Did you rinse?

A few years ago, my son and I spent a week in Northern Michigan on Torch Lake. It was my first non-working vacation in many years and I was looking forward to spending time with friends.

Besides my son who was 13, my friend Beth had her two boys, who were slightly younger and her 13-year-old nephew. Beth's two brothers were also in and out as they came and went from work.

Beth and I were in charge of cooking and the boys were in charge of clean-up. The first day was great. We made pancakes for breakfast and afterwards everyone headed out to the lake. The sun was shining and it turned into the most beautiful day, except for one thing.

Beth and her brothers asked if I'd watch the kids while they took off for some family bonding. Not a problem. The boys were good and I wasn't worried. While the kids were playing on an inflatable raft, I rowed out past them in a small boat. I was probably 300 yards from shore, when the first stomach cramps hit. There was no warning cramps, the first one nearly doubled me over, followed by one that left me weak. I looked at the shore and the kids and knew I had to try to make it back.

I would row two or three strokes and then double over in pain. It felt like eternity before I reached the shore. I yelled out to the boys that I was going to run up to the cabin for a few minutes. Another powerful cramp hit from behind and I sunk to the ground, sweating and shaking. Somehow I managed to make it to the cabin and the bathroom.

By the time Beth and her brothers made it back, I was feeling much better, but I wasn't going to take a chance on the water yet. So I was sitting in a lawn chair, reading a book when they returned.

Beth and I cooked up dinner and the boys did the dishes and swept the floor. Beth's brother Pete and I were dating at the time and we took a stroll out on the pier. He asked if everything was all right, I seemed a little quiet. And told him of my late morning illness and laughed it off as sea sicknees.

The next morning was another beautiful day, I got up early and put on a pot of coffee. I knew the kids wouldn't be up for awhile so I grabbed a cup of coffee and went outside to enjoy some quiet time. Pete joined me a little while later with his own cup of coffee and soon Beth was awake. It was nice, just the three adults sitting outside drinking coffee and watching the lake.

We had nothing planned for the morning so we lounged around on the beach, reading and watching the boys play in the water, when once again I was hit with a massive stomach cramp. I made my way up to the cabin only to find that Pete was in similar distress. A few minutes later Beth came in complaining of stomach pains. Luckily for us, they passed after a couple of hours and we didn't have any bathroom accidents.

Day three was a repeat of the first two days. The adults got up early and had coffee, followed by breakfast for everyone and the boys doing the dishes; except, this time Pete helped with the dishes. A little later, the cramps returned. As I lay on the couch in agony, Pete said he thought he discovered the source of our ailments. While he was helping the boys, he noticed that they weren't rinsing the cups very well. He remember a story a friend of ours told about dish soap in a pie and put two and two together. The boys were poisoning the adults every morning with cups that still had traces of detergent. From that point on, the boys were under close observation to make sure the dishes were rinsed. Of course, they thought it was hysterically funny.