Page 55 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘You’ve got me.’
‘Thanks Toby. I’ll see you tomorrow?’
He nodded and smiled, giving her a wave before he closed the door.
She’d finally done it.
24
PATSY STOOD ON the circle balcony to watch the first boards of the new flooring go down and breathed a sigh of relief. Until she saw it in the building she hadn’t been completely convinced that she’d made the right choice. There was so much to consider aside from how it looked: how the sound carried, whether it was too reflective, whether it was too slippery to be safe given the gentle slope of the floor from the back of the stalls towards the screen. The local flooring shop had been really helpful, pulling in samples from suppliers and advising her on the things to consider and in the end she’d chosen what looked like dark mahogany floorboards that were actually made of some kind of composite, an upgrade from a vinyl floor but the same idea.
Now she could see how beautiful it was going to look, she couldn’t wait to see the colour start to go on the walls. Then it would start coming together and she was pretty confident that they’d be on track to open before the end of the summer.
She’d managed to find a company who made the chairs she wanted and would upholster them with whatever fabric she decided. They’d sent a sample which was now in Oliver’s flat at the coffee house and she had forced Jack, Oliver, Jess and anyone else who had a few minutes to spare to sit in it and let her know their honest opinion on whether it would be comfortable. They all insisted that it was more comfortable than normal cinema chairs and Jack had come up with the idea of having a few two-seater versions that couples could specially request.
‘Patsy, are we running the floor into that area behind the screen?’ The boss of the flooring guys shouted up to her. It was annoying that he didn’t know that, but Patsy supposed that was the whole point of her being the project manager; to make sure that there was always someone who knew.
‘Yep, all over the ground floor!’
The balcony where she stood would be for viewing and drinks rather than dining so they had decided to go for a sumptuous carpet in a dark sooty colour. The chairs up there were going to be a slightly upgraded version of the chairs they had just sold but wider and more comfortable. Basically it was a more traditional experience which would suit anyone who wasn’t interested in eating.
She headed downstairs to the foyer which had been stripped back but would be rebuilt as soon as the floor was laid, with the original ticket booth, a bar and cloakroom. The sound engineer that Ed had organised was coming for a preliminary survey and was due any minute. While she waited, she stepped outside into the sunshine and sat on a nearby park bench, briefly closing her eyes as she raised her face to the warmth.
‘Good morning, Patsy.’
‘Rosemary, hi!’ Patsy shaded her eyes to look at the older woman who ran the library.
‘I hear from Oliver that you’re planning a launch party?’ Nothing got past Rosemary. ‘I must say, it doesn’t look as if it will be finished in time.’ And optimism wasn’t in her vocabulary.
‘I know it looks like there’s still a lot to do but it’s starting to come together quickly now.’
‘Hmm. It’s hard to tell from out here.’
‘Do you want to have a quick look inside? They’re laying the floor but we can look from the door.’
Rosemary’s face lit up, as Patsy had known it would. This would win her brownie points for a long time.
‘That would be wonderful, if you’re sure.’
‘Come on.’
Patsy led the way into the cinema.
‘Oh, the ticket booth is gone,’ Rosemary said with a disappointed tone.
‘We’ve taken it down temporarily. It’ll be back better than it was before.
‘I am pleased to hear that. I doubt I’m the only one who would appreciate these nostalgic details. Of course, a lot of it has gone since its heyday.’
Patsy had a brainwave mixed with a touch of trepidation.
‘Do you remember what it was like, back in the day?’ Okay, that was a vague approximation of time, but she didn’t want to offend Rosemary by getting her age wrong.
‘We used to come here when I was a girl. I suppose it was the late 1950s. It was shabby then, but had all the original features. When they finally spent some money on it, it never felt the same again. It lost its character, I suppose,’ she said wistfully.
It was too good an opportunity to miss.
‘I’d love to hear about what it was like. Would you be willing to meet me at Oliver’s tomorrow? I could show you my plans. It’s not too late to add in a few elements that would make it more authentic.’
