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| Another Ten Minutes - Microwave |
| Posted on 18/02/05 at 08:47 by NGONGE |
Yesterday, I woke up early and went downstairs to make what I hoped would be a great and huge breakfast. I searched the fridge for various ingredients and looked through all the kitchen drawers. There were eggs, beans, bread, cheese, tomatoes, burgers, chips, meat, chicken, various sauces and even frozen pizza! I only wanted breakfast and was not too sure that any of that stuff would go into making a great early meal. I decided to take a minute and think about this huge breakfast that I was planning. In the course of thinking, my enthusiasm faded away and my usual laziness took over. I got a bowl out and made some cornflakes! Even with that, I still had problems. Do I have it warm, as is my habit or do I follow everyone else and have it cold? I decided to warm it up. I put the bowl in the microwave and stood staring it going round and round.
Microwaves scare me. The one I own is not an electronic microwave; its an old style microwave. Once it starts, it ticks, ticks and ticks for an eternity before the ping of the bell is heard and the food is ready to be taken out. There I was waiting for my food to warm up and thinking of the day ahead. The kitchen was completely silent. The bowl of cornflakes was harmlessly revolving inside the microwave and the grating ticking sound was getting louder and louder. I couldnt take my eyes of the damn thing; I was hypnotised by a bowl of cornflakes! The seconds were ticking away; it was going to finish any minute now. I panicked! I wanted it to continue a while longer. Why does it have to finish this soon?
I started hearing another ticking sound. This one was fainter yet everywhere! I ran to the cooker and checked if anything was in the oven. I found nothing! I looked at the thermostat to see if I can find anything. I found nothing. I looked at my wrist to see if it was my watch that was making all this noise. I dont own a watch!
I went back to the microwave confused and very puzzled. I continued stroking my wrist as I stared back at the dreaded machine. It was still ticking. The other ticking was also still faintly reverberating around the room. I felt it on my wrist! It was my heart. I quickly felt my chest. This was going to be yet another dilemma. I felt the left side of my chest and then the right side. In my panic, I forgot which side my heart was on! Both sides sounded the same; my heart must be bang in the middle! The throbbing in my wrist was louder than both; my heart must be in my wrist. The ticking of the microwave and the throbbing of my wrist were harrying my thoughts. The sound was getting louder and louder. The end is near. The two sounds were frighteningly synchronised. Im a goner! I wanted to scream for help. Like a heroic and idiotic soldier refusing to cry out in pain when hes dealt the killer blow, something in me stopped me from screaming. I accepted my fate. When the pang of the microwave goes, I go.
I stood staring at the revolving bowl of cornflakes and waiting for the inevitable when I realised that Im going to die without having had my breakfast! People are going to be busy with my corpse to notice or even bother with eating my cornflakes! I started getting angry. The blood rose to my head. I didnt spend all this time planning and thinking of my breakfast to let it go to waste. Id rather die than waste good food. I got images of pliers, red wires, green wires, blue wires, all manner of wires. I got images of Princess Diana with protective clothing walking through landmines. I closed my eyes, braced myself and quickly opened the microwave door before the ticking has finished. I was two seconds away from death and the horrible thought made me lose my appetite. I looked at the microwave socket while trying to suppress the temptation to cut the damn red wire.
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