KNOCK
OCCUPIED  /  STALL THREE  /  DO NOT ASK
SINCE THIS MORNING

TOILET CAT

I locked it from the inside at nine. The paper is old, I have read it twice, and I am not finished. Nobody in this building has anywhere better to be than me.

Toilet cat reading a newspaper
engagedone momenti am readingtry the second floorstill engagedthere is a queue engagedone momenti am readingtry the second floorstill engagedthere is a queue
Buy X
SCRATCHED INTO THE PARTITION soon
Toilet cat at the mirror

FIRST, THE MIRRORI stand up at the sink like this because the mirror is at person height and I am not going to be the one who adjusts. Whoever hung it made an assumption about who comes in here.

An empty paper roll

THE SITUATIONEmpty since Tuesday. I have made peace with it and I have made a plan, and only one of those is going well.

Paws waiting under the door

THE AUDIENCEFour of them out there. They shuffle, they sigh, and one of them knocks politely every few minutes. I respect him for it and he is still not getting in.

Toilet cat leaving the cubicle

EVENTUALLYI come out with the paper under my arm because I am not finished with it. Nobody says anything to me on the way past.

Toilet cat washing his paws

AND I DO WASH THEMEvery time. That is the part nobody stays around to see, because by then they have all given up and gone down to the second floor.

An empty row of cubicles

Eleven doors on this floor. Ten of them are open right now and none of that is my problem.

STALL THREE  /  STILL IN THERE