Bill Travis

Bill Travis is the legendary six-time defending champion of the Great Gretna Pie-Eat, a local mechanic whose annual victory brings his employer substantial business and allows him to bet heavily on himself, but in 1960 he is defeated by the spectacular vomiting chain reaction triggered by the underdog Lard Ass Hogan.

Identity and Background

Bill Travis is a mechanic at the local Amoco station down by the railyard in the fictional town of Gretna, Maine. He is six feet five inches tall, gangling, and voracious, a likeable fellow if there ever was one. He is the reigning champion of the annual Great Gretna Pie-Eat, having won the contest the year before by eating six pies in five minutes. He is not fat; in fact, he is a real stringbean. His victory in the contest brings his employer, Jerry Maling, a surge in business at the garage, as people come by to congratulate Bill and stay to get their gas-tank filled or their mufflers replaced. The two garage-bays are sometimes booked up for a solid month after the contest. There is some dispute around town as to whether Jerry Maling gives Bill a flat bonus for the extra business his yearly feat brings in, or if he gets an out-and-out raise. Either way, Travis does much better than most small-town wrench jockies; he owns a nice-looking two-story ranch out on the Sabbatus Road, which certain snide people refer to as "the house that pies built."

The Pie-Eat as a Wagering Event

The Pie-Eat is a hot wagering event in Gretna. Contestants are observed and discussed by bettors as ardently as thoroughbreds are observed and discussed by racing touts. The wagerers accost contestants' friends, relatives, even mere acquaintances, prying out any and all details concerning the contestants' eating habits. There is always a lot of discussion about that year's official pie—apple is considered a "heavy" pie, apricot a "light" one. That year's official pie, blueberry, is considered a happy medium. Bettors are particularly interested in their man's stomach for blueberry dishes. Other questions of some moment include: Is he a fast eater who slows down or a slow eater who starts to speed up as things get serious? How many hotdogs can he put away while watching a Babe Ruth League game? Is he a belcher? It is believed that a good belcher is a bit tougher to beat over the long haul. Because the contest is honest and a strict time-limit of ten minutes is observed, no one objects to a competitor betting on himself, and Bill Travis does so every year. In 1960, he has bet a substantial amount on himself again, but the best he has been able to do is one-for-five odds, meaning he would have to put two hundred and fifty dollars at risk to win fifty.

The 1960 Contest

On the night of the contest, the five eaters sit at a long trestle table covered with a linen cloth, stacked high with blueberry pies. From right to left, the eaters are Bill Travis, David "Lard Ass" Hogan, Bob Cormier, principal John Wiggins, and Calvin Spier. Travis receives the loudest and most sustained applause as he mounts the bunting-decorated stage. He nods and smiles with all proper modesty as Mayor Charbonneau ties his bib around his neck. When the contest begins, Lard Ass Hogan, a seven-to-one underdog, eats like a boy possessed, finishing his first regulation-size pie in just forty-two seconds, a contest record. Travis throws him a worried glance as he calls for his second blueberry pie. He feels he is in a real contest for the first time since 1957, when George Gamache gobbled three pies in four minutes and then fainted dead away. He thinks of the money he has riding on this and redoubles his efforts. But Lard Ass has trebled, finishing his second pie before Travis has even consumed the crust on his new pie. Lard Ass finishes his third pie and calls for his fourth, now one full pie ahead of the legendary Bill Travis. Then Lard Ass, his stomach loaded beyond endurance with castor oil he drank before the contest, raises his head, grins at Bill Travis with blue teeth, and vomits. The puke covers Bill Travis, who only has time to utter one nonsense syllable—"Goog!" Bill Travis then blows a great—and seemingly supercharged—jet of vomit out over the first two rows of spectators, his stunned face proclaiming to one and all that he cannot believe he is doing this. The chain reaction spreads through the crowd, and the contest is effectively destroyed.

Consequences and Significance

Travis's defeat is total and humiliating, brought about not by superior eating but by a deliberate act of sabotage. The contest, which had been a source of income and local fame for him, is reduced to chaos. His loss of the bet and the disruption of the event mark the end of his reign. The story of the contest, as told by Gordon Lachance, becomes a parable of revenge and the unexpected power of the underdog, with Travis serving as the established figure brought low by a scheme he never anticipated.