Cheesy feat

In Competition No. 3096 you were invited to submit a short story that ends ‘I feel like a half-eaten gorgonzola.’
 
Thanks to reader Mark O’Connor, who suggested that this observation which, in case you were wondering, comes from a letter written by Lytton Strachey to his elder brother James on 27 July 1908, might be incorporated into a challenge.
 
It turned out to be a tricky one: despite valiant — and often ingenious — attempts to incorporate the given phrase without the edges showing, there was an inevitable element of stiltedness and contrivance. Medusa and Emile Zola enjoyed starring roles in many entries — some more successful than others.
 
Honourable mentions go to unlucky losers Jonathan Hughes-Morgan, Harriet Elvin, Hugh King, Phil Stapleton and Josephine Boyle. The prizewinners, printed below, are rewarded with £30 each.
 
I was sad to hear that John Whitworth, a regular presence in these pages over the decades, has died. His funny, clever and well-made poems will be much missed.

I learnt how to fly before I could drive. For complicated family reasons I’d spend school summer holidays with Aunt Bea. She’d ferried Spitfires during the war and now flew her own light aircraft whenever she could. ‘Leave your troubles on the ground, boy. By the time you come back to earth you’ll have them in proportion.’ She wouldn’t let me take off or land — ‘your parents put me in loco’. But I was allowed to handle the controls in the air. ‘Shift her around a bit, lad — you’re not pushing a pram down the street.’ And she taught me her cockpit drill. (‘Not kosher WRAF, but it suits me.’) Check instruments, then fuel, landing-gear, ailerons and hatch-exit. (‘Nothing worse than getting stuck inside.’) ‘Finally, report to the smelly cheese in ground control. So, I,F,L, A, H-E, and G. Best remembered as, “I Feel Like A Half-Eaten Gorgonzola.