>> I think it was around twenty-five before it all went explosively wrong.
“explosively wrong”... that’s, like, poetic prose right there, man. Paints a picture and all. ROFL
We still talk about that night! Personally, I gave up the concept of gorging on a dare or a contest...
When I was in the USN down at Cecil Field in Florida, three of us went out to a restaurant that had all-you-can-eat shrimp and got into an eating contest.
I don’t remember if I won or lost, but I remembered laying in the bed of that little Datsun pickup as we drove back to the base, groaning in agony.
For years, I could not look at shrimp again, and it grieved me, because I sure did love shrimp. I just could not eat it.
Fortunately, after about 20 years, I regained my taste for it, but it sure did teach me a lesson.