Tonight, I led my daughter from the path of righteousness.
Yes. I secreted food and beverage in her backpack and had her carry it into the movie theatre.
The movie being Harry Potter, of course.
I lay out the plan in the car after stopping to pick up sandwiches. I mean, in my defense....Summer Camp ended at 4 p.m. The movie was downtown on St Catherine. It started at 4:30 p.m. The next showing wasn't until 7 p.m. - and I knew that she could not eat dinner that late - nor was she making a massive tub of popcorn her meal. Plus going into the movie at 7 would get us out at 10...and home by nearly 11 p.m. No way I was handling the exhausted puddle she would become by that time of night.
So, we ran into the sandwich shop and got a couple to go.
"Look", I tell her in the car. "The movie people don't really want you to bring food in - at least not food that you haven't bought THERE in the movie - so we have to be kind of ....not Obvious about bringing it in..."
The truth of what I am saying sinks in.
She weighs this. "What if they find them?", she asks. She is, after all, a rule follower.
"I don't know, but I don't think they will take our sandwiches - I mean they're just sandwiches!"
I begin to feel kind of bad, inducing my child into being my accomplice in the illegal transport of bread and meat and vegetables. And a couple of bottled waters.
I look at my purse. I wish I had brought a bigger purse. I look around and see her backpack.
"Ah", I think, "the ubiquitous child's backpack...."
Being opening week, they will undoubtedly search my bag. Montreal is, apparently, a hot bed of illegal taping in theaters. Indeed, a security team is at each of the doors of the screens showing Harry Potter. You show your ticket, they check your bag...and then they walk up and down the stadium seating, making sure no one has whipped out the video-phone to capture Old Harry in his 5th year.
I sigh. This moral dilemma is bigger than I wanted at 4:22 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon.
I decide to go with the "Don't ask, Don't Tell" Policy. I pack her backpack and carry it down the street. I suppose the worst they can do is take our sandwiches.
We get our tickets at 4:32 and race up the escalator to the FIRST theater. I present our tickets to the security team. They look in my bag....and completely ignore her backpack.
We walk in past the doors and Emily, in true nine year old fashion says (loudly):
"WOW! They didn't even look in my backpack!"
Mata Hari, she's not.
July 13, 2007 Gimlet Eye
Yes. I secreted food and beverage in her backpack and had her carry it into the movie theatre.
The movie being Harry Potter, of course.
I lay out the plan in the car after stopping to pick up sandwiches. I mean, in my defense....Summer Camp ended at 4 p.m. The movie was downtown on St Catherine. It started at 4:30 p.m. The next showing wasn't until 7 p.m. - and I knew that she could not eat dinner that late - nor was she making a massive tub of popcorn her meal. Plus going into the movie at 7 would get us out at 10...and home by nearly 11 p.m. No way I was handling the exhausted puddle she would become by that time of night.
So, we ran into the sandwich shop and got a couple to go.
"Look", I tell her in the car. "The movie people don't really want you to bring food in - at least not food that you haven't bought THERE in the movie - so we have to be kind of ....not Obvious about bringing it in..."
The truth of what I am saying sinks in.
She weighs this. "What if they find them?", she asks. She is, after all, a rule follower.
"I don't know, but I don't think they will take our sandwiches - I mean they're just sandwiches!"
I begin to feel kind of bad, inducing my child into being my accomplice in the illegal transport of bread and meat and vegetables. And a couple of bottled waters.
I look at my purse. I wish I had brought a bigger purse. I look around and see her backpack.
"Ah", I think, "the ubiquitous child's backpack...."
Being opening week, they will undoubtedly search my bag. Montreal is, apparently, a hot bed of illegal taping in theaters. Indeed, a security team is at each of the doors of the screens showing Harry Potter. You show your ticket, they check your bag...and then they walk up and down the stadium seating, making sure no one has whipped out the video-phone to capture Old Harry in his 5th year.
I sigh. This moral dilemma is bigger than I wanted at 4:22 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon.
I decide to go with the "Don't ask, Don't Tell" Policy. I pack her backpack and carry it down the street. I suppose the worst they can do is take our sandwiches.
We get our tickets at 4:32 and race up the escalator to the FIRST theater. I present our tickets to the security team. They look in my bag....and completely ignore her backpack.
We walk in past the doors and Emily, in true nine year old fashion says (loudly):
"WOW! They didn't even look in my backpack!"
Mata Hari, she's not.
July 13, 2007 Gimlet Eye
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