Thursday, September 25, 2008

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Its not an uncommon sight to see some man relieving himself on the side of the road here in South Africa. Any road be it alley way, highway, side street or through-way. I guess as an American where a public bathroom is almost readily available its still an odd scene. So with that said, finding a public bathroom here is South Africa can be a difficult task.
As we enjoyed our day off, we ventured into a new town, Tokai (toe-ki). After checking out a few stores, we stopped for a quick lunch at McDonalds, or Old Mcdonald's aka Emily. So as we sat enjoying our lunch of chicken and french fries and hamburgers, the call of nature suddenly called upon Kevin. We assumed the baby store would have a bathroom, so he quickly grabbed Katie from her car seat and made a bee-line for the store with Emily & I in hot pursuit. But his hopes were dashed when it was discovered that the store was closed!!! Now what?
Sweat began to roll down his face, as he desperately contemplated his next move. Again, with Katie on his hip, we dashed into a grocery store, sought out an employee and asked for the bathroom. "Is it for her?", they asked seeing the small child he held.
"Her, me," was his reply.
"Ask the girl in the back."
The Lord was good, because it was a small store and getting to the back was a very short walk. Desperately he sought out another employee.
"Where's the bathroom?" he asked the girl.
"No, you can't use it," she informed him, "Its for employees only."
What was he to do? A scene from a not-so-wholesome movie jumped into his mind (think Democratic icon).
"Is it for her?" she asked, again making reference to Katie, who was just along for the ride. I guess his desperation showed.
Now what to do – lie? Could he? Should he? It WAS an emergency!!!!!!
He could only think to push Katie towards the woman, as if to say look at this little girl, would you deny this face?
So the girl-in-the-back led Kevin and Katie to the employees-only-bathroom. He was forced to do his business with company. Now I tell you as a mother, this is not an uncommon scenario - no privacy in the bathroom, as many of you fellow moms will concur. However my husband will desperately wait, or call me home so he can do his business in private. So I know his desperation was great if he so willingly took Katie with him without batting an eyelash.
And so Emily and I roamed the store looking at magazines, as I anxiously waited to see the other half of our family emerge from the employee-only doors. And so they did. A big smile on daddy's face, and a cleaner Katie. Apparently the bathroom was REALLY clean (always a plus when having to do the deed when out and about) and Katie just played with the water in the sink as her daddy thankfully did what HAD to be done.
So was it wrong to use his daughter as a coy so he could use the employee-only bathroom? I think his colon would say not. And I for one, don't even want to think of the consequences if he had not.

3 comments:

Jescel said...

hahahaha... poor Kevin but I'm glad that he found a bathroom. I too would have done what he did. At least, he didn't have to knock on someone's door and beg to use the bathroom like I did! LOL...

Joseph said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joseph said...

Really good post! ***** 5 Stars, "Nothing beats a ROYAL FLUSH", and "two-thumbs-way up" says Roger Ebert. LOL, glad your perseverence paid huge divid-ENDS!