A Trip To The Movies

It was peaceful day in Bruhl as a train left the local station for the capital city of Gallia. The seats were packed with people commuting to their jobs and local residents looking forward to a nice weekend out on the town.

Alicia, Welkin and their daughter Isara were among them. They were on their way for something rather unique that they hadn't done in a while, visiting the movie theatre. Welkin and Alicia had both been there at various times when they were young but it was the first time they were bringing Isara with them.

Isara looked excitedly out the window viewing the beautiful landscape passing before her.

"Isara, please sit down, we're almost there." Alicia said calmly to her daughter.

"Okay, Mama." Isara complied sitting next to her mother. Welkin sat across from them.

"Are you looking forward to going to the movies for the first time?" Welkin asked gently to Isara.

"Yep. A lot." Isara responded nodding her head up and down.

The train then came to full stop. The various passengers starting to leave the train one by one at a time. "Isara, it's going to be very crowded outside and I don't want you to get lost. Be sure to hold on to Mama's hand okay." Alicia explained to Isara.

"I understand Mama." Isara responded already holding onto her mother's hand.

—

After getting out of the station, the family of 3 walked together, fortunately, the movie theatre was only 1 block away so it was very brief walk.

They entered the building and Welkin and Alicia quickly got to looking at the films playing to find one suitable for their little daughter.

Some of the films, though not suitable for Isara's age, interested both Alicia and Welkin and they thought about seeing some of them if they could get a babysitter for Isara someday.

Eventually they decided on seeing Pinocchio. An animated cartoon film from America based on an Italian children's book. Welkin himself was curious as to how the film was accurate or even different from the source material having read it as a child.

"I hope it's good. Though it's been a while since I read the original story so it might be tough to spot all the differences from the book." Welkin said as he was buying the tickets.

"And here I thought you were only interested in just nature." Alicia replied while holding Isara's hand.

After buying the tickets, the clerk stated the popcorn was free if you had proof of being previously been in the Military.

Welkin and Alicia almost decided against it but wound up choosing to do so.

Welkin showed the clerk his military ID card that he kept on him after the war ended as sort of a keepsake.

The clerk simply responded with a "Thank you for your service to our nation Mr. Gunther." in the most cliched way possible while Isara went to get the largest bag size possible available at the snack bar and filled it up with popcorn.

"Geez, that was embarrassing." Welkin said as they headed to the screening room.

"I know. But still it was nice of the clerk to say that." Alicia responded.

They entered the darkened theatre. The projector was starting to be prepared while the audience started to settle into their seats.

Alicia, Welkin & Isara found seats practically in the center of the theatre. Isara started to gobble up the popcorn taking huge handfuls and stuffing them into her mouth. Even when she did stuff like this was innocently adorable. "Please don't eat too much Isara, I don't want you getting a tummy ache." Alicia said to her daughter gently.

Isara just kept eating the popcorn, she clearly liked it a lot. It was one of the few times she didn't listen to her parents.

"Isara, make sure you share some popcorn with Mama & Papa okay?" Welkin said to Isara.

"Okay, understood" Isara replied and gave the bag of popcorn to Alicia.

"Good job, Welkin." Alicia whispered to her husband.

Soon after that the movie began. Isara just looked on with curiosity and excitement.

Alicia and Welkin observed Isara reacting to seeing a movie for the first time with gentle smiles and soon turned their attention to the movie itself.

—

The film was now at the halfway point and Welkin in particular was pretty impressed with what he'd seen. It was nothing like the original book at all yet it was compelling, for starters, the main character Pinocchio is a gentle kind hearted boy instead of an annoying troublemaker like in the book. There was also an original character named Jiminy Cricket with his gentle but old sounding speaking voice and personality made him a very interesting character.

Alicia actually whispered to Welkin that the character reminded her of him but older sounding. Welkin didn't know how to respond to that, being compared to a singing cricket made him feel a little embarrassed inside. Regardless, all three were enjoying the film especially Isara.

Meanwhile, in the film, Pinocchio had just ventured into the ocean to find a whale who had swallowed his father whole. Pinocchio, just being a wooden puppet could easily swim and breathe underwater. While it was initially cute the whale soon appeared and it really was rather really well drawn, in fact Welkin, being an amateur artist himself, was impressed with artists ability to capture all the details of the whale, particularly it's huge mouth as it opened! But it was clearly scaring Isara a little bit.

"Don't be scared Isara, it's just a movie." Alicia whispered gently to her daughter.

—

The film had reached it's conclusion of Pinocchio realizing his dream of being a real boy after saving his father from the whale. After the movie ended a few people in the theatre actually applauded including Isara who really enjoyed her first movie. The audience was now getting up, satisfied from watching a really great compelling movie.

"That was really fun! Can we go to the movies again someday Papa?" Isara squealed holding both her mother and father's hands as they walked back to the train station together.

"Of course Isara." replied Welkin in a gentle voice.

As the train left for Bruhl, Isara became quite tired and was soon napping in Alicia's lap.

The night sky was beautiful with bright stars and a full moon that could be seen outside the train window.

"That really was a great movie, I thought it was better than the original book." Alicia said to Welkin.

"I thought so as well I have to admit." Welkin said agreeing with Alicia. "Did you ever read the original book as a child?" Welkin then asked his wife curiously.

"Well…When I grew up in the orphanage a lot of the kids were quite lonely and sad. One of the adults would sometimes read children's books at night just to try and cheer them up. One of them was Pinocchio." Alicia explained to Welkin.

"I see." Welkin replied.

"Though as I got older, the adult that would read those books to the kids soon left the orphanage. A lot of the kids were actually crying when he left. I felt so bad for the younger ones, I actually decided to read them the books every night in place of the adult." Alicia further explained to Welkin.

"That's so sweet of you." Welkin said gently.

"I know. Even though I felt all alone in the orphanage, I would always cheer up a little when I did that." Alicia said feeling nostalgic.

"You and I should really consider reading bedtime stories to Isara sometime." Welkin said to Alicia.

"Yeah, we really should." Alicia replied looking down at her daughter now sleeping on her lap.

Isara soon started to move a bit as she began to wake up.

"Hey, Isara, did you have a good nap?" Alicia asked her daughter.

"Yep. I did." Isara responded happily.

Isara soon looked outside the train window.

"It's so pretty outside…Is that the moon!?" Isara squealed with curiosity.

Welkin soon went over the window and observed the night sky alongside his daughter.

"Yep. That's the moon. It's beautiful isn't it?" Welkin said to Isara.

"It sure is! There's also so many stars out too!" Isara replied with curiosity and deep interest.

Welkin and Isara continued to look outside the window observing and commenting on everything they saw. Alicia soon joined in with them. The family continued their bonding together as the train traveled through the night into Bruhl.

—

The train soon came to a stop. It had finally arrived at the local station in Bruhl. They soon left the station together with Welkin carrying Isara on his back as they walked home.

It had been a long day. Having gone to the movies and observing the night sky on the way back home, Welkin, Alicia & Isara were all exhausted but satisfied. Their day out as a family had been a wonderful experience and they hoped to continue spending as much time with their precious daughter as possible.