Evert Your Eyes!

Days Walking - 94

Location - 66°08'21N by 150°12'17W
(I remembered, aren't you proud?)

Kwame had an episode this morning. And I don't mean a television episode. Unless we're talking about a PSA. Actually, this was more like an afterschool special.

Several of us were awakened by the bone-chilling, god-awful sound of urgent retching.

Allow me to be very clear - this wasn't a mouthful of bork politely returning to sender, oh no. This was the sound of one's small intestine turning itself inside out inside his mouth. When sharks do it, it's called 'everting'.

When humans do it, you call 911. Only, we have no 911 to call.

I've mentioned the rationing that we do on this trip. Rationing means that no matter how much you want just one more bowl of slop, you should do your best to refrain. Any number of random incidents could delay us, and suddenly we're a week behind. The food you don't glut yourself with today could save your life next week.

We all piss and moan about the rationing, but we're pretty careful and nothing really gets wasted. If I'm done with my slop, "Hey someone want the rest of my gruel?" someone - usually Caeled or Gabe - will scarf what's left in my bowl.

I call it slop because it usually is. It's some kind of breakfast porridge, or it's some kind of pasta mix, or some kind of rice mix, but there's always the gooey sauce factor, be it peaches and cream oatmeal, faux alfredro or marinara.

Kwame was up early, and making breakfast for us all, when he snapped. He started going to town on the food, and within about three minutes, consumed the breakfast slop meant for eight people.

Jake witnessed part of it - he came out of his tent, said good morning to Kwame, who was stirring the slop. Jake stepped a few yards away for a scratch-n-pee, and when he turned back all the food was gone.

Jake said Kwame had this bloated, surprised, horrified look on his face as he told him "All of it. I just ate all of it." and then mere seconds later, the aforementioned evertion.

The sound was pretty intense. It didn't sound like a human. It was like some giant momma creature was delivering nine pounds of half-digested tummy chum for her young. Ugh - just thinking about it brings that bile taste into the back of my throat.

We all came busting out of our tents to see what the hell was going on, to see Kwame kneeling in a frighteningly deep puddle of regurgitated breakfast. If that's not enough to turn me away from slop for a few days, nothing will.

Gabe got Kwame cleaned up - they're tentmates. Then Adrian and Church gave Kwame a good exam. Kwame seemed ok - and a thorough examination of the barf (Church has nerves of steel) didn't show any signs of blood or foreign matter - from ulcers or other digestive complaints.

While Gabe was cleaning Kwame up, Jake and I did an inventory of the packed food items. It would be scary to discover that Kwame had been going crazy in the night, devouring our chow. But everything seemed to be present and accounted for. We even found a pack of raisins that we thought had been eaten long ago - score!

So the mental medicine began. All of us sat in a circle and listened as Kwame, Church and Adrian discussed why this might have happened. Was this is an urge or impulse he'd felt before? Has he been binging and purging? Since we all eat together, this was pretty unlikely.

Kwame described it as a feeling that had been growing for a few weeks. Like those impulses or voices you hear in your head, but dismiss, knowing you'll never do it. He said he's dreamt about food all night for the past two nights in a row. He was really at a loss to explain it.

It was unsettling to see him so unnerved. Kwame is a pretty solid guy, and if I had to pick anyone who was to go hog wild and suck down everyone's breakfast, he'd be at the bottom of the list. Hell, I would have thought I'd go food crazy before Kwame. He seems ok now, and we'll keep an eye on him, and he won't be cooking alone any time soon. But he should be ok.

There's a possibility that this is a sign of Binge Eating Disorder - we'll have to wait and see. I think it was a one-time-weirdism brought on by a really long hiking trip. We talked about it for a good three hours.

It's possible that any of us might start giving in to those little voices in our heads. It's important that we share these urges, talk about them, so we can watch out for this kind of thing, and help one another. I mean, what if someone has the urge to just step in front of a speeding tanker truck? Or off a steep cliff? We have to share this stuff, as hard as it might be.

Here's one of mine: Anneli wears these hoop earrings sometimes and I get a strong urge for no reason to jab my finger into the loop and just rip them out of her ear, leaving her screaming and bloody.

Do you guys have any strange impulses to share?

Litany Webb, signing off

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