{"id":243,"date":"2018-07-30T01:23:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T01:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=243"},"modified":"2018-07-23T01:30:37","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T01:30:37","slug":"the-water-closet-by-sarah-zoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2018\/07\/30\/the-water-closet-by-sarah-zoric\/","title":{"rendered":"The Water Closet by Sarah Zoric"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sarah Holly Bryant lives in New Jersey with her two ill behaved dogs and her nice husband. She majored in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sarah loves to fly fish and see the world, preferably at the same time.<\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Water Closet<\/h3>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here for the drug test.\u201d I feel like a junky. \u201cThe employment one.\u201d I add.<\/p>\n

\u201cFill this out.\u201d The mean lady, who might not actually be mean, says meanly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d Done.<\/p>\n

Bringing the forms back to the mean lady I smile and make eye contact. Hopefully I look bright and engaged, not manic and pie eyed. \u201cHere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d Meany points at a box I\u2019ve marked under other medical conditions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt says MS. I have MS. My handwriting is bad. But not because I have MS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you have it?\u201d What a mean question.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere.\u201d It\u2019s the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe restroom is there.\u201d She points to a door with a sign on it that says, WC<\/em>. I can\u2019t remember what WC stands for. It\u2019s something with wash I think. Wash Center. Wash Corner. Wash Closet. That\u2019s it. Maybe not. I leave my sample for the sample checker on a shelf above the toilet labeled specemins<\/em>. I haven\u2019t done any illegal drugs in almost a decade, still I\u2019m rattled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, look who it is.\u201d Crap. It\u2019s my neighbor. He\u2019s definitely done drugs in the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just finishing up.\u201d I offer and close the Wash Closet door.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s funny right?\u201d He points at the WC<\/em>. \u201cSo formal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight.\u201d I reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re nervous.\u201d If he were standing closer I\u2019m sure he would nudge me with his elbow. Eh, eh, eh neighbor<\/em>. If I were holding the sample I\u2019d drop it on his foot and the mean lady would have to clean it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I leave?\u201d Permission to leave Mrs. Meany?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does MS stand for?\u201d She asks and I notice she has a rip on her eyebrow. It\u2019s a scar that looks like a tare. Maybe an eyebrow ring that was grabbed out from her face in a fight. Mean.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt stands for multiple sclerosis.\u201d I say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink I\u2019ve heard of it.\u201d She scowls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does WC stand for?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater Closet.\u201d She replies.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s right. And mean. My neighbor is right too. I\u2019m nervous.\u00a0 I\u2019m nervous because I\u2019m starting a new job. I\u2019m nervous because I have MS and it makes me nervous. I\u2019m nervous fatigue will make working impossible. I\u2019m nervous I will be forgetful. Get overwhelmed. I\u2019m nervous I will have a relapse and feel like my brain is on fire and my feet are asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter? Think you\u2019ll fail?\u201d My neighbor asks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Holly Bryant lives in New Jersey with her two ill behaved dogs and her nice husband. She majored in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sarah loves to fly fish and see the world, preferably at the same time.   The Water Closet \u201cI\u2019m here for the drug test.\u201d I feel like a … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-3V","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions\/247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}