The Pickle

Makl made himself a sandwich. It was a work of art, and he served it to himself with a stack of potato chips and a pickle. And when he sat near me on the couch, as we both look over at Isaac's computer, I wanted to steal his pickle. So I waited until he leaned over to point at something on the screen, and reached over, nipping off the end and putting it back hurriedly.

 I waited with a little smirk for him to comment, but to my surprise he said nothing. When he looked back down at his plate he seemed a little confused, but didn't mention it. He even took a bite of the pickle. Wondering if I was somehow being double pranked I stole another bite when he turned again, and again, meet with no complaint.

I keep looking over at him to see if he's noticing anything at all odd with his pickle. At one point he got up to go upstairs. I leave only a tiny little end-cap of pickle left on his plate, thinking that surely he would say something about it.

 He came back downstairs, took a few bites of sandwich, and finished off the pickle. I couldn't stand it. "Didn't you notice I was stealing your pickle?!" He looks surprised, "You were?" I start laughing now, because it's clear he was just being oblivious, "You didn't even get to take the first bite! I thought for sure you would say something!" "I was wondering why there was so little pickle left, I kept thinking that I hadn't been getting as much as was gone, but what was I gonna say? Which of you is eating my pickle? Goddamn it, now I need another pickle!" He gets up and retrieves one. I watch him for signs of unwariness out of the corner of my eye, but he's obviously onto my games now and glares at me from across the couch. Finally, his sandwich has only a few bites left, there's two lonely chips, and a tiny end-cap of pickle. He's looking at the screen and I dart out and grab the last bite of pickle off his plate, laughing triumphantly. "That was gonna be my last bite!" I grin at him, "You thought you were safe, but you're not. I could have stolen the chips, but I didn't." "Oh, do you want the chips? I'm done with those." "No." "Goddamn it."