a special message

one time i had a dream that there was a special message for me written into a series of books.

these messages included secret instructions on how to interpret the shadows dancing on the wall. every wednesday the local cinema has amateur shadow-puppet night before the film. people get up and throw figures against the screen. people have done very clever renditions of trains, birds, and the cosmological zodiac. i've always wondered if the shadows had an extended meaning as part of a grand history or if they were simply self-contained small pieces. fortunately, i had these books to translate them for me. these books had a coded message specifically for me on how to view the shadows.

the nights at this picture house are a lot of fun. in addition to the shadow puppets as the projectionists are setting up, there are other treats. before the actual film we have a sing along. the usher plays the piano (we're not rich enough to afford an organ) and we have a sing along of the old time songs. they show the words on the screen, but we all know the lyrics. they also do a transcription of some of the popular songs of the week, but they are in less demand, and we sing along. every once in a while kepano, the projectionist, writes a song of his own and we sing that. the songs that he writes are generally funny and sometimes are a satire of the week's events. the town laughs and talks about the song, if it is very amusing, for the whole week after he presents it. we'd have a quick round of bingo, and there is also likely to be a door prize of some dishes awarded to a lucky audience member.

sometimes there could be community announcements (but people tend to heckle mr. genesius, the curator, which is what they call their cinema manager, who is charged with making them -unless there was a real crisis). this picture house, which is owned as a worker's collective - much to the pleasure of bubbles, doesn't stint. they give us some trailers, an instructional lesson on manners, an animated comic, a detective or spy short, a live action comedy, a music video or musical short, a serial, a newsreel, and the feature. after the feature we would sing the national anthem.

my pet-fish, bubbles, said this tendency to see hidden meanings in books was abnormal and yet typical.