Page 107 of Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon
Die Hard 2
April, Finally
I was nervous to watchDie Hard 2because it ends with Bruce Willis saying his signature “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker” and then blowing up an airplane full of bad guys. Airplanes are always going to be complicated for me, I’m sure, especially exploding airplanes. Grace saw this coming as the scene unfolded a moment ago and took my hand. Similarly, I took her hand last weekend when we all watched the originalDie Hardtogether because I knew she’d be thinking about Tim the way I’m thinking about Brynn. I squeeze her hand now and smile to let her know that I’m okay. It’s funny what constitutes as healing.
Godspeed, Bruce Willis.
“Wow, Henry,” says Ian. “I think that’s the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life.”
As the credits roll, I say, “Um.”
“What,” says Ian, “you don’t like it?”
I take a handful of popcorn fish and try to come up with an appropriate response. Our weekly movie club, which is made up of Ian, Bella, Grace, and me—and on two occasions Cal and Kelsey—has been going strong for several months, and in that time I’ve done my best to make the kids feel comfortable sharing their opinions, evenwhen those opinions are ridiculous, like when Bella thoughtFerris Bueller’s Day Offwas “pretty boring,” or when Ian declaredWeekend at Bernie’s“the funniest movie ever made.”
“It’s not that Idon’tlike it,” I say.
“Oh, here we go,” says Grace, teasing. “Not highbrow enough, professor?”
“I’m just saying, by comparison to the original,Die Hard 2feels maybe a little redundant. No?”
Ian and Bella stare at me and blink. Harry Styles stares, too, because he’s on the couch with us.
“Whatever,” says Bella. “He killed sooooo many more bad guys in this one.”
It’s Sunday, which has historically been an anxious day for me—the Sunday Work Scaries and all. Things at Art of the Brand are going well, though, and a quick check of my schedule for tomorrow reveals an easy morning. All I have is a video call with Win at noon my time, 9a.m.his time.
On Christmas Eve, after sending Grace’s dad, brother-in-law, and some uncles back to her parents’ house to get food, Grace and her family stayed atmyparents’ place until well after midnight, eating and drinking everything in sight. Two days later, on Boxing Day, I told her I didn’t want to leave Baltimore anymore. We were on this same couch wearing our matching Costco sweatpants and finally watchingThe Holiday. Her feet were in my lap.
“Yeah?” she said.
Neither of us said anything for a moment. Then I clarified. “More specifically, I don’t want to leave you.”
“Good,” she said. “I don’t want you to leave me, either.”
Win and Regina were disappointed when I told them I wouldn’t be moving to L.A.—Win especially. He moved there a little more than a month ago. I thought I’d miss him, but that’s the thing about the twenty-first century: I talk to him just as much as I ever have. We’re creative partners from afar, via Microsoft Teams. I’ll fly out there soon to see him, and that’ll be hard because it’ll be my first flight since the crash. Being there will be even harder than getting there,though, I bet, because it’ll be so warm and sunny, and I’ll know how much Brynn would’ve loved that.
“So, there are, like, moreDie Hards, right?” Ian asks, and Grace laughs.
“There are,” I say. “One could argue there are perhaps too many.”
“Can we watch more of them today?” Bella asks.
“How about we pace ourselves?” says Grace.
“Yeah,” I say. “TheDie Hards aren’t going anywhere. Plus, we’ve got work to do.”
Grace sits up and rubs her hands together. “Okay, are we gonna do this or what?”
We look at Ian and Bella. Ian says that he’s ready, but Bella is hesitant. “They’re so cute, though. Look at them. They’re so happy.”
My aquarium on the coffee table has nine mice in it. We take a moment, collectively, to stare at one another—us at them, and them atus.
“I know, babe,” says Grace. “They aren’t meant to live like this, though. They’re meant to be free.”
It’s a romantic interpretation of a mouse’s life, but Bella’s been sad since I brought the aquarium over this morning from the row house, and she needs to be helped along. Nine mice is technically a lot of mice, I’ll admit, but they really are cute. And, the good news: As far as we can tell, there aren’t any left in Grace’s actual house. Cal, Kelsey, and I stopped by Mick’s Hardware a few weeks ago and I gave Mick an update. I explained that I was set to release the last of the bunch into the wild as soon as it was warm enough. I thought telling him how the humane trap had actually worked would be a cool flex.
“Well, I stand corrected,” Mick replied. “All you need to do is wrangle them, provide food for them, and house them for a fiscal quarter, and you’re all set. Well done, buddy.”
