My heart sank a little. Kip never had trouble with these sorts of challenges.
Chip spoke again. “When I say go, I want everyone to remove their lids. You must finish everything but the containers,” Chip instructed. “Three…two…one…go!”
I scrambled to pull the lid off of my plate, pushing it aside and examining the revealed items. There was a great big white bowl in front of me, and in the bowl were what looked like teeny tiny clusters of green grapes. They looked like caviar, almost. The bowl was brimming full of them, too, and I was dismayed at the sheer amount of food in it. Next to the bowl was a coconut half, and in the coconut was something that looked like dirty dishwater.
Ewww.
“For the first course,” Chip said. “A Fijian staple called nama - or sea-grapes. In the cup is kava, a traditional alcoholic drink.”
I picked up one cluster of sea grapes and popped it into my mouth. A dozen tiny little squirting explosions hit, and I mentally winced - it was like biting into a bunch of bubbles filled with sea water. Gross. I chewed, trying not to think about it, and blanched when grains of sand crunched between my teeth. Wrinkling my nose, I reached for the drink, took a swig, and blanched again. Not only did it look like dirty dishwater, but it tasted like it, too. Now there was even more grit in my mouth.
Gross, but not so bad.
I looked over to see how Jendan was faring. My partner was pale, his throat working hard. He reached for his drink - the kava - and grimaced. If it was possible, he got even paler. Not good.
I swallowed, grimacing at the briny, bitter taste, and then popped another bunch into my mouth. I focused on Jendan instead. If I chewed enthusiastically and tried not to make faces, maybe that would encourage him that it wasn’t so bad.
He closed his eyes and methodically worked his jaw, chewing vigorously. After a moment, he held his nose and continued to chew.
Well, whatever worked. At least he was keeping it down. I swallowed another too-salty-too-gritty mouthful and went to work on the next.
Time passed incredibly slowly. By the time I got to the bottom of my bowl, my mouth was dry from the salty flavor, my stomach was feeling a little abused, and the kava was making my tongue numb every time I drank it. I was on my last bite when Chip threw his hands up dramatically. “Kip is done with his food!”
“Here!” Kissy called, and I looked down the row to see her dump the rest of the kava back in her throat.
“Kissy’s done with her food! Red team moves on!”
I looked over at Jendan worriedly. He was eating methodically, but slow. I leaned over the table, looking down the line. Leslie and Emilio were eating slowly too, and Alys was doing better than Jendan, but not by much. I tipped back my head and gulped the rest of the kava, ignoring the grit and the numbness it left behind.
“Annabelle is done,” Chip crowed.
I pretended to wipe my mouth as I stepped away from the table. “Go faster, Jendan,” I whispered, then moved to the bench to sit next to Kip and Kissy. Three people down, two more spots to go.
I clasped my hands together and watched my partner intently. He was trying to eat faster, but I could tell he was struggling. Once you got past the salty squishiness of it and the grit of the sand, it wasn’t that bad. Theoretically. But poor Jendan was looking rather pale as he continued to shove clusters of sea grapes into his mouth, chewing. He’d pause, get extremely quiet, then grab at his drink, and then look just as ill all over again.
“Alys is finished!” Chip called. “We have one more spot left! You guys need to pick it up!”
Alys clapped her hands and bounded over to sit next to me on the bench.
I pressed my hands to my mouth, watching Jendan eat. I couldn’t see anything left in his bowl, but the others left - Saul, Emilio, and Leslie - were trying to eat faster. Please, please, I mentally chanted. Come on, Jendan. It’s just seaweed. You can do this.
As I watched, utterly tense, Jendan grabbed a huge mouthful and began to choke it down, then grabbed his kava cup and swigged it. His eyes bugged for a moment and his throat worked, and I was sure he was going to throw up. Then he gave his head a little shake and flipped his bowl. “Done!”
Chip raised his hands again. “Jendan is the last one to move on!”
I gave a happy squeal of delight and rushed to my partner’s side, flinging my arms around him. I didn’t care that I was pressing my body against his in front of everyone else - I was just so thrilled he’d soldiered through. “Great job!”
“Just…don’t jostle me too much,” he said faintly.
I immediately pulled away from him. “Sorry. You did great, though. Really good.”
He nodded, hands on his h*ps and took a deep breath.
“All right,” Chip said as the plates were cleared. “Red team moves on. Blue team moves on. Half of the purple team -Alys - moves on. The green team is eliminated. Alys, if you lose the next round, your team is out. Everyone that’s done, sit down on the bench. Everyone else, let’s go back to the table for round two.”
“God. Can’t we have five minutes to digest?” Jendan said, sounding a little breathless. “I’m still trying to keep the other shit down.”
“You can do it,” I encouraged. “It’s not so bad. The worst part is over, I promise.”
He nodded.
Five new covered platters were put in front of us. The pungent smell wafted up again, making my stomach churn.
Under the table, I crossed my fingers that it would be something benign and edible. Come on, Endurance Island.
“Annnd go!”
I pulled the lid off of my platter…and stared.
Something black and sinewy was twisted up in a bowl of liquid. Something with eyeballs and claws and a whole lot of stink.
“What the f**k is that?” Kip asked, aghast.
“This is a Fijian delicacy,” Chip said. “Boiled bat.”
“Mine still has eyes,” Kissy cried out. “We supposed to eat those, too?”
“Everything but the bones,” Chip agreed. “First three to finish move on.”
I stared down at my plate, thinking hard. I’d given Jendan a hard time about his stomach but…I did not want to eat this. Two milky, boiled eyeballs stared up at me and I wanted to gag.
I hesitantly picked it up by one clawed wing, examining it. “Where do you start?”
Kissy grabbed hers, held it up to her mouth, and crunched into it. Loud.
I winced.
Jendan turned around, bent over, and vomited.