Unexpected Plot Twist

Was this in the movie?

Husband and I are continuing our unprecedented streak of actually going to movies before they are so old they are un-findable either in theatres or on Netflix. Friday we decided we were grown-ups with no responsibilities whatsoever so we left our respective jobs an hour early (promising ourselves we would make up the time later, which we did) and went to see if Chris Pine is a worthy successor to Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan. (Spoiler: Yeah, I think he is.)

People, if you ever wonder where everyone is on Friday afternoons, now I know. The cinema was PACKED with retirees, and with families, and with more people than I've ever seen in the middle of the wheat field where Small Town's multiplex is located. Apparently we were not forging trails in trying to get the matinee prices, because we stood in line to get tickets and the concessions queue was backed up to the entrance.

"You get the drinks, I'll go get seats," I told Husband, ready to elbow my way through little old ladies and preschoolers to stake out our preferred spots on the aisle. I dashed up the ramp and to the right and down the hall to where Shadow Recruit was being shown.

I was the second person in the room! Woo! My choice of seats!

For the next half hour I surfed the net on my phone as I watched the theatre slowly fill, all the while waiting for Husband to come around the end of the entry ramp with our popcorn. I watched all the ads through multiple cycles, turned off my phone when the previews started, and wondered what was taking him so long.

And then the movie started, me still without my date and my popcorn. I was surprised to see how violent the beginning of the movie was, but I stayed through a good 10 minutes before the credits started to roll and the light dawned: Husband wasn't the one who was missing. This was Ride Along, and I was in the wrong place.

I sheepishly ducked out of that theatre and across the hall to where Shadow Recruit had been playing for 10 minutes and where Husband was thinking that losing his wife was a plot twist he had not anticipated.

Some day Shadow Recruit will be on television and then I'm going to watch the first 10 minutes and see how it starts. Until then, don't tell me--I want to be surprised.