye on the ticket line as he made his way to the concession stand. The guy who'd been behind him in line didn't get carded, just got charged the better part of nine bucks without incident. Manny looked at the mirror behind the concession workers, wondering if perhaps he'd acquired the face of some famous criminal since this morning; but no, the usual mug stared back at him, slightly tired-looking beneath thinning red hair. Maybe the ticket girl was just bored.

He ordered popcorn and a Coke from a gangly kid with braces, this time managing to complete the transaction without having to show his ID.


...am I the only one with deja vu?

Senior Tickets

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"Senior ticket, please," Lina said sweetly, handing over the four dollars. She accepted her ticket with a smile, followed Debbie into the theater lobby, and calmly stood in the concession line.

Finally Debbie gave in. "You're not even 45 yet, woman! How do you get away with pulling that kind of trick?"

"Well, it helps that you only have to be 50 to get the senior discount here," Lina replied, grinning. "And apparently I just look older than I really am, so."

Debbie shook her head. "I'm 'in my late 30s' for about the ninth year running, and here you are going completely the opposite direction. I'm pretty sure that's not normal."

"I've always believed in owning my age... two Cokes, please," Lina added as an aside to the man behind the counter. "And, well, if owning a little more lets me save a little money, what's the harm?"

"Because there's no harm in fraud," Debbie replied, rolling her eyes.

Lina handed over one Coke and sipped demurely at the other. "They'll roll the movie whether I'm sitting there or not. Seems the actual amount I pay to get in doesn't actually matter too much."

Chuckling, Debbie nodded. "Tell yourself that if you want, I suppose. Me, I'll be happy to pay full price for a while longer."

Senior Discount

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Louis enjoyed the movie -- one of those lighthearted comedies, the type that his wife deplored as being without substance -- somewhat less than he would have usually. On the drive home he was thoughtful almost to the point of missing a stop sign on one of the back roads behind the theater. He was still moody when he came in the front door.

"Welcome home, sweetie," Angela called from the kitchen. "How was your movie?"

He followed the sound of her washing dishes, grabbing a towel from the shelf to help dry them as he answered. "It was all right. Funny. You wouldn't have liked it."

She wrinkled her nose. "Well, no, I suppose I just don't see physical comedy as being all that funny." Pausing to hand a soapy plate to him, she added, "I mean, if people think that being slapped around is so hilarious, maybe someone should do it to them."

Louis laughed briefly. They both proceeded to work in silence for perhaps a minute, her washing, him drying, until abruptly he said "I'm old, aren't I, Angie."

Angela dropped her hands into the dishwater and sighed. "Of course you're old. You're sixty-seven. I'm old too." She took the towel from him and dried her hands off, giving him a sympathetic look. "Did some college kid treat you like an old granddad again, dear?"

"Ticket seller at the theater gave me my senior citizen discount without my having to ask."

She chuckled. "You know, as consequences of aging go, that's really not that bad."

Smiling a little, Louis replied, "No, when you put it that way, I suppose it isn't."