Video Crowd Itself Can Be Good Drama

It’s 5:30 p.m. Saturday and two guys in baseball caps are planning the night ahead.

They’re checking out a video store’s new arrivals. And they have discovered that all 20 copies of “Vegas Vacation” have been rented. Same with the six copies of “Swingers.”

“We’ve got to find something,” says one of them in a walking-dead tone. “You know what she’ll say if we come back empty-handed.”

The Blockbuster Video at 29th and Southeast Boulevard is busy and getting busier.

Couples. Parents with small children. People by themselves. All with weekend leisure time to fill.

“Here’s ‘The Stupids,’ ” says a sales-mode dad to a little girl. “Have you seen ‘The Stupids’?”

The little girl, kneeling on the blue carpet and looking at cassette boxes describing other movies, doesn’t respond.

Not far away, a woman with a teenage girl points to “That Thing You Do” as a possibility.

“We saw that with Maureen,” the girl says impatiently.

The woman shows no recognition.

“Remember,” the girl says, “we came in late and sat in the front.”

Still nothing.

A man in jeans and a light gray sweatshirt remarkable because it has nothing written on it stares at a row of movies on the foreign film aisle. It’s as if he is waiting for one of the boxes to do something.

A few aisles away, a dad announces that he is cutting off the debate and heading to the checkout line with a copy of “Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain.”

A little boy with him makes a theatrical snoring sound.

By 5:45, the store is even more crowded. But everybody is pretty friendly. You hear “pardon” and “excuse me” as people step in front of one another in a search for the perfect Saturday night flick.

A boy who looks about 11 reaches for Demi Moore’s “Striptease” and just as his hand touches the box the man with him says “No way.”

The boy’s hand freezes for an instant, then withdraws.

Tired of being vetoed, an older woman says - without looking at the gray-haired man next to her - “You pick, you decide.”

Her teeth are clenched.

Two women in their 30s or early 40s have decided that “The English Patient” sounds “Too long and drawn out,” as one puts it.

Now one of them is showing an interest in “One Fine Day.”

“What’s that?” asks the other.

Her friend says “You know,” and then starts to sing a few words from the song that gives the movie its title.

Over at the door, people are still coming in.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits Inland Northwest gatherings.