A-POP-alypse Last Night!

Last night, our Absentminded Mastermind Roommate was trying to make popcorn. He put the oil in the pot, stuck in three kernels, and went to do something else. Giant Bird, who was drooping his parrot eyes in his cage, suddenly climbed onto the top of his cage and let out a tremendous alarm squawk. Patient and Tolerant, Absentminded Mastermind, and I all told him to go night-night, assuming this was just the night-time fussies. But Giant Bird screeched again, and then we looked over to see what he was looking at.

Huge arcrid clouds of weaponized canola-smoke were pouring out of the popcorn pot! The stench was incredible, eye-burning, throat-closing doom. We all headed out of there fast. I thought quickly enough to get a big lungful of air before grabbing Starlingphone. I ended up putting on my bathrobe as a coat, and we all went down to the local bar/cafe to wait for the clouds of smoke to clear. By this morning, stuff still stank a little, and I don't think the pot will ever be useable again after cooking WMDs, but we all got out okay and nothing actually burst into flames.

Incidentally, the smoke detector, which goes off every time someone takes a hot shower, didn't even beep once.