Story 21. A Movie Full of Memories
Maggie watches a lot of television.
Every day she spends hours sitting in front of the TV.
Sometimes she flips through channels back and forth and complains that there are no good programs to watch.
Her mother thinks her daughter watches too much television.
One day she decided to have a talk with her.
When I was a little girl, we did not have a television, Ms. Hunter said to her daughter, and there weren't movie theaters in every town.
In fact, I was nearly ten years old before I saw my first movie.
Ten years old before you saw a movie! exclaimed Maggie.
That's right, said her mother.
We lived in a small village.
One day my father came home from work really excited.
There will be a special treat in our village, he said.
On the weekend, we are all going to watch a movie.
It was difficult waiting all week for the big day to arrive.
I remember talking with my friends and imagining what it would be like to see a movie.
Soon the weekend arrived.
We could hardly contain our excitement.
Mother got us dressed in our best clothes that day, and father talked to us about movies.
I remember sitting, listening to my father, and thinking how lucky we are to be going to a movie.
When we arrived, there was a big movie screen set up and a movie projector sitting on a table.
We sat on the grass and made ourselves comfortable.
I was shaking with excitement.
All of my friends were too.
We heard the clickety-clacking of the projector as it started up.
There was a big burst of music, and then a picture showed up on the screen.
It was so amazing to see a moving picture.
I can't remember what the movie was, but I will never forget that day.
Miss Hunter looked at her daughter and continued, In those days we didn't have much, but you see how happy and content we were?
And the day is always remembered.
Maggie smiled back at her mother and said, Thanks for telling me about this, Mom.
I have more to think about it.
