Making Popcorn

 Making Popcorn

    Fran asked her father to help her make popcorn. “There are some microwave pouches in the cabinet over the refrigerator,” her father said.

    “Dad,” Fran moaned softly. “I want to make real popcorn, with real kernels and oil in a pan. I’ll even get out all the things we need, and clean up after,” she said. The ‘clean up after’ part was the clincher. Her father agreed.

    Fran found a large pan with a cover, some vegetable oil, and the popping corn. First, her father turned on the burner and adjusted the flame. Then he poured oil in the pan. When the oil was hot enough, Fran poured some corn into the pan and carefully placed the cover on top. After a minute, the corn began to pop inside the pan. Then Fran said to her father, “Listen to all the noise! Now I know why it’s called popcorn. It smells fantastic!”

    Fran's father poured the popcorn into a bowl. He melted some butter and poured it on top. “See, this is the real stuff. Butter! Not like the fake stuff that they use in most movie theaters.” Fran rolled her eyes a bit, then smiled, and then added some salt.

    Fran and her father took the popcorn to the sofa and put the large bowl between them to share. Fran walked over to the shelf of DVDs and picked out her favorite movie, Matilda. Her dad smiled. He knew Fran had seen the movie about a hundred times, and he had watched it several times with her, too. Fran’s dad said, “You know, even though I’ve seen this movie a bunch of times, it’s still fun to watch, because every time I watch it, I notice things I didn’t before.”

    Fran smiled again. These were special times with her dad.

©2016 Henry Anker