Donald went to Ann's apartment, carrying flowers and a bottle of wine. He knocked on the door.
"Come in," she said.
He opened it and walked in. She was in the kitchen. "Hi, honey," he said.
"Right on time!"
They met and kissed. She looked at the flowers and wine. "Thank you, Donald! Let me put these in water." She found a vase, which she put the flowers in. Then she looked at the wine. "Red, perfect; we're having spaghetti."
"Wonderful! You said this will be a special occasion?"
"Sure is. Follow me."
"Ok."
She led him into the living room. On the table was a 16mm film projector and a large role of film.
"A movie?" he asked.
"Yep. It's a series of commercials and promo stuff I was involved in. Seymour gave it to me; he thought it would be good publicity."
"So, I get dinner and a movie? Sounds like a wonderful evening!"
"Yes, Donald!"
Ann served the meal and Don opened the wine. As they ate, dusk settled over the city. Afterwards, Don helped Ann clean up, and they went into the living room.
"I think I'm pretty good with these projectors; I frequently use them at the magazine," he said.
"I was hoping you would; I don't know how to operate them!"
He plugged the projector into a socket, threaded the film in, and aimed it at one of the walls.
"Oh, is there popcorn?"
"Sorry, Donald, forgot about that! But I have a couple Hershey bars we can share!"
"Well, that sounds nice."
She got the bars from the kitchen and gave one to him. Then he turned on the projector and corrected the focus. She turned the lights off, and they sat on the couch together. After a few seconds of leader tape, the film began.
First up were three ads for Action Soda.
"I'm glad you decided to stop appearing on those ads; they nearly killed you!"
"You're right, Donald. But they did pay well, at least. And that soda doesn't even taste that good!"
They both laughed.
Next was a bra add. Ann stood on the side of a swimming pool with a t-shirt and blue jeans on. Suddenly, she jumped into the water! The point of this was to prove that the bra wouldn't "show through" even wet.
"I remember when you did that ad," said Don. "You consulted me about it first."
"That's right. Daddy got really upset about it!"
"He sure did!"
The next scene showed Ann in a long black dress. She slowly walked down a flight of stairs-then got hit with a pie!
"I'm glad you decided not to continue doing that."
"Me too."
"Although I must say you look beautiful even wearing a pie!"
She smiled. "Thanks, Donald!
Next was an ad for a salon. It showed Ann taking a mud bath! At the end of it, she kicked her left leg out of the mud and said, "I take a mud bath once a week at the Show Me Salon-and my skin is soft and smooth!"
"I remember meeting you, while you were filming that ad."
"That's right. I think it's one of the craziest things I've ever done for a commercial!"
"I think you're right, Ann! Taken any mud baths since then?
"Nope! But I must admit it with kinda fun. Maybe you and I could do it together, sometime."'
"It's a date!" They both laughed.
Next was an excerpt from a children's show. It feature Ann-as a human mop!
"Molly Mop!" she said. "This was my first acting job in New York City."
"Well, it could've been worse."
"How do you figure?"
"It could've been... Patty Plunger!" They both laughed.
"Good point!"
Next was a glove commercial. It showed close-ups of Ann's hands with and without gloves on.
"You have beautiful hands!"
She smiled. "Thank you, Donald!"
It was at this point that the film started getting jumpy.
"Technical difficulties!"
Don got up. "I know how to handle this."
He walked over to the projector and fiddled with it, for a minute. Eventually, the film righted itself. "There we go!"
"Thanks!"
Next was a commercial for a dress. It showed Ann and two other girls playing in a fountain with the dresses on.
"That looks fun."
"It was! Actually, it was my fault that we got wet."
"How so?"
"We were just going to wade in the water. But a pebble pricked my foot, and I fell in. And since we all had our arms around each other, the other girls fell in, too!"
"I see!"
Next was an ad for TV dinners. In the first scene, Ann got yelled at by her husband for not having dinner on time. In the next scene, a girlfriend told her about the TV dinners. And in the final scene, her husband was very happy after having the meal.
"Ann, I want you to know that I love your food!"
"Thanks, Donald! I guess it helps that I'm the daughter of a restaurant owner!"
"It sure does!"
Next was a jewelry store commercial. It starred Ann as a girl who got a proposal and a diamond ring from her boyfriend.
"Ann, when the time comes, I promise I'll get you a ring that's as good as that one, if not better!"
"Oh, Donald! It was really special wearing that ring."
"I'm sure it was!"
Next was a restaurant ad. It showed Ann and two other girls as dancing waitresses.
"That ad was murder on my feet!"
"I know; I massaged them for you, remember?"
"I sure do, Donald!"
Last was the longest segment. It was an excerpt from a game show called Do Something Crazy.
"Oh, my gosh, Seymour was able to find this!"
"Is this the show where you dug up a cake with your feet?"
"Sure is!"
They settled down and watched it. It showed Ann digging up a large cake with her bare feet. Eventually, she found an envelope. Inside of it was a $100 gift certificate for Macys.
"So, that's how you won it!"
"That's how I won it!"
"I'd say it was all worth it, would you?"
"I sure would! That day we spent at Macy's was wonderful, wasn't it?"
"It was, Ann. Thanks for the shirts."
"Oh, no problem. You've given me so much, I wanted to give a little back to you!"
Afterwards, there was some more leader tape, then the film ended.
"Well, that was really entertaining!" said Don. He walked over to the projector to rewind the film.
"Don, I've got a wicked idea!"
"Let's hear it!"
"Let's watch the film backwards!"
"Backwards?"
"Sure! I remember after the teacher would show us a movie, we would try to get her to show it again backward. Sometimes, she did, sometimes, she didn't."
"Well, I'm the teacher today, and I'll let you watch it backwards!"
"Hooray!"
He threaded the film back in and changed it so it would show backwards. He then sat back down with Ann, and they watched it.
They giggled like little kids, as they watched the movie. They especial laughed as Ann seemed to put the cake back the way it was, during the game show, and watch the pie come off her face, when hit with it.
It was 10:23pm when the movie ended. Don once again got up to turn the projector off and take the reels out of it.
"One of the best movies I'm seen in a long time!" he proclaimed.
"Thanks, Donald!"
He looked at his watch. "And I think it's time I should go before your father comes here and throws me out!"
She laughed. "Yes, that's a good idea!"
"Oh, can you keep the film?"
"Yes. But Seymour wants me to return the projector, later this week."
"Well, then you for a wonderful evening, Ann!"
"You're welcome, Donald!"
They kissed, and he left.