“You okay?”
“Yes, except...” She began looking all around her. “I really have to use the bathroom.”
CHAPTER 19
Bathroom Break
Devina
“Oh shit. Do you think you can hold it for a few more hours?”
“Hours?” I’d just drunk a liter of water. “Don’t they have bathrooms here?”
Tyton shook his head with a small grin. “Yeah, but here’s the dilemma. There’s one area dedicated to women and you can’t go in there with you being disguised as a boy. That leaves one of the men’s bathrooms which are more like a large row of urinals with a few stalls.”
“All right, then I’ll just take one of the stalls.”
“You sure you want to do that?” Tyton looked skeptical. “They’re disgusting and if I can, I always hold it until I get back home.”
“I just have to pee.”
He scratched his ribs and the contact between the gray t-shirt and his skin made the fabric moist. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one sweating from the heat.
“We could take the drone and fly to a private place.”
“You mean your house?”
“No, that’s too far. I mean somewhere quiet like a field or bush where you can relieve yourself without anyone watching.”
“Except for you.”
He gave me a wry smile. “I promise to turn my back.”
“I don’t know… it sounds like a lot of work to fly away. How about we try the bathrooms here first?” I was here on an adventure and seeing a nitty-gritty detail like the toilets at a bridal tournament seemed like solid research.
Even with Tyton’s warning, I was still hit by the strong stench of ammonia in the bathroom. At least twenty men stood in a long row and peed down a long metal-colored basin of sorts. I hadn’t understood what he meant by urinals since standing up while peeing was a new thing to me. My dad and brother had always sat down like normal people. I knew because with one bathroom and eight of us in the house, it hadn’t been unusual to have a family member come in to pee while I was taking a shower.
For a moment, I stared at the way the men held their penises in their hands and then shook them before tucking them back in their pants.
“Stop staring.” Tyton elbowed me and it made me move past the men to a stall. As soon as I opened it, I backed out again. The stench was unbearable and made me want to gag.
I tried the two other stalls, but they made me hold my breath and cover my nose with my sleeve.
Keeping my right hand down I hurried to the only sink in the room and washed my hands. Having touched anything in this place gave me the creeps. Tyton came and pushed at my side, signaling for me to give him space to wash his hands too.
“Feces isn’t supposed to smell like death and rot. It’s all the animal-based products you people eat.”
“Ha, and now you want me to believe that vegan poop smells of wildflowers and roses?”
I ignored his comment and frowned. “Why is there only one sink for all these men?”
“You’re asking the wrong question. Do you see people lining up to use the sink?”
I looked back over my shoulder and only a few were waiting to wash their hands.
“You people really need to work on hygiene.”
Bending forward and taking time to scrub his hands clean, Tyton muttered. “I guess they didn’t grow up with germophobic moms who taught them the importance of washing their hands.”
