Chapter V

Work was great. The outfits I picked out with Cora were a total hit. Everyone was so friendly and sweet and complimenting. I was happy to be working again. I was happy to be helping. And I was happy that my boss trusted me. Or I thought he did. The following Monday, when I got back from the bathroom, he was waiting in my office for a short meeting. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the same thing. I didn't think anything of it, but Thursday was a different story. When I came back from the restroom, Mr. Gladstone was standing in the center of my room looking extremely irritated. "Hello sir," I said as kindly as I could. I was wearing a soft summer dress with a collar and puffy sleeves.

"Hello, Natalie." He didn't sound mad, but he didn't sound warm and charming the way he usually did, either. He sounded... on the fence. Like there was definitely something bothering him, or like he had something serious to talk about. For a girl like Natalie, that was probably more concerning than anything else could have been.

I took a seat at my desk, but he didn't sit. Every other time, when I came in here, he was sitting or he took a seat as I entered. This time, he stood. Though I was on the dominant side of the desk, he was imposing with his height. I felt myself shrink into my chair. "Um... is there something you need? A progress report? So far we're on schedule with--"

"Actually, Natalie, I'm a little worried about your productivity. I've come to see you a number of times recently and found you not here at your desk - I understand a reasonable amount of time each day for bathroom use, but this can't be coincidence that you're never here when I need you." What an awkward topic.

"I... um..." I looked up at him in disbelief. He was upset that I was using the bathroom? No, he just thought I was always in the bathroom just because he came at inopportune times. "I'm getting everything done. We're ahead of schedule. I don't take a lot of breaks, I swear. It's just bad timing."

"Once or twice I can accept as bad timing, Natalie. This has been several times more than that. Now if there were a medical condition I needed to know about, I could understand the need. Is there something you're not telling me? A bladder infection maybe?" He was just so overt about her health and body, like he was her father and not her boss.

He was so candid; I was bewildered. I answered before thinking. "No! I'm not... I'm fine.” He raised an eyebrow as I raised my voice. I crossed my arms in frustration. But if I lost my cool, he'd see hiring me as a mistake. I'd get fired again. So I settled myself before speaking again. "I swear, I only use the restroom once or twice a workday. It's just a coincidence."

He listened, he nodded his head, and he waited for her to be finished before he concluded his statement. "I'm afraid I've given you plenty of opportunity for this to be left to coincidence, Natalie. You can see how fair I've been here, can't you?" His tone sounded so... final. Like this was a pre-firing talk.

I felt like my stomach dropped through the floor. I knew this speech. I knew this line. He was going to fire me. I... I couldn't! I shook my head in a panic. "No! No, no, no! I swear, listen! I promise! I'll... I'll be here. When you visit, I'll be in my office, I swear I will be!" But how could I promise that? He looked me over, at the fear in my eyes, and let out a sigh I recognized. He was taking pity on me. Whatever, I'd take it. "Alright, Natalie... another chance." "Thank you so much, sir! Thank you!"

He watched Natalie briefly through the blinds of his office, cradling the phone between his head and his shoulder. “I did my part. But we can’t have her fighting us on this.” He stepped away from the window and laughed heartily. "Now now, give her more credit than that.” He paused and nodded his head, as if his wife was in the room with him. “Oh. Alright. A wager, then? The usual? I love you, too." He hung up the phone, smiling.

The next day went much the same way. Honestly, I'd forgotten all about the conversation. Cora made me a cup of coffee in the morning and by noon I had to pee. But then I remembered the incident the day before. Around this time yesterday, Mr. Gladstone came into the office. So I held it. I worked on some other papers. I tried to think about something else. But at one-thirty, he still hadn't come to check on me. I could slip off to the bathroom... real quick... few minutes... but if he came in... I shook my head and pushed my knees together. I could hold it.

"Honey did you have those TPS reports?" One of her co-workers peered her head into the office with a chipper smile, being friendly but not entirely... respectful. Like maybe she was talking to a child. "Mr. Gladstone needs me to sign off on them before he heads out for lunch this afternoon, are you having any troubles?"

Maisie was a sweet lady, in her late thirties. She was also one of the best workers I had in the office. She sort of talked down to me, but I was younger than her, so... "Oh, um... no, I'm sorry. I'm still working on them." "Hmm, you're usually done with your reports by now." "I... I'm sorry. I'm working on it." I looked at the clock. 1:35. "Um, you said Mr. Gladstone is going out for lunch? Do you know when that is?" Maisie shook her head and I looked again at the clock. 1:36. If I had just gone three minutes ago... but I'd been thinking that same thought for over an hour.

"You seem to be fitting in really well now, and everyone always loves seeing how cute you dress each day. Do you have a big collection of cute outfits at home? It must cost a lot to be so in touch with your fashion, isn't it?" Here it was: idle office conversation. Chatter. Friendly dialog. Something Natalie had been left out of, made a pariah of and excluded from. All it took was some children's clothes.

"Um... yeah, a few." I didn't have the focus to argue the nickname. I spun side to side in my chair, keeping myself in motion. It might have looked childish from Maisie's perspective, but it was all I could do to keep myself occupied from the pressure in my bladder. "Make sure you finish your reports!" Maisie said before leaving me alone in the office. But how was I supposed to finish the reports when I couldn't sit still?! I checked the clock again. 1:37. If I'd gone before Maisie walked in... or even then. It wasn't until 2:14 when Mr. Gladstone came into my office.

"You're a little behind on your reports, Natalie." His voice wasn't accusatory, though, because it seemed like he was actually pleasantly surprised to find her here, sitting in place... twirling around and around on her chair. "Is the workload too much? I could have some of the other ladies sit in here with you and go over how to put them together if it would help?"

"N-no, um... I can do it myself." He was here. Finally. FINALLY. And when he left, I could run to the bathroom! But Mr. Gladstone took a seat and pulled out one of his binders. "I wanted to go over this paperwork with you. We have to get this finalized and I need you to look it over." He had to be kidding... that would taken an hour at least! "Well... I... yeah. I can do that. I just... could you excuse me just a minute?"

"Natalie." His voice was stern. "You've had all day to go to the bathroom, and you want to wait until I'm here with you needing to focus on work? After such an unproductive day, and after our talk yesterday? This is a joke, isn't it? You surely cannot be serious." Each word was like a bullet fired.

I looked up at Mr. Gladstone with anxiety and fear. And out of stupidity, I nodded my head. I needed this job. I could hold it... "Yeah... I... it was just a joke..." I fidgeted in place, pushing my knees together as tightly as I could. But as Mr. Gladstone talked about one of the reports, I couldn't focus for more than a sentence at a time. I couldn't stop wiggling in my chair.

"Natalie Anderson, what is the matter?" He finally asked, stern and annoyed, like a father trying to have a serious talk with his daughter. "Out with it." And not like a boss in the slightest bit.

It all just spilled out of my lips. "I gotta use the bathroom, I really, really gotta... and I didn't earlier 'cause I thought you'd come in and I wouldn't be here and you'd fire me and... and I really, really, really gotta pee..." Tears formed at the edges of my eyes but I didn't let them drip down my cheeks. I was stronger than that.

"You've had all day to do that, Natalie. All day. Are you telling me that you can't manage and allocate time to go to the bathroom? Is that what you're telling me? That this simple, basic, task, that all adults have mastered, is just too much for you?" He used a harsh avenue of questioning, but he wasn't actually mean about it. His questions were fair.

"I........." I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. He asked, and I told him, and... and he was right and I didn't know what to do! It had been over three hours. My logical thinking was out the window. And when I didn't answer him, Mr. Gladstone's anger got the better of him. He slammed his hand down on my desk and the loud echo rang through the room, timed with one booming word: "Well?!" The surprise was too much. I felt the warmth spread between my legs and along the crest of my bottom. In a panic, I shoved the dress between my legs and tried to force myself to stop it from happening, but all it did was soak the front as well as the seat of my dress. Tears dripped down my cheeks in shame.

It was like clockwork, like a World War II battle plan; it all came together at the right time. Cora entered her office with lunch in her hands that very moment, and the two of them watched in quiet observation as Natalie wet herself all over her dress, her computer chair, the carpet, down her white tights.. it was a perfect moment to kick off the next phase of her life.