by S Future

Created on: February 14, 2009

I'm opening the mail in the office when my co-worker comes up behind me.

"Did it come in yet?" she asks. "An envelope from Netflix? For me?"

"Not yet," I say.

"It's been three weeks," she says. "I've been waiting for Seven Samurai for three weeks. Where could it possibly be?"

"In the mail," I shrug.

"But it's not in the mail," she says, gesturing to the mail. "Seven Samurai is not in the mail."

She goes back to work; I go back to work. We work; our backs knot up; the clock sweeps on. Then we're putting on our coats for the long commute home.

"Was there a late mail drop?" she asks. "With an envelope from Netflix?"

There wasn't. We split up, taking separate buses. I don't get a seat on the bus and my bag is digging into my shoulder all the way to the stop.

On my way home, there's a Blockbuster.

I circle the foreign/special interest section until I find a copy of Seven Samurai, Criterion Collection version. Ever in stock. I round it out with a few other impulse rentals from the same section - Stolen Kisses, Last Year at Marienbad, Fando and Lis. Star Trek V, which I haven't seen in forever. I rent movies I've never heard of. Seven Brothers Against Dracula. The third Left Behind movie. Leslie Nielsen teaching me about golf swings. In its glut of information and its complete irrelevance it is like the Internet, only I must pay for it and it is on my way home from work.

On a white shelf in the center of the room they are selling stereo equipment. The metal speakers are surrounded by brilliant gouts of blue shellac. I could buy stereo equipment if I wanted and no one could judge me.

The clerk is on a cell phone call when I get to the counter, giving me time to pick out which level of butter I prefer on my popcorn. Seven Samurai sets me back five bucks for a seven-day rental, which is more expensive than I remember this sort of thing being, but then I was into independent video stores until I moved. Seven Samurai sets me back five bucks, but then I've got it in my hand. It is not in the mail.

I didn't even know I wanted to rent Seven Samurai tonight. (I certainly didn't know I wanted to rent Star Trek V.) Until I knew that I could have a copy of Seven Samurai in my hands tonight - not three weeks from now, not via mail - I had no interest in Seven Samurai at all.

I know my bag's heavier against my shoulder but it feels lighter as I head home.

I could cook, but I don't want to. I could eat popcorn right now. I could have everything I want in life, right now. The age of delayed gratification is over. Give me instant karma or give me death. Give me Blockbuster video.

I fall asleep an hour into Seven Samurai, dreaming in an olive-drab chair. I don't even remember the characters' names.

Learn more about this author, S Future.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.