The bar

Jenny jogged down the stairs to the cool main room. She loved that magic line which appeared every summer between street-level floor and basement; where the warm air and cold air maintain an uneasy truce. Mmm, and that cool smoky bar smell and better yet, this place actually served up some decent food too.

"Hey all!" She called out. Her name was chorused out in response by friends lurking in various parts of the bar. She had already hopped through a couple of bars that night, but this was a favorite joint and tonight it was noisy and packed. Jenny saw her best friend Sarah at a small table near the back corner and sidled over.

"Hey Jenny, lively crowd tonight."

"Yeah, these Friday night contests always bring people in. Everyone loves to watch a trainwreck." About once a month the bar would hold these eating contests and like those reality TV shows, people loved to come in and watch other people stuff themselves. The neat twist was that it was a different food every month.

The table next to them could barely contain three very large, very loud men. Clearly they had started drinking early and were making no effort to conceal it.

"That little weany Paul Newman. I bet I could eat sixty eggs. Hell, seventy even!", said one.

"Yer a lier!", said the second, "You couldn't eat seventy eggs in a whole day let alone in an hour."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, I can eat anyone in here under the table."

"I'll punch you in the nose if you try to eat me while you're under the table", said the second with a wink to the third. The first turned scarlet at having walked right into that one and he proceeded to bluster about nothing for a few minutes.

"Sarah?", said Jenny.

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm gonna give this one a try. I've never done an eating contest before."

"You are nuts girl. There is no way you'll win."

"I'm not doing it to win. I just want to try it."

"Jenny you are nuts. Tonight's contest food is anchovies and they always give me an upset stomach and awful dreams."

"Whatever. I haven't eaten any in a long time. Maybe they won't affect me that way."

"Famous last words girl...", said Sarah.