Not Your Daddy’s Disney

I probabably shouldn’t talk about my favorite theater experience, as there are people on site who are G-rated, while my best movie memory was probably PG-13 at a minimum, but I will try to give you the cleanest gist possible.

It was the summer after fifth grade in a small town in the Shenandoah Vally at an early, weekday matinee. Her name was Terri, and she was my very first girlfriend. We spent a lot of time holding hands that summer, meeting wherever we could; Little League games, swimming pools, county fairs, even the high school auditorium for a local rendition of “Fiddler on the Roof,” in which her older sister starred. We spent hours through those hot days silent on the telephone with nothing at all to say, but not wanting to hang up either, and risk losing our connection.

On this particular day the theater was nearly empty. I cannot remember what movie it was, but I clearly recall that Terri wore cut-off denim shorts and a loose cotton top. I remember that so well because not long after the movie started she took my hand in hers and pulled it to her breast. It was my first time touching a girl, and she was heavenly, creamy-smooth, cool to the touch like hand-cranked ice cream with hardened tips like frozen chunks of peach at the top. We were so young that Terri had little more than nubs, but they were so perfect, so soft that the cotton blouse enhanced their silkiness, rather than getting in the way. I can still see her face in the soft, dusty light, her lips unsmiling, her eyes closed, her head laid back against the seat as though she were asleep... but she was not fooling me. The movie was not good, but neither of us was sleeping!

My family moved away at the end of that summer. Terri and I never even kissed properly in our brief time together, but I will never forget her. I have had many experiences with many women in the time since that youthful weekday matinee, but none were ever any more titilating, more heart pounding, or as breathtakingly unexpected as was that innocent, ethereal two hours spent in the bliss of an air conditioned, summertime movie theater.

No wonder every kid loves Disney.