5.11.2008

Once, In the Restroom at a Highway Rest Stop

One time, in the restroom of this rest area off Interstate 40, i saw an old man taking a pee at a urinal. When he finished up, he reached for the handle to flush it and...there was no handle... He looked left and then right. He looked and looked. He was kinda short--i suppose he'd shrunk with age--and he even stood on his tip toes to look on top of the chrome plumbing gizmo. At a loss, he finally lofted his hands in surrender and started to walk away. At that very moment, of course, the automatic urinal flushed loudly into life and scared him.

I went next--fully prepared for the automatic flusher--and then went to wash my hands.

At the sink next to me was a small kid--maybe 8 or 9 years. He was waving his hands around in the sink, but no water was running. He waved his hands around over the faucet. He waved his hands on either side of the faucet. At a loss for what to do, he looked around, puzzled. Finally, I reached over and turned the handle for him.

4 comments:

Alison Piepmeier said...

Are you making that up?

Anonymous said...

He is making that up.

The Mom said...

Walter, think of this when you read the birthday card I just got you - before reading these comments...

Curtis said...

What a lovely story! Do you mind if I co-opt it for performance? I'll give you credit. ;)