I decided to rummage through my reliquary and found all my ticket stubs from when I had seen the movie. I had a feeling and sure enough....viewing number 4 for me was on 1/22/2006. I went to the 3:45 pm show.
Who could have imagined, that two years later, almost to the minute, Heath would be dead? It's sort of eerie but even so, I am a great believer in paying attention to times and dates. Someone said on another thread, there are lots of circles in our lives. It is certainly true.
I remember this viewing (well, I remember all of them!) but this one...two women came in and sat in the row in front of me. I was alone. One of the women turned to me and said, "Have you seen this movie before?" and I said, "Oh yes, this is my fourth time." They gave me a really funny look and I had the first twinge of 'maybe it's not a good idea to go public with the notion of being a Brokie.'
The movie started and at about 12-15 minutes, I could see them fidgeting and acting restless. The one woman turned and gave me a look that said (without words), "You must really be a kook if you'd go see this boring movie four times!" They did settle down at the first tent scene but when it ended, they shot out of their seats. They didn't stick around for the credits or the closing two songs. Obviously, they were not brokies in the making.
Sitting in the row in front of them was a man who was by himself. He was wearing a baseball cap and a canvas jacket. When the credits and the music ended, he stood up and gave me this wistful smile and nodded at me. I nodded back to him and I remember thinking, "He's living an Ennis life."
Two years to the day. Who knew?
L