I've been Shameless my whole life. If I've gotta go, I go. The only thing that ever gives me pause is if the commode is really, really gross, in which case I'll try to hold out or at least pull a squatter. There was the one time, though, when I had to deal with turd terrorists.
In the summer I was twelve, I went to Boy Scout camp for a week up in the woods of New Hampshire. It was a pretty basic setup: each troop had a set of two-man platform tents centered around a nice wooden latrine. It was a wooden shack with three holes, covered by nice indoor-type toilet seats, but with an open doorway -- anyone walking by could see right in.
That in itself would not deter me -- like I said, I'm pretty Shameless. However, the first day at camp, my tent-mate went in to take a shit. As he sat there, the rest of the troop (myself excluded) stood outside and threw wet gobs of toilet paper and other garbage at him. The poor guy. At first I figured it was because he was somewhat unpopular, but when someone else got the same treatment, I quickly decided that I would not be a victim.
When that day's shit started to alert me, I squeezed them cheeks and got it to subside. I then commenced one of the greatest feats of biofeedback of my life. Once before, I'd managed to will myself into the flu to avoid a school project I didn't want to do (and got a week off of school for my trouble!), but I think this was the tops. I did not shit for the entire week -- deliberately.
The camp had a large common dining hall serving the typically cheap and filling fare one would give to a bunch Boy Scouts, and I certainly didn't hold back. I did all the activities, enjoyed s'mores at campfire, and ate my fill -- but any thoughts of defecation were defecated. (Sorry, bad pun.) I kept looking for an opportunity to feed the pile at the bottom of the latrine, but I never did get one.
Finally, the last day of camp, I saw my chance. I woke up early and went to the latrine. In there was our Scoutmaster, dropping off a few kids of his own. Eureka! Not only were there no terrorists, I had a shield to boot! Well, I wasted no time walking in there, saying good morning, and sitting my ass down on one of the other holes.
I must have proceeded to lose a good five or six pounds -- at I time when I was still at like ninety total. The troop leader, bless him, didn't really say much, except for look at me funny when I joined him. After all, what was he going to say when I took one of the open holes in a three-hole shitter? He just looked away and started bearing down on his own. If he were Shameful, I guess I could've been considered a turd terrorist, but I was well beyond caring.
The one downside to a latrine is that it's hard to figure out which is your output. I guessed I had produced a lot by the size and consistency that I felt exiting. When it was all done, I had a clean wipe, and practically skipped back to my tent to enjoy the last day of camp.
-- Steve Levine