THE UNRULY COUPLE IN THE SEATS BEHIND US
	It was 1968 and I was working at the Tampa Tribune as a news artist. I was thirty-six. Ed Brown who was not only one of the other news artists but also one of my best friends was also working that night. There was a movie playing at the Britton Theater that he wanted to see and asked if I was interested in going. The Britton Theater back then was a very upscaled theater. "Absolutely." I said. Not only did I have an exhibit of my paintings in the lobby that I wanted to see what the response was but I was always up for going to the movies or as we called it as I was growing up the picture show. Years later when I worked at Busch Gardens around a lot of very young college kids they'd just howl, holding their sides when I'd say "picture show" so sometimes on purpose I'd slip and say "Are y'all going to the moving pictures tonight?" Always got a laugh. Back to the Britton Theater: Ed and I went in and got our seats. Very soon after the movie started a couple sitting right behind us started thrashing around and making loud noises. Ed and I just looked at each other with the unspoken words "Just ignore them." That was easier said than done because the commotion behind us kept getting louder and then they started kicking the backs of our chairs. The worse they got the more determined we were not to give them the satisfaction of even turning around. I hadn't seen what they looked like but from the aggressiveness I pictured them as bikers with ten inch high Mohawks and their chests crisscrosses with bullet belts. Definitely not the kind you'd want to whirl around in your seat and say "Don't start no stuff, now!" Or at least I didn't. Ed had just about had it. But we sat looking at the movie ignoring the jackasses behind us for a while longer. I thought they must really look silly trying to get our attention and just being ignored. It was winter and I was wearing a jacket with the hood down and all of a sudden the hood was flipped forward over my head. I was just peering out from underneath the front and was just about to turn around to say something when I heard a loud familiar voice say "Lynn, are you just going to sit there with my skirt over your head?!" It was Patsi, our very good friend who was also a news artist at the Tribune. She was the one that had been making all the noise and kicking our seats. When that didn't get a response she stood up behind me and put her skirt over the top my head which I thought was my hood. She had called my house looking for me and my folks said "He and Ed Brown went to see a movie at the Britton Theater and that's where she found us. Before I knew it was Patsi behind us I now remember when those silly jackasses were trying their best to get our attention and I was determined not to acknowledge them at all. I sat there with "my hood" over my head as if they didn't exist and thinking "Who looks silly, now?" Lynn Ash