Page 89 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘Hi Linda, welcome to Purl at the Pictures!’
‘Oh, I have been so looking forward to this, Patsy. How many have you got so far?’
‘You’re the first,’ she said, trying to sound as if that was okay but secretly terrified that Linda may end up having a private viewing.
‘I’ll be able to get the best seat then,’ she said, making Patsy want to lean out of her booth and hug her for being so optimistic.
While Linda was collecting a coffee and cake from Alice, Sue and Mary arrived followed by a young woman and a young man, students Patsy guessed. When she’d come up with the idea she’d envisaged most of the customers being of retirement age but she had been into knitting and crochet when she was a student, although not as publicly as this, so perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised.
‘We weren’t sure you were actually open. This is a brilliant idea,’ said the girl. ‘I always think I’d love to take my knitting to the cinema but it’s too dark. Imagine the stress if you dropped a stitch?’
‘Exactly,’ said Patsy, smiling.
‘Any chance we could swap the coffee for a pint?’ her friend asked.
‘Yes, of course you can,’ she said, catching Alice’s eye and giving her the nod that it would be fine. That would have been her perfect outing; a good film, knitting and a pint, even if it was only eleven o’clock in the morning. In fact, it appealed despite that.
By the time there was a lull in customers, it was almost time to start. Patsy left Alice in charge of the foyer and headed upstairs, the adrenaline beginning to surge as the time approached to start the film. She wished Oliver had been able to come with her for the first time but Jack couldn’t cover the coffee house today so she was on her own. She’d brought her knitting but she was starting to think that was wishful thinking and that even once it was underway, she’d be on the alert for an emergency.
The lamp was on, the tower was on. She was ready. This was it. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she switched the projector on, hoping that there was nothing catastrophic that she’d forgotten. It whirred up to speed, the film making a satisfying flicking sound that Patsy had learned sounded right. She opened the shutter, peered through the window and saw the film showing on the screen exactly as she had hoped, with only a tiny adjustment to the focus being necessary. She turned the house lights down to what she hoped would be the perfect level, having now realised she forgot to check what that should be, then cast an inexpert eye over everything to make sure it all seemed okay still before she ran downstairs to see how Alice was doing.
‘We had a couple more but I think that’s probably it now. I think there are twenty-four altogether,’ she said proudly.
‘That’s great. Are you okay to stay out here in case anyone wants another drink? I’m just going to pop in and see how it’s going.’
Patsy opened the door to the auditorium and slipped inside. She sat in the nearest chair and took a look around. Most people had opted to sit about halfway down the room and were grouped around tables with nobody sitting alone, even if they’d arrived by themselves. The light level seemed perfect and she could hear the gentle click of needles when the film was quiet but it wasn’t irritating, particularly not to a knitter. Yes, everything was as it should be.
She took a photo of the back of everyone to post later on Instagram and sat back to enjoy the film for a few minutes before she went out to the foyer and told Alice she could sit inside until a few minutes before the end of the film. Patsy sat in the little ticket booth and spent the time doing some social media and working on the website she was in the process of building. When Alice came out near the end of the film, Patsy ran upstairs to get ready to put the lights up and to finish off.
‘I’ve tidied up and cleaned the bar.’ Alice said, putting her head around the door of the projection box about ten minutes later. ‘Is there anything else you want me to do before I go?’
‘No, thanks Alice. I think that went really well. See you on Friday night?’
‘Sure. Bye, Patsy.’
Patsy began to rewind the film, gently cleaning the inside of the projector with a cloth while she waited. Something caught her eye through the little window that looked out over the auditorium. She peered more closely but there was nothing. She laughed at herself for getting the heebie-jeebies in the middle of the day but she couldn’t help worrying that Alice may not have dropped the latch on the front door.
Once everything was switched off, she headed downstairs, stopping to pick up a random Post-It note that someone had dropped on the stairs.
She loves me, was printed on it. That was weird. They still didn’t have the circle open so it must have been Alice that dropped it.
A few steps further down, there was another Post-It note. She loves me not.
Intrigued, Patsy continued, picking up another two Post-Its. She loves me, she loves me not. On the ground floor, she paused to check the front door. The latch was down but it didn’t put Patsy’s mind at ease. There were three more Post-It notes making a trail that led into the stalls. She had stopped picking them up but carried on following them all the way down to the door at the side of the screen that led into the backstage bar. As soon as she opened it, the back door slid across and it was filled with sunshine and her favourite people in the world.
Oliver was stood there, grinning, having just pulled the back door aside. Matt, Flo and Sammy were standing outside, under the dappled shade of the trees, holding a big daisy made out of cardboard and covered with lovingly scribbled colourful petals.
The children could barely contain their excitement but must have been under strict instructions not to say anything.
‘Hey,’ said Matt, smiling and beginning to walk towards her, his hand out ready to take hers. His face looked back to normal and she realised how much she’d missed him.
‘What’s going on?’ She could hardly get the words out. The anticipation and hope that he was here for her was almost too much.
‘Oliver told me what you did. You weren’t going to tell me?’ He looked at her questioningly but with the same look in his eyes that told Patsy he was curious, not cross.
‘I wasn’t sure it would be enough.’
‘It’s more than enough. Sending you away… it nearly killed me, Patsy. I don’t think I knew until then how I felt.‘
