Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

It seems that today's theme is fruit. I didn't mean for that to happen, but that's just what has happened. Do you remember my story about the balloon? Well, something about my fruit entry and reminded me of a repressed memory from my childhood.

When I was in fourth grade, I had just moved to a new school. I hadn't made any friends yet, so I was sitting by myself in the cafeteria one day eating lunch. With my ever-present need for self entertainment I was eyeing my canned peaches, trying to find some new way to eat them that I hadn't tried before. I had cut them in pieces, mashed them, mixed them with other foods, etc. already and I needed something new ... something bold.

In a rush of bad judgement, I decided to try to eat the half peaches in a single bite. I hadn't yet realized that the peaches were, in fact, the same size as the interior of my mouth until I had scooped one in. Instantly my body's self-preservation system kicked into action when I realized that I could neither swallow, nor chew, nor eject the peach because of its size and placement at the roof of my ten-year-old mouth.

In my panic, I tried grabbing the peach, but that only pushed it back against my throat, igniting my gag reflex. I tried to push it with my tongue, but had no success. At the moment that I felt I was going to have to stand up and indicate that I was choking, I knocked my utensils on the floor. As I bent over to grab them, the peach was pushed up by the air in my lungs, slid out of my mouth and landed beside my spoon on the floor. At that point, I decided to cut my losses. I simply left everything where it was and sneaked outside for recess to find a renewed joy in my life.