Gotta Go!

I’m walking through a large old gymnasium with wooden bleachers lined along the side walls and worn parkay floors. I'm with a group of people and we are touring the building. Along the inside wall of the gym are four open doorways without any doors. Built up pressure in my lower abdomen urges me to pick one, break from the group and walk through it.

I assume it's a locker room finding a maze of divider panels bolted to the concrete floor. I weave my way through the benches and locker banks, hoping this is the girl’s locker room. I spot one girl in a corner stuffing a bag with clothes from an open locker. Just then I come across yet another doorless opening and feel a sense of relief as I peer in to find a row of stalls. The first three are open showers with plastic curtains hanging in various disarray, one ripped, another missing a few hooks. The next stall door has a crooked sign taped to it. I don't read it, but know what it says, and I look to the next. It has no door at all and the toilet is off its base, sitting lopsided. I feel a bit frustrated as the next stall is completely vacant, nothing but a pile of rubble where the toilet should be. The painful pressure in my bladder urges me forward.

At the end of the row is another door out to a hallway, so I get a hold of myself and continue on. I hear a muffled, but shrill meow coming from the door and I push it open to find a room full of chattering girls. Not one of them looks up at me. Against the far wall I notice a completely normal looking toilet with only a divider panel providing moderate privacy and I ask myself if I'm really going to use that one, in front of everyone. I wonder who in the world decided to put it there, and walk by it longingly.

Outside the locker room is an opposing door but when I venture over, I find it locked. Further down the hall, just beyond a metal water fountain, is a door that says WOMEN. At last, I can taste relief as I begin my journey again, hope anew. Then I'm on brightly lit stairs leading up, taking turns at every landing. The pain in my bladder is so intense I’m ready to just find a dark corner, but as I reach the top of the stairs, in the middle of the hall is another perfectly normal looking toilet, standing by itself. I wonder if it's hooked up or just waiting for installation. Should I go ahead and use it? 

As I’m sitting on it, trying to go, I worry that someone will be coming down the hall and I’m just not able to let go. Nothing will happen and the pain and pressure remains. 

Then I laugh out loud as I realize what is happening and think, oh, my God. This is one of those pee dreams and I've got to wake up!