Fun with Food

"I need a minute," I said to the volunteer working at the portfolio review booth. "I'm going for a walk."

It was my first day at Valencia comic book con, and I'd done six out of seven portfolio reviews, but I felt like throwing up.

And I had to take this seriously--earlier, I'd vomited twice into a trash bin when I couldn't make it to the ladies room fast enough. I didn't think I had the flu, but I did think I had food poisoning. I have a long list of food intolerances and allergies, and last night had been annoyed by the pressure at a group meal. I'd nibbled on things I knew I shouldn't eat, just to shut people up who were bugging me.

And now I regretted that.

I left the Marie Javins booth and walked in a loop around the portfolio station. I barely made it to the next trash bin, threw up three times, and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed.

If they had, they were averting their eyes.

I headed back to the booth, reviewed the last portfolio, and left for the day, catching the metro back from the convention center out in the boondocks to the hotel in the center of the city.

"Wouldn't you rather take a Cabify?" The coordinator who'd brought me to Valencia was all about ride shares.

"Wouldn't you rather risk throwing up in the metro rather than in someone's car?"

He saw my point. I headed back to the city center, nibbled on some McD's fries (What is that auto-order touch screen? I have to operate the ordering system now? Progress??) to see if I could keep that down, and went straight to bed. Tonight's group meal would have to get along without me.