Popcorn Etiquette

I learned something this long weekend: my parents are horrible people to watch movies with.

In between my mom's constant inquiries of questions that would be gradually revealed throughout the film, and my dad's answering of said questions, spoiling of plot twists and revealing of red herrings, some people in this family should really learn the proper etiquette for the consumption of popcorn.

A bowl of popcorn is shared between the audience, you take a handful, and pass it onto the next person beside you in such as way as to not disrupt the movie. Other beverages are to be shared in the same manner, or to be consumed independently.

My parents insisted on sharing a mug of beer. They also insisted on passing along the mug and the bowl of popcorn simultaneously.

As to save room on the arm rest, mother decides to place the bowl of popcorn on top of the mug of bubbly liquid, not for long, just long enough so she can cover herself with a lap blanket, which she pulls out from underneath some pillows rather forcefully.

It was like a chain reaction, you can't stop it. All you can do is stare with popcorn hanging inside your half open jaw.

The corner of the blanket tips the precariously placed popcorn tin over. The popcorn tin tips  the vase of flowers on the side table ever so slightly, thus spilling a mess of wet popcorn and flowers everywhere. The mug that the popcorn had been standing on succeeded in the chain reaction by falling over and crashing obscenely to the ground, and taking a platter that had been placed on the side table earlier that day with it, and causing the butter knife that had been on it to crash and spin violently across the hard tile floor.

We all gawked at the spectacle quietly, after what seemed like a really long minute, my mother laughed.