We'll cross that bridge when we get there

I don't know how much Blockbuster has made off of me, but I'd venture to guess it's considerable. Yesterday my son and I went there to pick up a couple of movies. Picking up the movies isn't an issue in my household. Returning the movies is.

I keep hammering my son.

Me: "We have got to get these movies back."

Trevor: "We still have time, we won't own them for a few more days."

See that's the problem my son likes playing chicken with Blockbuster. The much trumpeted end of late fees means that if you don't return your movie by a specific date you own it. My son likes to flirt with that deadline. I don't understand it, well wait a minute, I do understand it, I'm the one who has to pay not him.

So going to pick up movies becomes an issue. We get up to the counter, and are greeted by a pleasant yet earnest kid named Brian. He hits a couple of keys on the computer and then says.

"Oh"

His face is contorted, he's frowning, and perplexed.

"Wow, we've got problems."

I know he's going to say this, so I have a couple of the returns in my hand to show that we are not scofflaws. I present my evidence.

Me: "I know Pan's Labyrinth is late, but look 28 days later isn't 28 days later, it's on time!"

Brian: "That's funny."

My son rolls his eyes. Brian then writes down the titles of 7 movies on a little tablet. One by one he starts crossing them off, until he comes to "Bridge to Terabithia".

Brian: "Bridge to Turnabithia (he says the title of the movie at least three times, each time it's different, and each time it's wrong. Finally he just starts calling it bridge) is way overdue."

Me: "Yeah I know but it's coming.

I turn to my son and tell him he better watch this movie. But he doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency. I ask Brian how close we are to owning this movie, since we already own one movie I will never watch again. "Possession" is in our possession, because we got it back too late. I came in one time and the guy said.

Guy: "Hey I've got a gift for you."

He went to a a shelf behind the counter and pulled out Possession and brought it over and handed it to me.

Me: "But I don't want this movie."

Guy: "You returned it too late. You own it now. You can give it away as a gift or just throw it away if you want. It's yours now."

So there it is sitting in the den, a constant reminder that you don't want to mess with Blockbuster. Now we have Bridge sitting there waiting to join the list.

On the ride home I lecture my son, he insists he still has a couple of days before it's ours for good. But the lecture works. This morning at 2:30 I make my way downstairs to get the coffee brewing and there's my son. You guessed it he's glued to the set watching "Bridge to Terabithia." I know that later today we'll return it and that we'll have the last laugh on Blockbuster. This time at least we've won this game of chicken.