Popcorn

David loved popcorn. He really loved it. When he started eating popcorn, he couldn’t stop it until it was all over. When he was a child, his mother always gave him enough money just to buy a cinema ticket and a small bag of popcorn, because if he could afford it, he would buy five of the big ones. And finish them before the first half of the movie.

Now that he was a well grown up man, David bought all the popcorn he could without going bankrupt. It wasn’t a lot, because he had a low income and he enjoyed going to the cinema at least once a week. David always went to the cinema alone, so as to not run the risk of having to share his popcorn with anyone. And he would definitely never have a girlfriend or boyfriend, because this would mean having a settled company with whom he would have to share his edible treasure. No way.

Usually, David went to the cinema on Friday night, after he left work. But by some reason David couldn’t figure out, his boss decided he should have the afternoon free on his birthday. This was not his habit, giving people free periods. David’s boss was a very grumpy and angry man and was only satisfied when he thought people were being exploited enough. He loved extra hours of work and late meetings. But on the day before David turned 24, Mr. Orwell showed up at his office, a mug of coffee in his hands, and smiling. This was so unusual that David completely forgot what the topic of the email he was writing was. The smiling was unusual, not the coffee. The coffee was probably the third of the morning.

“So, David, tomorrow’s the big day, right?”

David really had no idea what he was talking about. He had had forgotten his birthday for the last five years.

“Hmmm are we doing the end-of-month meeting one week in advance?” — David asked, feeling an interior pain. End-of-month meetings were his worst nightmare.

“No, stupid boy! It’s your birthday! Fancy having the afternoon out? You can enjoy some time with your girl…”

Everybody in the company knew David was single. Apparently his boss didn’t. Shocked by the sight of Mr. Orwell’s smile, David didn’t bother saying he had no girl.

“Oh. Yes. Sure. Afternoon out. Yes, yes. Perfect. Yes, I want it. Thank you very much, Mr. Orwell.” — David shook his head, trying to hide his surprise.

“I knew you would. You kids love a party. I myself was your age, you see. So I understand. Enjoy yourself tomorrow, son. Just don’t get too drunk. You still have a job to go to the next day.”

Love a party. David hated parties as much as he hated the emptiness of a bag of popcorn. But it didn’t matter, he had just got extra time for going to the movies. And eating popcorn. He was a bit concerned though. Mr. Orwell surely wasn’t in his normal state, and David had no clue what had happened to him. Thomas, one of David’s colleagues, was addicted to alien stories and would explain it with a hypothesis of abduction. He said people come back different. Well, abducted or not, this was a much better version of Mr. Orwell. David read the draft of his email again and went back to work.

The next day, he only remembered it was his birthday because he had in mind that he had the afternoon free. He had written it in his planner with colorful pens and glued stickers around it. People laughed at David when they saw his planner, because it looked like a twelve-year-old girl’s diary, but he didn’t mind. He liked it.

By lunch time, he was really excited. There was this new horror movie he wanted to see, based on a Stephen King novel. And popcorn… he would have a giant bag of popcorn as his birthday gift.

The staff at the cinema he used to go to already knew him. One of the girls that worked there always welcomed him with a smile and started filling his medium bag of popcorn. However, she didn’t seem very pleased to see David that afternoon. Instead, she wore a surprised and, at the same time, scared face.

“Hello. Can I have the big popcorn today, please? And one ticket for the 2 pm session.” — David always ordered popcorn before tickets.

“2 pm? Are you sure? Today is Thursday. ” — She increased the surprise and fear in her look.

“Yes, please.”

What the hell is happening, David thought. If few people came to the movies on Thursday afternoons she should be happy to sell a ticket, and not scared. His mood was not so good now and he couldn’t explain why. But something was wrong. As if he was not supposed to have free time on his birthday. Actually, he wasn’t. Things had started going wrong when Mr. Orwell gave him the afternoon free.

But it’s my birthday, David thought after this. He deserved it. He worked hard. The girl handed him his big bag of popcorn and his ticket, and he was disturbed by how deeply she was looking into his eyes while doing so. Now he was scared of her. Normally she just smiled.

He went into the screen room and found his seat. Number 13, as always. David hated the prejudice around the number 13 and used it as much as he could. Feeling better now, he got a handful of popcorn and filled his mouth, enjoying it. The movie started and he carried on eating, appreciating the salty crunchiness of his favourite thing in the world.

After one hour, David usually finished his popcorn, but as this time he had bought the big one, he expected it to last a bit longer. When the movie was halfway, he downed his gaze hoping to see at least some popcorn in the bottom of the bag, and was so surprised with what he saw that he missed all the next dialogue. The bag was full. Completely full, as if he had just bought it. But he had been eating for more than an hour now. That made absolutely no sense.

Now watching the popcorn and not the movie, David held a single kernel between his thumb and index finger and took it out of the bag. As he did so, another piece of popcorn grew from nothing in its place. Amazed, David started getting single pieces of popped corn, one by one, and watching them being replaced in his magic bag. This was fantastic. He had never felt so happy. He completely forgot about the movie and concentrated only on eating.

Thousands of kernels later, David felt full and even tired. He looked at the screen and saw just the credits. I should go, he thought, and meant to put the popcorn aside and get up. He couldn’t.

All he could do was to keep eating. David felt his arm go numb, as if it didn’t belong to him anymore, and noticed it was moving against his will. As much as he loved popcorn, he didn’t want to eat more now, his stomach hurt, his lips were parched due to the salt, he felt extremely thirsty. He had never eaten so much in his life. But his arm kept moving, and his hand kept stuffing popcorn in his mouth, which opened by itself, and David started crying. He felt as if he would blow up any minute. He wanted to shout for help, ask someone to take that cursed bag of popcorn away from him, but no sound came of his mouth because it was full of those evil white balls. So he just kept eating. His tears fell on the paper bag and nothing changed.

The next session was at 6 pm. The cleaner, a young mute woman in her 30’s, entered the room shortly before this with a broom and a plastic bag to clean the floor. She dropped all her stuff at the sight of David’s body on his seat. With wide opened eyes staring the ceiling, his mouth full of popcorn, David lay dead, the salt of his tears forming a crust on his upper lip together with the salt from the popcorn. David loved popcorn.