“Not at all,” I grinned.
For once I was ahead of him and raised my voice to call
the bartender.
“Say! Could you bring me some of that popcorn while
you’re at it?”
Most of the bar snacks that were laid out seemed to be
MYTH-NOMERS AND IM-PERVECTIONS 107
in mesh-covered containers to keep them from crawling or
hopping away. Amidst these horrors, however, I had spotted
a bin of popcorn when I came in, and had made special
note of it; thinking that at least some forms of junk food
appeared to be the same from dimension to dimension.
“Happy now?”
“I’d be happier if you picked something that was a little
less salty,” Kalvin grimaced, “but I suppose it’s better than
nothing.”
The bartender delivered my pitcher along with a basket
of popcorn, then wandered off to greet some new patrons
who had just wandered in. I tossed a handful of the popcorn
into my mouth and chewed it while I refilled my glass from
the pitcher. It was actually more spicy than salty, which
made me revise some of my earlier thoughts about the uni-
versality of junk food, but I decided not to mention this
discovery to Kalvin. He was fussing at me enough already.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” I said, forcing
myself not to immediately wash down the popcorn with a
long drink from the glass.
The Djin leaned back and cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Well, your mood seems to have improved, Imt I was
under the impression you might want to talk about the But-
terfly’s advice this afternoon.”
As soon as he spoke, my current bubble of levity popped
and my earlier depression slammed into me like a fist. With-