Editor's note: the following was submitted Sunday as a comment on The Brown Line of Science, that five-year-old essay I wrote investigating what girls *really* do when they go to the bathroom together. Not really sure what specific point Francine is responding to, but she sure provides an interesting and scary snapshot into the making of a neurotic.
My mom is a very disciplined woman. Each day for her is extremely structured and deliberate. Our family traveled often because my father worked for a company that gave its top achievers (I think they called them "producers") trips as a reward for good sales. We traveled by car a lot because my parents said they liked to be in control of their itinerary and that you could see more from the ground.
Every time we stopped at a bathroom, my mom believed that both my sister and I should be disciplined enough to have our daily #2 right then and there. And I mean DAILY. Even before I went to the doctor with constipation at age ten or eleven, Mom would be nagging Marci and myself: "Have you moved your bowels today"? I remember that my sister and I both often lied in response -- it was necessary to shut off the nagging!.
We once spent a week in Washington, D.C. The lines at the Lincoln and Washington Memorials were long, and after waiting more than an hour, I had to pee. My dad held our space in line while my mom, my sister, and I went to the gift shop/waiting room area to use the bathroom. We used adjacent stalls as they became available.
Marci was first out. She remarked to Mom how relieved she felt after having her BM because she knew (referring to me) that it was no fun being constipated on such a trip. Mom stayed on the stool for another five minutes or so, and, to her credit -- I wish my bowels moved as easily -- she was able to relieve herself. I had peed, but I was two days behind in the BM-requirement department.
I left my stall and was washing my hands when I saw a teenage girl leave another stall. I hadn't heard a flush. Marci was already outside. I quickly checked out the stall and, to my delight, spotted an almost full bowl of poop that the girl had left.
I quickly latched the door, pulled my shorts down, and claimed the prize. I knew that I was going to have to fake pulling on the toilet paper roll, since Mom was still in the adjacent stall. To my surprise, there was no toilet paper -- even the roll had been removed.
Hearing my mom flush, I asked her to come over. I thought that just seeing me sitting there would be sufficient to convince her, but she actually asked to see the evidence. I got up and stepped aside to let her inspect my dump.
"That's great, Francine -- that's just what Dr. Egan wants to happen," she said.
I showed her the missing paper roll. She quickly got me some from a vacant stall and waited as I sat down and pretended to wipe.
Now that I'm married and have two children of my own, I try to be less rigid than the way I was raised. And I'm a testimonial of the fact that not everybody is going to have highly disciplined bowels.