An unpleasant experience

An unpleasant experience

The evening was very pleasant as we strolled to the "Glutton's Square" where we intended to have our dinner. The sun was setting and the air was cool. John, Aileen and I sat down at a table. The stall-owner came and we ordered some fried mee. Soon the large plate of piping-hot mee arrived and we happily put some into our bowls and began eating. It was delicious. John, the talkative one, still managed to say an unintelligible word or two between gulps of food. Suddenly John winced as his teeth came against something unchewable. Cursing, he spat out the contents of his mouth onto the table. "What the heck!" he cursed again. Much to my disgust, John ran a finger through the half-chewed food. Then, uttering a cry of triumph, he picked up a staple from the food. Aileen and I immediately stopped chewing and expelled the food from our mouths. The thought of eating staples was revulsive. I wondered if I had already swallowed some staples. With a fork, Aileen searched through the rest of the mee on the plate. She found two more staples and a short length of raffia string! Goodness, I thought, what other rubbish was there in the food? We summoned the stall-owner to our table. His smile vanished when we showed him the staples and string. Then he apologized for the matter, said that we did not have to pay and furthermore would make a fresh plate of mee for us, free of charge. We got up, showed him our sour faces and walked off. I, for one, seemed to have lost my appetite.

piping hot very hot wince to show pain briefly and suddenly in the face, often moving the head back at the same time revulsive A sudden strong change or reaction in feeling, especially a feeling of violent disgust or loathing