Struck By Poppy

2. SNEAK INTO AN R-RATED MOVIE

The city zipped through Poppy as she stood in the middle of a busy intersection, her arms and heart wide, ready to start anew.

Cars sped past her and Felix. Felix watched her with conviction, admiring how her skirt flowed in the wind and then flapped backward to press into the lower half of her body. It intrigued him, the possibilities of what could be under a skirt. His eyes then traveled up her chest, then stopped at her jawline, and lips. Then finally, he settled for her long strands of auburn hair that floated behind her. It looked like fire under the city street lamps.

"This ain't on your list," Poppy said, still holding out her arms.

"It's fine," Felix held out his arms too, standing a milimeter apart from Poppy. "We can do more than one thing in the seven days."

"Is that really all you got?" Poppy closed her eyes, letting the wind have its way with her.

"Afraid so." Felix ripped the IV tube and the tape holding it together off of his hand. He threw it into the grassy medium that split both sides of the road.

***

Poppy didn't have her driver's license. With no car to drive or DMV, Miss. Tharrington never even expected Poppy to learn how. In Peabody, the only person that had a car was Poppy's father. Sometimes, he'd transport some of the black women to work so they wouldn't have to walk fifty miles into the city to get there. Yet, he never once offered his ex-wife a ride.

Felix, on the other hand, had just received his permit last month. But like Poppy, he didn't have a car to drive.

So when Poppy and Felix both nervously walked up to the ticket booth and asked if they could see Le Petit Floozy, an R-Rated film about a study-abroad student who ends up in a sex scandal, they were not surprised that the cashier (a young-faced girl with heavy blue eyeshadow and black lipstick. Couldn't be older than twenty-two) told them to "go home and take a nap, kiddies." Felix didn't either bother to flash his premature I.D. It was just a permit. It expressed that he was fifteen. There was no way that he and Poppy would get in through the front door.

"This is why I wrote sneak in on the list." Felix overstated.

Poppy thought for a moment. She wasn't one for scheming, or even breaking the rules. She'd never snuck into any place before. She was never where she wasn't supposed to be. But, if risking her reputation was for a dying boy, she'd risk it all.

"Back entrance?" she asked.

"Not usually. Unless you mean the trash chute. If we have to go through the trash chute, I'd rather just skip this one."

"Fire escape?"

"Maybe. Around the side. Poppy, I don't want to go through all of this trouble. It's not worth--"

"No!" Poppy squealed. "We can't skip any one of them. We got one down. We're rollin', Felix. Can't stop now."

Poppy began walking into the shadowy alleyway next to the theatre, sidestepping over moldy popcorn and stagnant water. Felix put his hand over his mouth, holding back the feeling of retching between his fingers. Poppy looked up. Above them was a cracked open window and a fire escape.

"See," Poppy said, pointing. "We are seeing this movie."

Poppy gathered her skirt into one hand and climbed the corroded, skinny staircase. She reached down to give Felix a hand, but he rejected it.

"I'm a strong black man, Poppy. I'm the one that should be helping the lady."

Poppy curtsied at being called a lady, then pushed the window all the way up. She stepped in through the window, into a room of film reels, a computer, and a projector. In front of her, there was a large viewing window, a thin piece of plexiglass separating the fascinated adult audience from the curious teenage spectators.

Felix stood, uneasy.

Poppy sat, content.

She patted the floor below her. "Sit my fellow movie buff. Enjoy the ride."

"Wait," Felix's eyes land on a wooden door with a brass handle. On the other side, there's a low murmur of voices. Through the slit between the floor and the door, footsteps tred past the door. "I'm going to lock this."

Felix snapped his fingers twice, searched the room once, and spotted a straw broom resting in the corner behind the collection of film reels. He lodged it under the door handle, and sat next to Poppy, his heart thumping against his chest.

Trying to focus on the movie, Felix didn't know if his heart was thumping because of the floozy removing her skirt on the screen or the thought of Poppy removing her skirt in front of him.