Adventures of Joyce, the popcorn kernel

Joyce could not believe what had happened. All his life, he had been preparing for that one moment and somehow it had eluded him. He went through the checklist in his mind. He had ticked all the boxes. He had executed every step to perfection, the most important of them being, to look bright, crisp and buttery. He had even positioned himself perfectly. He knew this stall boy, Davis, had a habit of grabbing handfuls from the left corner of the massive vending machine. But alas a drift caught him during his dive from the gloved hand into the container, and he missed the container by a popcorn inch (metric used by popcorns). He was not alone, there were three to four of his siblings with him. He knew he had to act quickly. Else he would be shoved by Davis into the trash can, without even so much as a cursory glance. He knew the rules - no spilt food on the counters. The boss lady was strict and Davis, just a week in position, was particular not to upset her. Joyce tried dragging two of his brothers along with him but they seemed too despondent at their fate and had seemingly given up. He knew he could not go down with them and eventually rolled over to the gap between the two popcorn machines, the only place in the vicinity where Davis didn’t have the reach without his thin broom. Using a broom while serving was unhygienic and frowned upon by the boss lady. Joyce knew he was safe for now.

Now that he was out of peril’s way, he had to decide a course of action. Joyce was ever always the one for action and an optimistic one at that, too. A very good combination, I’m sure you’d agree too. He had only one objective - getting back into the medium size container which the girl in the pink frock had bought. He had overheard her mentioning her seat number to her friend - ‘2C’. The good thing was that it was close to the door and hence made Joyce even more hopeful. He had to of course wait for the bustle of the crowd to recede before making his move. Even for the adventurous Joyce, rolling into a crowd of human feet was a no-go. But he could not let it be too late, else the door would be closed till the film got over. Folks at the cinema only hated one thing more than frequently opening doors - people who watched the movie before, blurting out loudly the upcoming sequence. Even though none had dared this escapade before, Joyce was confident of making it happen. He already had the checklist of steps in his mind. The only thing that worried Joyce was his size. He was a small sized kernel. To catch the drift from the air conditioner, he needed to be at least twice his size, according to his calculations. That was when his eyes fell upon a caramel popcorn kernel from the machine next door examining him. Popcorns communicate with their smell and Randy, the caramel popcorn kernel, told him his story in a whiff. Though he too had shared the same plight as Joyce, he was not too bright (literally) to come up with a solution and was ok to take part in Joyce’s adventure. Joyce was happy for the company, for he liked the look of Randy and more so caramel popcorn were a tad bit heavier and hence could aid his plan of drifting in the wind very well.

They stuck themselves together (the caramel really helped) and rolled off the ledge onto the floor below. To those uninitiated to Joyce optimism, this might look like suicide but Joyce had timed the roll to perfection. He knew the oscillating pattern of the air conditioner well. It lifted them six feet into the air. Joyce was on the steering wheel. He veered left to catch the cross draft from the other air conditioner on the perpendicular wall. Joyce had only been born thirty five minutes ago but he steered with the experience of an old sailor and the precision of a neurosurgeon. Randy was quite excited and couldn’t keep to himself. He kept sending out bursts of caramel scented gusts of air all over the place that made Joyce think twice. What would the humans say if they saw two pieces of popcorn gliding through the air. He had to push out all negative thoughts and focus hard, for he was approaching the most crucial part of his adventure - the doors and the ticket examiner. Till here, his plan was fixed but now he knew he had to improvise to the situation. He had to time his entry into the cinema hall at the very moment the ticket examiner opened the doors for a movie goer to get in. He was approaching the last air conditioner in the corridor. Time it too early or late and he might find himself smack the heavy wooden door instead of going through it. Victory was so close yet so far.

Fate favours the bold! And you couldn’t find a popcorn kernel bolder than Joyce at the moment. A couple with three excited children was going inside the cinema. As the ticket examiner held upon the door for the family, Joyce knew it was now or never. He pushed Randy forward with all his might. They turned into the air conditioner’s draft with the fluidness of a racing car banking a curve. The cold air upon Randy and Joyce emanated a smorgasbord of smells and flavours hitherto never smelt by the ticket examiner. Water gushed in his mouth and he made it a point to get himself a popcorn after the movie started. Meanwhile, our heroes had successfully gushed forward into the darkness of the cinema hall with the effects of a rocket escaping the atmosphere. While Randy was exultant, captain Joyce knew there was not a moment to lose. Seat ‘2C’ was just a turn away. He careened their vessel to the left. Destination was in sight - the popcorn container was in the left hand of the pick frocked girl. He knew he could slip past without attracting attention as her eyes stared at the big screen in excitement - she had been looking forward to this movie for many months. He landed with the grace of a pilot mindful of the kids on board his flight. His family was excited to see him, hugged him, pelted him with a lot of questions about his adventure. For once, Randy was doing all the work, he answered them with his chocolatey caramelly smells that did justice to the adventure they had just had. Joyce was exhausted, drained and content with Randy doing all the explaining. He only hoped that he still remained buttery, bright and crisp as ever for the rest of his journey.