"The movie theater? Really?" Dakota asked, skeptically.
"What? Are you some kind of weirdo who doesn't like movies?" Piper teased.
"No it's not that." Dakota stiffled a small giggle. "It's just, I thought you were showing me what Daven's Port has to offer. You know we have Movie theaters in Texas, right?"
"Ah, but you don't have the Rio." Piper said triumphantly.
"...The Rio?" Dakota asked, a little intrigued.
"Check it out. The Rio was first opened like, 80 years agao, when movies were like, new." Piper explained. "But a few years ago, this cool chick bugged the city to restore it, and they let her."
"Plus, it's a great place to hang out in the summer when you don't have an AC." Zack added.
"Wait, what?" Dakota asked, the idea that anyone couldn't afford an AC was alien to her.
"Just come on!" Piper said, grabbing Dakota's wrist and dragging her out of the donut shop, and off to the movies. They all piled into Zack's cheap, used van he had acquired from a gentleman of questionable means. It took them a few tries to get the engine to turn over, but it finally did.
The first thing that caught Dakota's attention about the Rio was the sing. The sign was in about ten thousand little lightbulbs, red and green and blue spelling out the words "Rio". Dakota imagined it was much more impressive when the lights were actually on, and it was dark out, and not under the sweltering Carolina sun. Still..."This is...really neat." Dakota said, gazing up at it as they entered.
"It's even neater once you meet the staff." Piper boasted, pointing at a bored looking employee at the concession stand/ticket booth as she continued to drag Dakota along for to meet her.
She was tall, she must have been nearly 6 foot, and definitely was over 6 feet if you counted the poofy black hair that must have been kept up by a can of hair spray every morning. 'Someone should tell this woman the 80s ended' Dakota thought wryly to herself. She also had, *ahem*, generously endowments, aided along by a thick frame, and olive skin and strikingly handsome features. Dakota looked at the ticket taker, then back at Piper, then back at the ticket taker.
"Are you two related?" Dakota asked, "Is that why you're so excited for me to meet the staff?"
"Hahaha, your new friend is funny, Piper." The manager said, in a nasally Brooklyn accent. It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or overly enthusiastic. "What's her name?"
"This is Dakota, she just moved here from Texas. And NO Dakota, we're not related. Why would you even think that?"
Dakota looked back and forth between the two taller women's chests before saying "...no reason."
"My name's Sam, Sam Palermo." She offered Dakota a handshake. She shook hands like a dude. She tilted her head at Piper. "You're all here for the 'Saturday Special'?"
"What's the 'Saturday Special?'" Dakota asked. Piper had been waiting to share this surprise with her.
"For twenty bucks, Sam here will let you watch movies in theater three all day. Eat all the popcorn and soda you can stomach as well!"
"It's PERFECT for beating the heat on days like today." Zack said, sounding like this place was an oasis in a desert.
Dakota was starting to see the appeal of this place. "All day? I dunno, what movies are out this week?" Dakota asked.
"Oh, Saturday Special at the Rio are managers pick. We just play whatever I feel like playing all day."
"And what's that?" Dakota asked.
"Eh...I dunno, you guys like Rifftrax?"
"...What's Rifftracks?" Dakota asked.
"Only the best thing ever." Zack explained.
"Have you ever seen Mystery Science theater?" Piper asked Dakota. Dakota just shook her head
"You're culturally deprived. They're these guys on the internet. They make bad movies into good ones."
"You can play something like that in a movie theater?" Dakota said, her mind expanding. I mean, she knew literally they could. But 'stuff from the internet' and 'movie theater' never went together in her mind until now. It was like apple and cheddar.
"Girl, I'm like a DJ up in here on Saturdays. We can play WHATEVAH the hell I want, and I DO take requests. Let me get you three some popcorn." Sam said, taking out three large tubs.
***
After several hours of Rifftrax, Steve McQueen Movies, as well as some very brief showings of Godzilla vs. Bambi, and Mickey Mouse goes to Vietnam, the trio felt like they had consumed enough movies, and popcorn, to last them a lifetime, or at least until next week. So they got themselves moving finally, waved to Sam on the way out, and hauled their bloated, sluggish bodies out to the van. By now, the afternoon sun was starting to sink below the horizon, tinging everything slightly orange. As they stepped out, Sam turned on the lights, and Dakota got to see the sign of the Rio lit up and pulsating.
But when they got to the van, no matter how many times Zack cranked the ignition, the van only gave them a buzzing sound like angry bees. Zack dropped his head down on the steering wheel, defeated.
"I told you to get this shit fixed." Piper complained.
"With what money?" Zack pointed out. "Besides, I don't think it's broken, I think we just need someone to give us a jump. The battery has been acting up lately. Let's just call someone for help."
"Uh...speaking of battery troubles...my cell phone died while we were in there all day." Dakota said, holding up her iPhone, which only gave a red battery symbol before turning off. Piper checked hers.
"Shit...Mine too."
"And mine has no service, because I couldn't pay the bill this month." Zack added.
"...I guess we could go inside an ask for help." Piper said, shrugging and heading back into the theater. Zack and Dakota followed, it wasn't like they had anything better to do.
***
"Heeeeey, Piper. You're back already. This is why you're my favorite customer." Sam teased, seeing her back inside.
"Ugh...Zack's shitty ass van broke down in your parking lot. Can we use your phone?"
"We think the battery is just dead. We just need a jump." Zack quickly added. She was scared Sam would call a tow truck, and he'd lose his Van, and have to pay for a tow.
"It's not the battery Zack. Your van is a peice of shit." Piper said. Sam eyed the two of them up and down.
"...Tell you what. I'll do you one better. Hold on a minute." Sam held up a finger in front of Piper's staff, and then turned towards the other woman working at the stand, helping someone at the far end with some nachos. Sam yelled like, uncomfortably loud at her. "Hey, Tiffany! I'm clocking out early. See you tommorah!"
"...Are you sure you're not related?" Dakota asked.
"If you keep making jokes like you're Zack, I will punch you like you're Zack." Piper shot back.
***
They didn't know what Sam had planned, but she marched right outside, up to Zack's van, opened up the hood, and without hesitation started shoving her hand deep into the bowels of the ancient, grease smeared engine. After about only 10 minutes, Sam had her diagnosis ready.
"It's not just the battery, it's the alternator. That's why the battery keeps on dying. And christ, when was the last time you changed the frikken' oil on this thing?"
"Nineteen...seventy three?" Zack said, optimistically.
"I'm gonna hook you up with a new alternator and battery tonight, but the oil change you gotta do yourself."
"That's really generous of you." Dakota pointed out. "But there's no way there's a mechanic with the parts we need open on this hour on a Saturday."
"Sure there is." Sam said, pointing her thumb at herself. "You're looking at her right here.
***
Sam led them downstairs into the surprisingly vast basement of the Rio. "Back when films were put on...you know, Film, the Rio had to actually store cases and cases of celluloid reels down here. That's what caused it to go out of business, those things go up like gasoline, and there was a fire. Only now, I can store like a thousand movies on a harddrive, so I got all this space to use." She explained, guiding them threw row after row of stacked car batteries and autoparts, still in their boxes.
"That explains the space. That still doesn't explain why, the basement of your movie theater is full of car batteries." Zack pointed out.
"Oh well...half the money for the restoration was put up by the city and fundraising, and the other half by my family so...I gotta store batteries and such for them with the spare space."
"And they're not going to be mad that you just let us have some for free?" Dakota asked.
"Oh...we can't sell any of these. They're erm...used." Sam explained, awkwardly. "Look, you guys do me a favor and not tell anybody about this?"
Dakota looked nervous, but this wasn't nearly the shadiest operation Piper had ever been around. "You got it Sam. Anybody talks, they'll have to answer to me." Piper teased. Half-Teased. She was kind of teasing.
"Thanks Pipes, you're a real Peach...So...where you guys off to after this?"
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