Delightfully Disgusting

The short story is very much an under appreciated art form. Today I read this one and was very impressed both with the story and the artwork. I laughed, felt queasy, was thoroughly disgusted, and was also delighted and drawn into a story written by someone with a gift for writing. If you are queasy, easily offended by language, don't like frankly described bathroom scenes, or a hypochondriac please don't click on the link. This 2004 short story by Vincent Eaton tells of his experience with, wait for it . . . a tapeworm. You may not eat sushi for while after reading it! Here's a little preview:

I headed directly to the pharmacist, purchased the pill, took it home, created an altar, placed it there and worshipped it for forty-five minutes as the answer to all my dreams and prayers. “Oh mighty pill, death to the demon residing within…”

Next morning I popped out of bed, got myself a glass of water, removed the pill from its altar cushion, placed it on my tongue, closed my eyes, and swallowed, declaring, “Take that, monster of the deep! You neverending strand of unspooling spaghetti!” I smacked my lips and thought that was that.

It wasn’t.

The story concludes with an invitation to share your stories of parasites. There are dozens of pages of contributions. It's called "The Worm Within" and I don't know how enlightening it is, but it did make me think about things I had never thought of before!