Naomi and Joelle were walking the sidewalks in downtown New York; the few trees around were shades of orange and brown with a few yellows thrown in for good measure, a nippy fall morning for sure. Joelle was looking into shop and business windows silently, leaves crunching under the girls’ feet. Joelle was a rather lanky meerkat, dressed win a calf length skirt, a double belt slung over her hip, a tight fitting turtle neck sweater with a long jacket thrown over it. Her hair was styled in her usual manner, long bangs loose and hanging in her face, and her short hair spiked to the back. Her sister Naomi was in deep thought, her long dark orange hair was flowing in the wind; she generally dressed simple and practical, a tee shirt and jeans were the norm for her, her glasses perched on her nose.

“What kinda movie you wanna watch Joelle?” Naomi asked trying to break the silence between the two.
Joelle shrugged barely hearing Naomi over the dense and noisy traffic “I dunno, something…”
“Humm, something with drama?” Naomi asked trying a bit harder.
“That works…” Joelle replied in a rather quiet tone.

They walked to the local dollar theater and scanned the board with the movie titles listed. The theater was a bit run down, graffiti sprayed on the outside walls and rotting wood covering the walls to the entrance.
Naomi walked up to the ticket window and looked at the teller.
“So what would you recommend for three girls who want some drama?” She asked the young lady behind the window.

She looked up from her cell phone. “Get married and drop out of school.” The girl smirked.
Naomi laughs and smirks back. “I meant movie wise, this IS a theater right?”
The girl behind the glass shrugs. “This ones good for the drama seekers, it’s got some pretty harsh plot twists and such.” She points at a title on a small list sitting in front of her.
“That works! I didn’t know that was in the dollar theaters yet!” Naomi squealed.
“So will that be three tickets then?” the young lady behind the window asked.
“Oh, definitely.” Naomi smiled.
“Eh, that one looked okay, I’ll watch it…” Joelle shrugged looking at the slip of paper.
“Lets go wait for Minda inside…” Naomi said shivering a bit. “It’s chilly out here…”
“Enjoy the movie.” The young lady said, never peering up from her cell phone, yet trying to be polite.

Several minutes later a young vixen walks through the double doors of the run down theater. A young little thing, short with long golden hair growing out of a head bearing a face with a warm, intelligent gaze. Her glasses only made her look smarter, and her smile was big as usual. She was dressed in a snappy long sleeved button up blouse with a pair of khakis accenting her look.

“Aren’t you cold Minda?” Naomi looked at her best friend and raised an eyebrow.
“Now you know I grew up in a cold area. Why would I think it’s cold now?” Minda smiled broadly.
“Eh, I thought it was nippy out…” Naomi shrugged.
“Well you’re also a meerkat, you’re ‘supposed’ to be warm…” Minda smirked.
“True, here’s your ticket…” Naomi handed the small piece of paper to Minda.
“We gonna get some food or something?” Joelle said eyeing up the candy and treats.

The counter was rather decrepit and yucky, stains and spills from years ago showing up.

“Ew, I dunno why you’d eat anything from that counter, but okay…” Naomi said digging into her pocket for her wallet. “You want anything Minda?”

Minda eyed up the food and shook her head. “That stuff will kill ya…” she said with a sly smile. “I’m sure you have no idea where it ‘hasn’t” been.”
“Suit yourself, I’m feeling adventurous today.” Naomi said eyeing up what she was going to order.

After ordering, the trio walked down the hall to their movie and sat down in their seats.

“About fifteen or twenty minutes before the movie starts…” Naomi sat down already munching on her popcorn.
“Well, dunno what to do about that one…” Joelle said sitting quietly crossing her legs and sitting back and pulling out a small black book with studs in the cover. “I’m gonna write some before then…”
“More poetry Joe?” Minda peered over Naomi’s lap at Joelle. “I always love to read your new ones, you’ll have to show me sometime.” She smiled, almost causing Joelle to crack a smile.

Minda knew it was possible to get her to smile, just quite difficult. She made it one of her aims to get Joelle to smile once a day.

The lights in the auditorium went dim to dark and the screen lit up starting with the advertisements about popcorn, soda, and upcoming movies. A few trivia questions and the like before the movie started and everyone in the theater went silent.

About halfway through the movie, a lead character died in a freak car accident, a rather horrific way. Naomi sits through the scene quietly as the life drains from the characters eyes as he dies in the lap of his girlfriend. The last words between the two being “I love you…”
At this, Naomi is sobbing quietly, she leans into whisper in Minda’s ear “I’m not sure I can bear to watch the rest of this, I think I’m gonna go outside…” Naomi says in tears.
“Mmkay Nams. I’ll keep an eye on Joelle.” Minda said noting the tears saturating Naomi’s fur.”

Naomi walked down the aisle and down the hall with her arms crossed, hugging her jacket tightly just thinking hard about life. She wasn’t sure what to think.
Leaving the building through the dirty double doors and slumping against the wall just outside, cars and busses whizzing by.

She looked into the ticket booth; the teller was gone. Naomi was essentially alone to sit and sob to herself. Her neatly brushed hair blowing softly in the wind, it always seemed windier in between larger buildings…

After thinking to herself for a few minutes she decided to go back inside to finish the movie, against her instinct. As she got up and turned around she saw a flash and felt a thud as she ran into a person leaving the theater with his buddies.

A creature of slender build, Naomi scanned him quickly as she hit the ground on her rear. Sandy colored fur, long thick tail with a dark brown tip, long fingers also tipped in brown. Naomi’s eyes shot up to his concerned face, bending over to meet her.

“Are you okay? I am so sorry.” The young male asked.

Naomi looks him in his warm eyes, they were surrounded in dark eyespots much like her own, he was another meerkat… She blushed and accepted his outstretched hand. Pulling her up and smiling.

“Yeah… I’ll live.” Naomi said, her cheeks still wet from crying.
“I’d hope so, I dun think I ran into you THAT hard.” The young meerkat smiled, his buddies waiting at the corner of the street peering over.
“I should have been watching where I was walking…” Naomi blushed again.
“Names Tim, and yours?” the young male asked.
“Naomi…” Naomi looked down at his hand still holding hers as she yanked it away embarrassed.
“Woah now, I mean no harm, any way I can repay you Naomi?” Tim smiled.
“It’s not necessary…” Naomi turned to go through the door.
“How about dinner? Fazzoli’s? You like Italian?” He asked grabbing her sleeve gently.
“Really?” Naomi blushed looking over her shoulder blushing.
“Yeah, I mean I DO owe you for making you cry…” Tim said.
“You didn’t make me cry…” Naomi wiped her cheeks with the base of her thumb.
“Well, maybe we can talk about it over dinner then?” Tim smiled.
“That’d be great.” Naomi smiled weakly.
“Good, now what’s your number?” the meerkat said pulling out his cell. “Tonight fine with you?” He smiled.
“Yes…” Naomi said writing her number on the back of her torn ticket as she saw Joelle and Minda coming around the corner from the movie.