(Exhales deeply.) This reminds me of my friend, whose name is Helen van Biscuits. Once, this delightful Mexican restaurant in town had a contest. The contest revolved around who could release the loudest flatulence! The prize for this amazing feat was revealed to be a year supply of free burritos. We have known for years that our friend Helen just loves to indulge in a tasty burrito, so my dear friend Qwerts phoned her to tell her about his contest. Upon hearing of this contest, Helen became quite excited! However, there was one problem: she feared her flatulence was not loud enough to triumph in this battle of the buttocks. But one thing she does possess is an amazing wit. So Helen began to study the human digestive system. She went to the library and read books about intestines. She tried eating different food and observing the effects on her flatulence levels. She attempted to hold chocolates in her body for weeks! She tried contorting her body into several positions while releasing her gases. She left no stone unturned. She even sat down with Qwerts and held a strategy meeting after work. Qwerts suggest that maybe he could engineer a tiny microphone to place in her rectum that would make her flatulence extremely loud, but the honorable Helen declined. She is a very honest person, and wouldn't feel good about winning the years supply of burritos like that. She was at her lowest low, ready to give up, when she received what seemed like a miracle. While watching a television show about the architecture of buildings, she learned that sometimes if the correct combination of curves and openings are found, that sounds can become amplified to become extremely loud. This program indicated that they use these techniques in some of the most famous auditoriums in the entire world.That night she attempted to make use of all different things that have curves and openings. She placed her buttocks on a wall, and also on a window. She even attempted to use kitchen items like a whisk. But nothing worked. As a last resort she took her fingers and made an opening between her middle and ring fingers just like Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame (except her finger were slightly curved). She placed her hand in this position around her buttocks and released a volley of flatulence. Baboom!!! This bout of flatulence was so loud that it set off 3 car alarms on the adjacent street! But, she thought to herself, maybe the first try was just luck? She attempted the same maneuver again, and behold, even louder! She peered out a window and there was at the very least six animals just staring at her in amazement. I dare say that when your gaseous expulsions are loud enough to make an animal curious, you know you are probably going to win free burritos!So now Helen was all set. The contest was that day at the restaurant and she knew that destiny was in her bowels. She had honed her technique and was sure that pretty soon she was going to eat many free burritos. The world was her oyster! The contest began and the man who owned the restaurant (the name of the restaurant was La Pringles) took the stage. "Hello to everyone. Today is the day of the big contest and whoever generates the loudest flatulence will win free burritos for a year. On behalf of myself and the entire staff of La Pringles, welcome, and let the flatulence begin! Will all contestants please come to the stage." As it turned out, only two people entered the contest. One was Helen Van Biscuits and the other was a lady named Maria Pringles (it was said she was not related to the Pringle family). The owner proclaimed "OK, I guess it is just you two. Whoever is the loudest wins!" So Helen went first. She took a few deep breaths. She closed her eyes so that she could really concentrate. A hush fell over the crowded restaurant. She slowly held up her hand and separated her fingers and curved them just like she had practiced (an old lady gasped at the way she contorted her fingers). She turned around very slowly and took her fingers and placed them around the outside of her ######. Here we go, she thought. She then let out what is probably one of the loudest noises ever to emanate from a human body, including screams of terror. It sounded like part boat horn and part nuclear explosion. It was breathtaking and lasted for almost 20 seconds. When it was done there was total silence except for one old man who was looking around and pointing to his ears and telling everyone he thought he was now deaf! He was ignored, and written off as a crazy. Eventually Helen turned around and one person started clapping. Then a few more began. Soon it had become a standing ovation. "Bravo!" one lady exclaimed. Another little girl went to the stage and gave Helen a bouquet of flowers. Helen was touched and a tiny tear ran down the curves of her face. Even Maria Pringles looked impressed. What could she do except tip her hat to one hell of a gaseous expulsion?So, eventually the claps died down (except for the old deaf man, but his wife scolded him and told him to calm down). So now it was Maria’s turn. Everyone got quiet again and gave Maria their attention. Maria looked around, clenched her teeth, and scrunched the skin of her nose. She began counting "one....two....THREE!" She let out her flatulence and it sounded like snoring, but got a little louder and a little louder and then suddenly there was a second noise. BOOM!! The window exploded! People were so confused. Where did that second bout of flatulence come from and how did the windows break? How did she do that? The owner of La Pringles took the microphone and said "We have a winner! It is Maria Pringles! Her flatulence was so loud that windows shattered! It almost sounded like my favorite Simon and Garfunkel tune. Congratulation to Maria and enjoy your burritos!" Maria began jumping up and down. I glanced at Helen Van Biscuits and she was devastated. Even the audience could not process what they saw. They knew that Helen was probably louder but Maria broke the windows! So if Helen was not able to break the windows, yet Maria did, it follows that Maria must have been louder. Helen walked down the stage and was very upset. She came over to us and pleaded that she did her best, and we agreed. Qwerts said that he was so impressed by her intestinal accomplishments that he was now really quite attracted to her. We agreed that it was probably best to go home, but Helen wanted to go say thank you to the owner before she left. She had so much class that even though she lost she was determined to say thank you. Her rear end was quite impressive, but her character was loudest of all. So she looked around for the owner and could not find him. She checked everywhere and then finally she looked through the door into the kitchen. That is when she beheld something that changed her life forever. She saw a whole bunch of people dancing around and singing. She saw the owner, the family, and Maria Pringles. They were throwing people around on chairs like it was a Jewish wedding. They were all singing and laughing. She overheard the owner talk about how he was so proud of Maria Pringles, that Maria was a long lost cousin, and that they rigged the contest so Maria would win the free burritos. It turns out that there were two little boys that threw rocks at the windows (in exchange for a free taco) when Maria was releasing her flatulence. The second, higher pitched noise when Maria was releasing her flatulence was actually the owner blowing into a special ring he was wearing that whistled. He timed everything just right, and with the harmony and the glass breaking everyone was tricked into believing that Maria was making it all happen, but it was all mirage. Helen was so mad she burst through the door into the kitchen and everybody who was dancing and laughing stopped and looked at her. The owner exclaimed, "Oh, uh, Helen, oh, I… we’re sorry that you lost and uh, we..." but Helen cut him off. She slowly raised her right hand and separated her fingers. A serious tone fell over the room and people began to panic. "No, don’t do it Helen" Maria screamed! But Helen didn’t listen. She turnd around and put her fingers on her buttocks. Me and Qwerts went to the door to watch and Helen look over at Qwerts and he said to her (real softly) "I love you." And with those words, she let out a gaseous expulsion so loud that you could not hear anything. You could only see the looks of terror on the face of the Pringles family. Bottles of hot sauce started exploding and Maria Pringles was blown against a wall. Some cans of beans also exploded and got into the owners eyes. I could see him mouthing "I am blind! I blind." She finished and said "You can keep you burritos, from now on I’m only going to eat Chinese food."She strode out of the kitchen and back into the restaurant, people parting for her like the Red Sea. They were clapping and patting her on her shoulders as she walked by. The old man who went deaf said that the second bout of flatulence knocked his hearing back and now it is even better than ever. The mayor was there too and he proclaimed "I declare today Helen Van Biscuits Day!" Helen stopped and said thank you to everyone and waved. They all waved back but with a slight part and curve in their fingers as a sign of respect. Helen tapped her heart to show how much that meant to her. She may not have won all the burritos, but she won a lot of friends, and when it is all said and done, burritos come and go, but friends stay with you forever.StudsP.S. When I was writing this I think I heard Helen make a large gaseous expulsion. Ha!