Pop Goes the Roommate

At boarding school, the food served in the dining hall is often questionable and unappetizing to say the least. As a result, my roommates and I often turn to popcorn to satisfy our hunger after study hall and before bed. It is often an unspoken battle in my room of which one of the three will be forced to hike over to the opposite side of the dorm to use the microwave. When it is my turn, I prepare the package of popcorn the way anyone else would. I open the package and “place this side up”. I then press the “popcorn” setting on the microwave and press start. The first forty-five seconds or so of the popcorn being in the microwave is always very disappointing because there is no delicious buttery aroma or teasing “popping” sounds. Slowly but surely, however, the popcorn eventually starts to ping back and forth within the bag, creating that long awaited “popping” noise. When it is finally finished, I open the microwave and start to salivate from the delicious smell of butter and salt. I open the bag slowly, pulling the corners in a diagonal motion. A flood of steam erupts from the bag and burns my fingers. However, this doesn’t stop me as I greedily reach into the bag in search of that perfect, dark yellow, shiny piece of salty goodness. I slowly saunter up the stairs and down the hallway, taking my sweet time with each little piece of perfection. This is a slow process because I know that the moment I return to my room the bag will no longer belong to me, and all of the wonders that it contains will be gone in about five minutes. The descent back down the stairs to my room is the worst because I know that I am even closer to losing my treasured dinner. Once the door is opened, I am told to enter the room quickly while the popcorn is still hot. I sit down in my spot on the floor and it’s game on. In less than five minutes the popcorn is gone and it’s intoxicating smell remains in the room, hovering above myself and my still-hungry roommates. Knowing looks are exchanged between the three of us, and we all know what is going to happen next. I remain seated on the floor while one of my other roommates gets up slowly, walks over to the little set of drawers, and pulls out another un-popped bag.

picture credit: http://simplyrecipes.com/photos/popcorn.jpg