Favorite Mistake Essay

My worst nightmare, standing right in front if me. Do I have arachnophobia? Triskaidekaphobia? Anatidaephobia? No, no, and no. My fear—is microwaves. Which, I guess, would be microphobia, I don’t know.

Whatever I have, I’m terrified of microwaves. If I keep up this fear, I would probably starve to death in college, not being able to use a microwave. I know that microwaves seem pretty harmless…until you do some research. They can make things blow up and catch fire, which totally isn’t harmless at all. Of course I knew this beforehand, but I wasn’t scared of microwaves like I was of spiders, or the dark. But that was before “The Great Black Castle Incident,” or so my family calls it.

It started with a couple of White Castle burgers. If you don’t know what they are or haven’t tasted them, you haven’t lived. They’re amazing burgers that are sold in Chicago and other parts around that area. They’re hamburgers that are miniaturized—and they’re delicious! I love them because they’re so small and you can eat 3-4 in one sitting. I decided one fine afternoon to make a couple of these burgers sent from the heavens themselves.

It all went fine at first. I unwrap 2 and pop them in the microwave—this is where it went wrong. The package stated on the back that they were to be microwaved for 60 seconds—nothing wrong with that. I then mindlessly continued to hit the “0” button 2 times, causing me to nuke them for 6 minutes. That is where my mistake was.

Uh-oh.

I flopped down on the couch and decided to browse the internet on my phone while waiting for them for them to cook. I was fully absorbed in Instagram. Minutes felt like hours, and soon, the kitchen filled up with smoke, the gas filling up my lungs. I can’t remember what happened next, only that my father came in with a bowl of water, him yelling, and the unbearable stench of smoke. When I came back into the kitchen, I saw the two burgers in the trash—they looked like lumps of coal. Hence the name, “Black Castle.”

Even today I’m still teased by my family whenever I try to microwave something, and I always check the package before I heat up anything.

2 comments to Favorite Mistake Essay

  1. viviann735 says:

    That happened to me once too. But your writing has a lot of voice.

  2. hopev227 says:

    I’ve done that too just a little worse. I had made tea and the water wasn’t hot enough so I put the metal cup it was in and put in the microwave. It was horrible! The microwave produced lightning bolts and then there’s burn marks on the cup but I’m not afraid to use the microwave just carful. But I LOVE THIS! You made me smile and laugh Mara! Great job! 😉

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