A Small Town

Chapter Four\ A Night in Primacy

Bax lay in the surprisingly comfortable double bed closest to the door and let his mind wander as was his usual routine. If you asked him he would tell you he didn't dwell on things. 'What's past is past... can't change it so move on' but that was bullshit. Even when he was married he would lay in bed listening to Norma breath (she told him she didn't snore) and recount the day. He wondered how people saw him and what impression they left with – good or bad? He played back parts of the day and always seemed to come up with better things to say or do. His first day in Primacy had left him with a lot of material.

Right off the bat, he could think of many better things to do than wizz down his leg. He still couldn't believe that had happened. He hadn't had an accident of the excretory kind since he was in grade four. He remembered with full clarity unlike most of the memories of his youth, but he supposed that was normal with embarrassing or painful recollections.

It had been a school trip to a fire station. His entire class had gone and they had all gotten to slide down the brass pole (a risk that would never be allowed nowadays). They took turns sitting in the fire truck and watched as a huge man named Bill sprayed water from one of the hoses. He remembered putting his hand on that hose and feeling the power of the water surging through it. Bax had decided he wanted to be a fireman right then and there but that idea was flushed from his brain just an hour later.

The ride back on the school bus had been excruciating. Bax had to pee and he had been far too shy to ask Fireman Bill where the bathroom was, so he held it. He just had to make it back to school which he had done. And he had made it up the stairs to room 204 and then to his desk in the dead centre of the room. There were only ten minutes left before hometime but he couldn't wait any longer. Kids were milling around the classroom noisily and Mrs. Rose was annoyed. Bax put his hand up and wave it to get her attention. She was yelling at a white-haired boy named Craig who was a trouble-maker and not paying attention to the kids who were sitting at there desks. When she had finally dealt with Craig and turned back to the rest of the class, Bax's wasn't the only hand in the air. She called on Robin first. The cute little blond girl asked in her quiet polite voice to use the 'restroom' (do you need to take a rest? I'm gonna explode!) and Mrs. Rose nodded. That was bad for Bax as only one student was permitted to use the facilities at a time.

Mrs. Rose turned her eyes to his flailing hand.

"Yes, Jeffery?" She asked. Bax hated it when people used his full name and Mrs. Rose always did, but that was the least of his worries.

"Can I go to the bathroom, please?" Bax asked, being very sure to use 'the magic word' as Mrs. Rose demanded.

She shook her head, her stiff black Aquanet hair swayed back and forth looking as if it might snap off. "You know the rules Jeffery, and besides there are only five minutes left until the bell."

Bax knew he wasn't going to last five minutes and so he did what he always did in such situations he swallowed and focused on the pain. The ache was almost a living thing, he could picture his bladder like a water balloon stretched to it's maximum about to pop. He was sweating, gripping the sides of his desk with this legs pressed tight together.

Four minutes left... but he wasn't going to make it.

Maybe he could let out just a little, just enough to relieve the pressure. He had done it before, a little dribble that would be soaked up by his blue Y-front underpants. Just a tiny amount and no one would know because they were about to go home and he could throw his underwear in the wash and not smell of that pissy ammonia reek that lingered on so many of the younger kids.