Tuesday, 17 April 2012

#A-Z: Death by... Over-Eating

Who or what event is portrayed in this story?


Julien deserved it, all of it. No wonder the French ambassador had laid the delicious feast for him. So many were grateful for the life-saving work he did for them. Julien stuffed three olives in his mouth, then another bite of pâte de faisan aux truffes. Yes, he deserved it.
 
“You will owe me your life if you eat all the food on the table,” said the ambassador.

Julien only laughed. “I only have today, my Lord.” He ignored the others at the table who watched him eat. They could say what they wanted behind his back, laughed if they desired. Jealousy, all jealousy.

“Who does he think he is? He is the laughing stock of all great thinkers.” said one.

“True,” said another. “He may act merry, but he is a very bad author. By not reading his books, one can be very content.”

So Julien ate and ate, because he deserved it. He ate himself into indigestion, then delirium, then death.


Who or what event is portrayed in this story?

The previous Death By … story is based on:
A 51-year-old woman from DeSoto Parish and a 20-year-old man from St. Bernard Parish, a suburb of New Orleans, died after using Neti pots containing tap water to flush their sinuses. Both became infected with Naegleria fowleri, a parasite known as the brain-eating amoeba.
Naegleria fowleri enters the body through the nose to cause a brain infection with symptoms similar to those of bacterial meningitis. Headache, fever, nausea and stiff neck swiftly give way to confusion, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations. And if left untreated, the infection can cause death within one to 12 days.

31 comments:

  1. Congrats Laura, Bev Hankins, jtwebster, Kittie Howard, and Sarah Pearson! Another point each.

    Laura - 12 points
    JTWebster - 5 points
    Bev Hankins - 4 points
    Sarah Pearson - 3 points
    Old Kitty - 3 points
    Glynis - 2 points
    Jan Morrison- 2 points
    Cherie - 2 points
    Suze - 2 points
    Nicki Elson - 2 point
    Angela Brown - 2 point
    Denise Covey - 2 point
    Lynda R Young - 2 point
    Jayne Robin Brown - 1 point
    Youngman - 1 point
    Sia McKye - 1 point
    Alex Cavanaugh- 1 point
    Connie Keller - 1 point
    Pat Newcombe - 1 point
    Susan Roebuck - 1 point
    JC Martin - 1 point
    Talli Roland - 1 points
    Golden Eagle - 1 point
    Cathy Olliffe-Webster - 1 point
    Kittie Howard - 1 point
    Heather Gardner - 1 point
    Richard - 1 point
    Journaling woman - 1 point
    Christie Wright Wild - 1 point
    Gossip Girl - 1 point
    Lydia Kang - 1 point
    Danielle B - 1 point
    Jaye Robin Brown - 1 point
    Michael Offutt - 1 point
    Jemi Fraser - 1 point
    Carol Fleisher - 1 point
    Chuck - 1 point
    Maggie McGee - 1 point
    DL Hammons - 1 point

    Let me know if these tallies are off.

    And just a hint: Not all names used in the stories will be the right name. Sometimes if I use the right name, it'll be too easy. I can't make it that easy, can I?

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  2. Yesterday's death sounds really gruesome.

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  3. Sorry, I meant to say above, almost everyone got a point. Not just the five I listed above.

    Make sure your tallies are correct because the first five automatically win amazon gift cards.

    If there is a tie for the fifth or fourth spot, I think I'll do a draw for the last name or something.

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  4. Poor Julien!!! Death by forced feeding? Good grief! Did he write something so bad to merit such a thing? LOL!

    Take care
    x

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  5. Hi Clarissa .. sound extremely selfish and gruesome .. very strange .. oh and I'm obviously hopeless - as I have zero points and still do. Congratulations to the many that done so well ..

    Death by not thinking over here ... looks to be my cause! Cheers Clarissa .. I'm working my way back through the posts - Hilary

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  6. This is quite a strange one! You did a great job with the story :D

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  7. Not sure on this one. I think it would be a horrible way to go though.

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  8. I had to Google this one: Julien Offray. He overate at a feast that was given for him. I think he took the partying a little too far, yeesh!

    Your stories are great, Clarissa. You should write them into a book of stories or something.

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  9. Clarissa - I agree with Laura; you really should compile these into a short story collection. About this one.... it's giving me a lot of motivation to stay on my diet!

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  10. Death by overeating? That is terrible. Know when to say when.

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  11. I didn't even know a contest was going on. I was going to guess that "Julian" was a goose whose liver was being made into pate, but turns out it was a real person.

    That's me -- always confusing real people with geese. Caused quite a bit of confusion at my wedding.

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  12. OMG, from Louisiana! Yipes! Now, I've heard about today's challenge but can't pull up a name. Drats!

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  13. This reminds me of the Life of Brian skit where the guy at a restaurant eats a mint and explodes. That's Monty Python if you don't recall where it came from. You can view it on the internet.

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  14. Never a dull moment on your blog!

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  15. That is a horrible way to die. Wait, the Neti-pot is worse.
    ooohhh! I got a point!
    HMG
    Heather

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  16. I meant to add this to my last post...here is the link for the spatzle recipe: http://www.quick-german-recipes.com/german-spaetzle-recipe.html
    HMG

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  17. Can't imagine eating past the point where my body's telling me to stop. Ugh!

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  18. Kinda thinking this guy wasn't missed by a lot of folks... :)

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  19. I thought you might have seen me stuffing my face with peanut M & Ms last night Clarissa, lol! That food must have been damn fine for poor ole Julian...

    Denise

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  20. Hi again Clarissa. Just visited Ann Best's blog and saw your comment. I do hope your move goes well, oh the pain! You must be so tired, and to have your book coming out too! It's all happening!

    Denise

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  21. Yikes!
    I know it's not, but this makes me think of Monty Python's Meaning of Life with Mr. Creosote exploding after eating one more wafer.

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  22. Another great story! I agree, you should put them all together in a book.
    I haven't a clue on this one, sounds horrible though

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  23. I don't think I'll look at eating in the same way--for a while!


    The Golden Eagle
    The Eagle's Aerial Perspective

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  24. reminds me of Monty Python first, and the movie Seven second.

    And that is just horrifying about the neti pot.

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  25. I did a double take and had to make sure I was reading correctly when I saw that Death by Overeating was based on events that happened to a woman from DeSoto Parish and a man from Bernard Parish. You may already know that I am from Louisiana, but I seldom hear or read about events occurring in DeSoto Parish. DeSoto is a small rural parish just South of Shreveport. I am an assistant district attorney there for about eight years.

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  26. Julien Offray de La Mettri--a banquet held in his honor in 1751. He had cured the French ambassador of an illness. Julien ate too much, got some sort of gastric illness, became delirious and died.

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  27. I thought he would die from choking due to overeating. Man, what a sad way to die.

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  28. Yikes. I didn't think it was possible.

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  29. The word glutton comes to mind - and I'm seeing the scene from Seven also.

    .......dhole

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  30. What an unfortunate way to go. What I see is the lesson of stopping while you're ahead.

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  31. Ugh. I think I came close a few times, especially during Christmas dinner...

    J.C. Martin
    A to Z Blogger

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