A Little Star Wars Story
May the Fourth Be With You!
The seats in the theatre seemed huge. If Libby sat all the way back, her knees didn’t even reach the edge, so her feet just stuck out straight in front of her. It was uncomfortable, so she wiggled around trying to figure out how to make it comfortable. Her father leaned over and pressed a button so that the chair extended, catching her feet like a bed.
He passed her the popcorn, which had been given to them in a tub almost as big as her body. Even the kid’s sized drink she’d been given required both her hands to hold. She stuffed as much as she could into her mouth at once, relishing the salty buttery crunch so potent it almost burned. She sucked down some of the soda, the cool fizz soothing away the salt.
“This was my favorite movie when I was your age,” Libby’s dad was saying. “My dad—your grandpa—took me to see it a week after it first came out.”
“It’s not your favorite movie now?”
He paused, chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it’s still one of my favorite movies.”
She stuffed another handful of popcorn in her mouth. “What’s it about?” She asked around the mouthful.
“Well, a young boy learns that he is the last hope to save the galaxy, so he teams up with a princess, a smuggler, and some droids to help the people fighting for freedom.”
Libby paused. “What’s a smuggler?”
Her dad laughed. “Don’t worry about it.”
Normally she hated it when grownups said stuff like that, but Libby didn’t want to fight. Since her brother had come home, Libby rarely got to hang out with her dad without him.
“What’s it called again?” She asked instead.
“It used to just be called Star Wars, but the man that made it changed the name after they put out more movies. Now it’s called Episode IV: A New Hope.”
“Episode four?!” She shrieked. “But I haven’t seen the first three!”
He laughed. “You don’t need to, I promise. But someday we’ll watch all the movies together.”
Just then, the lights began to go down. Her dad put a finger to his lips and turned to the screen. Even in the dim light, Libby could tell that he was beaming.
Everything was silent for a moment. Blue words appeared on screen: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
It felt like everyone in the theatre was holding their breath. Libby had never felt anything like it before. She held her breath too, then let it out in a big whoosh when loud music started, a fanfare like she’d never heard before.
Words scrolled quickly across the screen, and within a few short minutes Libby was completely entranced. Her tub of popcorn was shoved aside, forgotten so she could scoot forward and watch a new galaxy open up before her.
I realized a few days ago that my earliest movie theater memory is watching Obi-Wan cut Darth Maul in half (The Phantom Menace). My dad took me to see it, though I think he was too old for his dad to take him to see Star Wars in 1977. I think my love of storytelling was already pretty well established by that point, but I couldn’t let Star Wars Day go by without a little homage to the series.
May the fourth be with you!
Prompt
You can use this prompt to write your own story, draw something, sing a song, whatever you like! I will (probably) use it for the next story!
General Organa sends you on an undercover mission as a stormtrooper.
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Stay safe and healthy wherever you are,
Valorie