Rachel Slager, Potty
Dance
The thing you gotta understand about my mom is that even if she
sneezes too hard, she pees her pants. Or someone will make her laugh
then all of a sudden she's crossing her legs, still laughing, saying
"Piss and shit, I'm gonna pee." She'll be standing by
the stove cooking dinner and need to go, and even though she knows
her bladder doesn't seem to work too good, she does the potty dance
trying to hold it in while the chicken browns.
You've seen the potty dance. A little kid on the playground will
be holding their crotch, knees together, and bounce around. An adult
will ask if they need to use the bathroom, but they shake their
head NO 'cus it's almost their turn on the slide. Then suddenly
their crying and a dark circle of piss forms on the front of their
jeans and the adult thinks that now they'll learn their lesson about
holding it. But then at Christmas when they're in the longest line
to sit on Santa's lap, they're dancing around again since pissing
isn’t as important as telling the guy in red all the gifts
they want.
The other thing to know is that mom is a children's librarian,
so she reads like a hundred fifty books a month. She doesn't have
a car, so when she walks home from work she carries multiple canvas
bags loaded with kids books. She's a big lady, wide and tall, wears
puffy coats made for men and intended for camping and fishing. She's
not so concerned about brushing her hair, so she walks down the
highway she lives on in this ugly coat and crazy hair and bags everywhere
like a sort of homeless lady. So I guess it's no surprise no one
thought to stop and help her the day she fell.
So she's a few blocks from home this day, bags and all, right?
And I forgot to mention what a klutz she is, too. So she trips over
her own feet and lands on her hands, weighted down by the bags,
and of course, piss is running down her legs, and on her skirt,
and into her orthopedic shoes, the discomfort of which makes her
start crying. And all these cars see the crazy bag lady on the ground,
covered in piss and bawling, and they figure it's better if they
don't stop.
This whole piece, plus many more, available only in Sanitary
and Ship.
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| CHICAGO, Illinois—The white 1991 Hyundai Sonata lovingly known as “that
fucking piece of shit” by its longtime domestic partner, Andrew, died
early yesterday afternoon. It was 149,804 miles old. At approximately 12:58
P.M. (CDT) on Friday, July 19, 2002, deep in the middle of bumper-to-bumper
traffic on Interstate 88 West just east of the first set of tollbooths while
en route from Beach Park to Lisle, Illinois, the car gasped its last breath
and quietly stopped running... Read More.
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| The thing you gotta understand about my mom is that even if she sneezes too
hard, she pees her pants. Or someone will make her laugh then all of a sudden
she's crossing her legs, still laughing, saying "Piss and shit, I'm gonna
pee." She'll be standing by the stove cooking dinner and need to go, and
even though she knows her bladder doesn't seem to work too good, she does the
potty dance trying to hold it in while the chicken browns... Read
More.
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| You are a musician. When most of us are scrolling through baseball scores and
faded crushes, you’ve got symphonies banging around in that tortured noodle
of yours. If there is a benevolent force governing this bombed-out pump ‘n’
munch we inhabit, you are its direct line, its right hand. You struggle so mightily
to translate its signals into the perfect chords and couplets, it makes me want
to serve you a steaming bowl of soup, with floating oyster crackers... Read
More.
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