PosterSECOND PLACE CHILI
Twenty-two years, lost by one vote
by Awaiting creator · Launched Oct 2, 2026
A story idea on the Poster shelf. Posters take no pledges.
About this title
Synopsis
The Fort Ellis firehouse chili cookoff has a brass plaque by the bay doors. Gene Ostrowski's name is on it twenty-two times. Merle Dunphy, who lives across the fence from Gene, has finished second every one of those years, each time by a single vote. This year Ferris Harlan, who judged it since 1998, retired, and the job went to Pastor Dave, who arrived in town in June and does not know any better. By August the pastor has eaten dinner at Merle's four times and at Gene's five. Both men have offered to clean his gutters. Neither will say what goes in the pot. The pastor has started to dread Sundays.
Who this is about
Merle Dunphy has entered the Fort Ellis firehouse chili cookoff for twenty-two years and finished second every time, always by one vote, always to the neighbor across his fence.
What goes wrong
The longtime judge retires and the job goes to the new pastor, and on the pastor's very first Sunday in town Merle's neighbor brings him a pie.
What's at stake
Winning means finally beating Gene Ostrowski. Losing a twenty-third time means the brass plaque in the firehouse keeps saying Merle is the second best cook on Elm Street.
Why it keeps going
Three weeks of espionage over the fence, a secret ingredient neither man will admit to, and a pastor who just wants everyone to stop inviting him to dinner.
Takeaway
A rivalry that lasts long enough becomes a friendship neither man is willing to call one.
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