Jaws

I dedicate this story to Beth Layden who posted that she could get to love walks along the beach.

Many years ago, I was attending a course at Fort Sill, OK and decided that a movie on Friday evening might just be the thing to do. Barb and Dave had been down during the week but I think they went home to be in Ottawa when her parents came for a visit. I had looked at the post paper and saw that that new movie "Jaws" was showing at the on post theater.

I was not familiar with the ritual of military families of dropping the kids at the theater and going to the clubs on post. In spite of the rating, there were no extra seats for the movie Jaws. It was a little noisier than most theaters but I love being around kids and didn't mind a bit.

There is one scene in the movie where a boat owner is missing and one of the main characters decides to go out and see if he can locate the boat. The Cabin Cruiser has one of those sonar devices and it is making a strange noise and locating everything out in the bay. The hero of the movie see's what looks like a boat and puts on a wet suit to go see what it is.

The kids in the theater were just mesmerized and there wasn't a sound to be heard except the ping of the sonar. The diver swims up to where the boat lies upside down on the bottom. Just as he flashes his light in the giant bite mark in the side of the boat, a head floats by.

The theater just erupted with screams and the kids all lost it. After about five minutes of just sheer noise, someone in the front of the room stood up. He hollered, "Everyone grab a kid and help them calm down or we won't get to see the rest of this damned movie." We all did and things finally got down to a dull roar.

Guess who doesn't have a desire in the world to go swimming in the Ocean? Not those damned noisy kids, it is me, all 63 years worth.

MUD