A Toy Story 3 story

My 16-year-old had not yet seen Toy Story 3, so even though my wife, the 3-year-old, the 4-year-old, and I had seen it, we were game for taking the "big brother" to it this past weekend. It was the first time I had seen the same movie in a theatre more than once since "Miracle."

We saw the matinee at an AMC theatre, which meant $7.50 for each of us big folks, and $5.00 each for the little ones, if I recall correctly. Expensive, sure, but far better than full adult prices for evening showings. But then came time for the large pop and popcorn to share, plus small treats because we stupidly didn't stop at Rainbow to get treats to smuggle in. The large pop and popcorn were about $5.50 each. People don't often realize it, but refreshments are so expensive because the theatres make pretty much zilch on the movie tickets.

Just before placing my order, a mysterious gentlemen tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Here, take these if you can use them." They were two self-printed coupons for soda and popcorn. I thanked him politely, if lacklusterly, and checked out the coupons.

At first glance, I thought they said $1.00 off. Then I saw they said $1.00 each, but thought I wasn't going to use them, because I wanted large. Finally, I realized they were indeed for large sizes, and valid on that day only.

Like a scene from a movie, when I turned to thank the stranger a second, more emphatic time, he had vanished. This stranger saved my family $9.00 in a moment of thoughtfulness, when he could have just tossed them away.

I enjoyed Toy Story 3 very much the first time. I enjoyed it much more the second.