Ed leans against the bathroom stall. He knocks.
“Yes!” Ed’s student calls out from the other side, in Chinese.
“Spiderman?” Ed asks.
“Yes!”
“How old are you?”
There is a pause. I light a cigarette; Ed too.
“Yes!”
I frown. “His name is Spider-Man?”
Ed shrugs. “I guess. They let them pick their names.”
“So what’s his real name?”
Ed looks at the stall. “Spider-Man! What’s your real name?”
“Yes!” Spider-Man calls.
Ed sighs. “Well, anyways,” he continues, “this kid can’t be more than four and we’ve been working here, what, two days?”
I nod.
“Yeah, so, what do they really know about us? I mean, they didn’t even ask for my passport. You?”
“Nope.”
Ed thinks through a few drags.
“This would never fly in England. I mean, I’m a grown man. A strange grown man. I was just observing in the back of the class and the teacher put his hand in mine and said bathroom.”
“Just bathroom?”
“That’s it. I don’t think she knows much more English than that to be honest.”
I chuckle, commiserate.
“Well,” Ed says, “I mean, it’s like I said. I’m just a strange man. And this bathroom is way out here, down the hall. And you know the stairwell is right there.”
He points through the wall. I know where he means.
“yeah?”
“Yeah, so, I got to the end of the hall and just stopped and looked at the stairwell and thought, well, I could just take this boy down those stairs and be gone.”
I frown. Ed holds up his hands.
“Not saying I would or wanted to, just saying, a bit irresponsible.”
My cigarette is almost finished. I walk to the sink and place it in the make-shift ash tray. There is a flush. Spiderman comes out of the stall. He really can’t be more than four. He waves at me. Ed motions to the sinks. He washes his hands then Spiderman and I wait while Ed finishes the last drags on his cigarette.
“China is weird, huh?” I ask.
“Yes!” Spider-Man cries, picking his nose.
Reblogged this on BCSBook Reviews and News.
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I usually comment about how good the story is but I should commend the artwork more often. Today’s is really good.
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Thank you very much. Nikita continues to outdo himself. It’s wonderful.
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Always an enjoyable quick read at the end of a work day!
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Thank you. Glad I could help with the wind-down of the day.
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Sure has to be. And Spiderman seems like quite an interesting fellow.
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Haha yes, he was. Full of secrets, I’m sure
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