The tinny intro music of the local newscast woke Mara. She had fallen asleep during the first ten minutes of Juno while Ellen Page was telling her best friend she was pregnant via a hamburger phone. Mara looked around and noticed Abby’s jacket was gone, and made a mental note to text Abby and demand she return the sweats. Sliding up the arm of the couch to sit sideways with her legs extended across both cushions, Mara stretched and reached for the popcorn bowl nearby on the floor. She ignored the weather and sports teasers, and looked into the bottom of the bowl, finding only unpopped kernels. The microwave stuff never fully popped. Even the instructions on the package said unpopped kernels were to be expected.
She closed her eyes and imagined.
Something ricocheted off the side of the bo
