The Bathroom

Jeff heads straight for the men’s room. He walks across the tiles and passes a janitor with a big yellow bucket and a dirty mop. He walks around the CAREFUL! SLIPPERY! Sign without being careful about it at all. He passes by a row of mirrors and sinks but he doesn’t want to look at himself, so he looks down at his Nikes. The air smells like piss and Big Mac. Jeff walks to the last stall, steps inside and locks the door. He reaches into his pocket: change, lint, earring, earring, keys. He pulls his hand out and one of the earrings is in his palm. It glows under the bright fluorescent lights of the bathroom ceiling. He remembers the way she wore them that night. They were out at dinner and she ordered a salad and he got a pitcher of Bud Light and a burger. While they waited for the food he cracked a joke about Flipper because that’s the only thing Jeff knew about dolphins. Other than the fact that if a dolphin ejaculated inside a woman, the force of it, would destroy nearly all of her vital organs. He could of told her never to have sex with a dolphin but he didn’t.
He drops the first earring into the toilet.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out some lint and the second earring at the same time. He drops the second earring into the toilet and he stares at the pieces of metal at the bottom of the water. Then he takes a piss on top of them and flushes the toilet. The earrings disappear with the water and the water refills but the earrings don’t come back. Jeff walks by the janitor again and out of the bathroom. The service plaza is crowded with people he has never seen before in his life and won’t ever see again. He makes eye contact with a young woman wearing a short skirt and a tight tank top. He smiles at her but she doesn’t smile back. He keeps walking.