A few years back, I ate something that didn’t agree with me.

Oh, it seemed quite agreeable at the time. Warm and crispy and delicious, it touched my tongue with a simple joy and crunched most delightfully before sliding down my gullet. It warmed my belly, and all was right in the world.

Right up until it decided to rock the boat. The regular flow of things wasn’t good enough for it, and it wanted change. It wanted radical change. Up might as well have been down as far as this meal was concerned.

It was very aggressive in its course. It pushed forth, striving against every force of nature and every force of the society it had slid into, shoving aside other bits I’d consumed in its fevered rage against the system. I had no idea what had inspired this wrath, saw no reason why it should move contrary to the established order.

Perhaps the reason it pressed so hard for change was to prove its own freedom. After all, it’s hard to feel free when one simply goes along with the traditional order of things, even if that order ensures the very freedom one seeks. If it had simply gone along with due process, it would have been free to do as it would soon enough and I would be free to live a little more happily ever after.

It would have been better for us both had it simply ran its established course. But no. That simply wouldn’t do, apparently.

It pushed. It shoved. It’s warmth became a burn, its crispness a jagged bite, and it stopped at nothing to get what it wanted.

I, of course, wasn’t going to have any of that. I pushed back. As it rocked my world, I rocked back. As it forced its way high, I shoved it back down. It churned, and I sent in reinforcements with chemical weapons to quell its violent rebellion.

Eventually, after many hours of toiling warfare, it began to give way. It still fought, but no longer could it claim any more ground, let alone hold it. Back and back I pushed it, until, in a raging, fiery torrent of bellowing wrath, it issued forth from its due exit, howling its indignation.

I still have the scars from that incident, and not all of them are physical. To be honest, I haven’t been the same since.

So, have you ever eaten something that disagreed with you? Let me know in the comments! Also, if you didn’t already know, you can support The Astral Wanderer by sharing this with your friends or becoming a Patron. All proceeds go toward purchasing chemical weapons to put down gastrointestinal uprisings. Really.