Page 48 of Every Almost

"Well then what in the heck made you shout so loudly I bumped my poor head on the outdoor table out back?" Frank asked, rubbing the top of his head again for emphasis.

This time it was Helen who had to stifle a giggle. Frank shot her a look.

"It's just..." Katie started, but now she wasn't sure if Frank was in the best mood to ask an important question.

"Mr. Beckman, she wants to know if it would be okay with you if I borrowed the Cutlass next weekend to drive to Indianapolis," Charlie interjected. Frank's eyes spun to her.

"Indianapolis?" Frank asked.

"Oh, that's a long way, honey," Helen said.

"I know," Charlie said. "But I will be super careful, and it will only be for a couple of hours so Katie and I can see a movie?—"

"Katie will be in the car with you?" Frank interrupted, his voice going an octave higher. Charlie heard the tone his voice began to take.

"Yes, sir," she said, slightly downcast because, listening to his tone shift and change, she was pretty sure Frank wasn't going to let her borrow the car. She'd fail the pact she made with her sister, and they'd have to wait weeks now for the movie to get to the Grand so they could see it. There was no way she was going to see it with anyone else but Katie, but now she was so sure she'd be one of the last people to see it, making her have to listen to all the kids at school whowouldsee it opening weekend go on and on about how wonderful it was, and even after?—

"Why don't I take you girls?" Frank offered, derailing Charlie's spiraling thoughts.

Both Katie and Charlie just stared at Frank for a solid five seconds. Five seconds doesn't sound like a long time until it's five seconds of silence with nothing else happening around you.

Then—

"Holy cow, reall?—!"

"Yes, please, Mr.—!"

"I can't believe?—!"

Charlie and Katie started talking so fast and with such animation that neither Frank nor Helen were able to understand what they were saying after the first few words. But they both knew it was happily agreed to by the girls strictly by their actions of rushing over to him and the hugs they hit him with, such force from their joy that he almost collapsed and hit his head...again.

"I guess that's a 'yes?'" Frank asked as the girls continued shrieking and thanking him over and over and over again.

"Yes!" Katie said.

"Yes, please!" Charlie added.

Frank and Helen both laughed.

"Okay, okay," Frank said once the excitement started dying down. "It's a date, then."

At that moment, he turned to the two girls, a question burning on his lips.

"So," he began. "What are we seeing?"

And so,the next Saturday, Frank, Charlie, Katie, and even Helen, got into the Cutlass and made the drive to Indianapolis on the Saturday after opening day.

They found a theater, one of the big ones with a marquee that stretched across the front of the building and a line that went around the block. Frank dropped them at the doors so they could get in line and he could park the car. When they finally made it in, Charlie handed a ticket to each member of their party. When she handed the last one to Katie, she presented it to her with a small, formal bow. "Your ticket, madam."

Katie took it with equal gravitas. "Thank you, good sir."

"Sir?"

"You have grease on your face. It looks like a mustache."

Frank and Helen both laughed heartily as Charlie wiped her chin with the back of her hand, which did not help. Katie began to giggle, which made Charlie give her a look that Katie knew a tickle attack was on its way. She tried to evade it.

"I thought it was your new style!" Katie said as Charlie lunged for her. When Katie began to squeal, Charlie lifted her under her arms, and held her hostage while she did, in fact, tickle her before blowing raspberries on her wrist. Once she figured she'dmade her sister's shrieks echo enough through the lobby, she set her gently back on the ground.