This afternoon at a very awkward time, I felt an intense need to throw up.

Thankfully, this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often. Only once before, as a matter of fact, about three weeks ago. What precipitated that episode was something of a mystery since I had eaten several questionable items. Just before I got sick, I ate a small bowl of pistachios.

Today was more of a clear-cut matter since I had not eaten that much by 5:30 p.m. The only thing different from my normal foods was a homemade (by me) frosted chocolate cupcake sprinkled with a small bit of chopped up pistachios. It was delicious. It made me terribly sick.

So there I was at someone else’s house, clutching my stomach, wondering if I would be able to drive the five minutes home where my faithful bathroom was. It was the worst stomachache I’d had since I don’t know when. The salivating thing had set in, so once again, that insidious question of which end arose.

Five hours later, I’m still shaky. Sipping a diet coke helped. From now on, I’ll remember that pistachios are related to mangos and poison ivy, both of which are my natural enemies.