Nervously, Robin finished wringing the wet sock in her moist hands, getting the last few drops to fall into the quarter-cup container.  Her exposed feet, swollen and red from the quick run, shined in the hot studio lights as the sweat glistened on her skin.

As the announcer tapped a nearby button on Robin's platform, Ted watched the liquid drain from the cup and feed down the tube towards his clear prison.  The tube above his head was fitted with a tiny ball, much like a hamster's water tube, insuring that no sweat would fall out unless Ted began sucking on the device.  Finally, the sweat began filling in behind the ball, and Ted craned his head towards it.  Choosing between a finite amount of his mom's sweat was much more preferable to an infinite amount of audience foot-sweat, he decided.

Closing his eyes and wrapping his lips around the tube's opening, Ted heard the audience roar in approval, louder than ever.  Taking a deep breath through his nose--the pungent aroma of hot sweat already filling his tiny cage--Ted sealed his lips tighter to insure no sweat was wasted and began sucking.

Immediately, the hot, salty mixture filled his mouth, so quickly that he had to step back from the tube.  With a temperature comparable to bath water, Ted gagged as his mom's foot-sweat swirled in his mouth.  The salty liquid was mixed with a funky stench of vinegar.  Afraid to let it dribble on his chin, Ted fought against a desire to vomit the disgusting liquid on the cage's floor, and concentrated as his eyes filled with water. 

Heart pounding, Ted clenched his fists and began slowly swallowing the sweat.  Instantly, he felt the hot liquid pass down his throat and settle in his quivering stomach, causing it to churn in rejection.  Finishing the sweat, Ted leaned foward against the glass and focused on keeping it down.

After a moment, Ted took a deep breath, his mouth and nose reeking of the salty vinegar his mom had drained from her socks.  Ted even detected the rubbery aroma of her sneakers and the dry smell of sock.  Looking back up at her, he watched Robin stand nervously on her platform, manicured red toenails drumming the treadmill.  She looked concerned, but Ted didn't forget that she had chosen to proceed with the challange anyway.

"Five minutes, Ted!" the announcer warned, audience erupting in applause and cheers.

His heart leapt.  Five minutes! Looking at the tube, he couldn't tell that he had even dented the amount of sweat pilling up behind the ball.  He knew if he took his time with each gulp, he would never make the mark.  Ted realized his only salvation lay in actually drinking the sweat like water, forcing it down--chugging it like a hot, salty beer that had been left open for several weeks.

Bracing himself, Ted approached the tube and again locked his lips around it.  Taking one final breath, Ted began sucking his mother's sweat and immediately swallowed it.  Without stopping, Ted drank some more, keeping his lips sealed and not relenting.  The vinegar filled his mouth, his nose, his eyes, his brain.  Hot, sticky foot-drippings slid down his throat, filling his belly and slowly stretching it out with each disgusting gulp.  The roar of the crowd was lost as he became absorbed in the improbable task of being forced to drink the sweat from his own mother's foot...something she had wililngly done to him.

"Two minutes!" the announcer shouted.

Ted kept drinking.  He didn't know how much liquid was left, only that it kept coming, and that he must fill his gullet with every last drop.  He clenched his fists repeatedly, feeling his own body temperature rise as the warm sweat filled him.  Ted began to sweat now, and before long, his own body was covered in a sheen of moisture.

"One minute!"

Ted breathed through his nose, feeling the sting of foot-oder and letting his tongue savor the mixture formed under his mom's hot, sweaty sole.

"Thirty seconds!"

Heart pounding--when would this sweat end?--Ted swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed...and gulped air.

He tried again.  Nothing but air.

"Game over!" the announcer chimed.  Taking a step back, Ted noticed the tube was...empty! He did it! He won...didn't he?

Looking at the announcer anxiously, he watched as she slowly raised the microphone to her lips, and said:

"Unfortunately, ladies and gentleman...based on Ted's performance," she murmured as the audience sat on the edge of their seats, "Robin will not be getting the milliion dollars...because the IRS will tax almost half of it! Ted did it! He drank all her sweat in time!"

The audience exploded, clapping and cheering so loud that Ted's cage shook in reverberation.  "Yes!!" he shouted, actually proud and excited to have drank his mom's sweat, pounding his fist in the air.  Looking up at her, he watched as tears flowed down her face, a smile stopping them from reaching her chin.

"Collect your son, Robin! You two made a great team!" the announcer told her, and Robin quickly descended down a ladder and opened Ted's cage, her warm fingers wrapping around her pot-bellied son as she raised him to her lips, gently placing a hot kiss on his naked belly.

Ted couldn't help but smile as he and Robin exited the stage together.