{"id":21900,"date":"2025-06-19T07:11:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T11:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/?p=21900"},"modified":"2025-06-19T07:12:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T11:12:23","slug":"the-usher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/flash-fiction\/the-usher\/","title":{"rendered":"The Usher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Screams erupted from the theater. Harry, the projectionist, was checking the reels for a new movie, Halloween<\/em>. Henry, an usher, set up the velvet ropes. He didn\u2019t know why they were called ushers since they never escorted anyone to a seat, like in the old glorious days of theatergoing. Just ripped tickets, swept up popcorn, and found lost objects under seats on a sticky floor.<\/p>\n

A half-hour before showtime, the church pastor stood at the candy counter. The owner let him in early so he didn\u2019t have to wait outside in line with the regular people. It made no sense to Henry because he thought Jesus represented the common man.<\/p>\n

The pastor wore his priest robe, which was unusual. We\u2019re not showing The Exorcist,<\/em> Henry joked. The pastor said he\u2019d just come from a wake. I do prefer regular clothes, he said.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re like a caterpillar, said Diana, a high school kid who worked the candy counter. You shed your religious clothes for everyday ones.<\/p>\n

Good analogy, the pastor said.<\/p>\n

If you think about it, she said, caterpillars get to experience two different kinds of lives, one on the ground, and one in the air. On the ground they\u2019re like everything else, but in the air they become part of something special.<\/p>\n

People get to experience two lives too, the pastor said. Our heavenly life awaits us.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know you liked horror movies, Henry said.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rather have a new James Bond, Henry.<\/p>\n

They usually come out in the summer, Henry told him. We didn\u2019t have one this year.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s been a long time, he said. There was a forlorn look about him when he said it and he pulled on his white collar, like it was choking him. He asked if he could see the projection booth. Where the magic comes from, he said.<\/p>\n

Henry led him upstairs. The pastor\u2019s here for a field trip, he told Harry. What\u2019s the movie like?<\/p>\n

Mostly a maniac stabbing kids, Harry said. Look, there\u2019s already a scratch in the reel. He held up a strip of film by the edges. A woman\u2019s face frozen in a scream, the bleach-like starkness of the frame magnifying the terror. It was still a mystery to Henry, how they went from watching shadows on cave walls to 35-mm machines whirring and clicking in strip malls.<\/p>\n

Soon, Henry heard them below, dozens and dozens of feet scampering about to find a seat. The pastor looked down. It\u2019s funny, he said, almost as if he were talking to himself, we\u2019re sort of like Diana\u2019s caterpillars.<\/p>\n

Maybe the machine was the real usher, Henry thought.<\/p>\n

He joined Diana back at the candy counter. She was doing schoolwork. I feel weird around the pastor, she said, like he\u2019s judging us for the movies we play.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s looking for James Bond, Henry said. Those movies are full of half-naked women.<\/p>\n

The movie ended and the crowd filed out, like a swarm, multiple arms and legs, some looking back at the blank screen as if that world still existed, as if they could enter it again. Some remained in their seats long after the credits had stopped and were reluctant to leave.<\/p>\n

Henry stopped by the owner\u2019s office. Going to be a hit, the owner told him. You can lock up.<\/p>\n

Henry cleaned up the lobby, torn tickets, candy wrappers. Outside, he swept up cigarette butts.<\/p>\n

He looked up at the marquee. Halloween. There was something joyless about the marquee now, just a title, by itself. The owner always had Now Playing! above the title, but the exclamation point tile went missing after some repair work and the owner refused to keep Now Playing up there without the punctuation. It excites people, he said, even if it\u2019s a bad movie, they think it might be something good.<\/p>\n

The parking lot was mostly empty. The pastor\u2019s car was still there.<\/p>\n

Inside, Henry asked Diana if she\u2019d seen him. Maybe he left during a sex scene, she said. See you tomorrow.<\/p>\n

He checked the bathroom.<\/p>\n

The lights were on in the theater. He saw the pastor, still in his seat, staring at the red curtain. Father, he called. No answer. Henry walked down the aisle. He turned into the pastor\u2019s row. The pastor held an Oh Henry! candy wrapper. Henry was startled to see his name in the pastor\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

His eyes were open.<\/p>\n

Henry remembered what the pastor said about wanting to see where the magic came from. Maybe his love of the lie, of the movies, the power of the spinning sprockets and its images was analogous to praying to a false God, and his heart attack, was God\u2019s retribution.<\/p>\n

Or maybe, Henry thought, his heart gave out because it was just a good fucking scary movie.<\/p>\n

Henry lifted the pastor up and carried him up the aisle, the wrapper with Henry\u2019s name still in his hand, like he took a piece of Henry\u2019s soul with him.<\/p>\n

For the first time, Henry felt like a real usher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He held up a strip of film by the edges. A woman\u2019s face frozen in a scream, the bleach-like starkness of the frame magnifying the terror. It was still a mystery to Henry, how they went from watching shadows on cave walls to 35-mm machines whirring and clicking in strip malls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":22455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3530],"tags":[4127],"class_list":["post-21900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flash-fiction","tag-peterdemarco910-instagram","writer-peter-demarco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21900"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22457,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21900\/revisions\/22457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}