The delicate hands spread their long, thin fingers and pushed down against the rim, bringing up a narrow pair of fine-boned shoulders and slender arms. The rich black hair reached all the way down the smooth back, followed by the sensuous line of a svelte waist and white, voluptuous buttocks and firm thighs. A knee rose up and a foot perched on the edge of the toilet bowl. The leg was white and long and slim. The calves were precisely the right size, the muscles tensing a little as the foot was brought up, the ankle dainty. The other foot emerged, and its exquisite toes lightly touched down on the bathroom floor. The drenched, naked body shone in the yellow, dim light of the bathroom.
The woman kept staring into the mirror. The person who had emerged from the toilet slowly turned around. The woman saw the face of her youth reflected next to her own sagging face. Her young self, smiling at her old self.
The old self slowly turned around to face the young self.
The head that was no longer a head stood still. The old self stared back at the face of her youth, a face that continued to smile at her.
“Mother?” The tone of voice was a little high-pitched but there was no more of the old gurgling sound, no more of that irritating voice of a person drowning. “Do you recognize me?”
“Well …” Her own voice creaked like a rusty hinge.
“How have you been, Mother?”
The woman said nothing.
“I have finished my body. And just as I promised, I shall leave and live by my own means. I’m here to say goodbye and ask a final request.”
One word pricked her attention: “Request.”
“Don’t worry.” The head smiled as if to reassure her. “I can’t very well go out in the world naked now, can I? It was hard enough finishing my body with just what you were giving me, so I had no means to create garments to cover myself. This is my first and last request. If you could just give me a change of clothing, I shall hide my shameful parts and be on my way.”
The woman thought of the clothes hanging in her wardrobe and turned to leave the bathroom. The head stopped her.
“Don’t go out of your way. Just the clothes you’re wearing now will do fine.”
The woman replied, “What are you talking about? You want me to take off my clothes for you this minute? On the freezing floor tiles? You should just take what I give you— why are you being so demanding?”
“Mother, please calm down.” The head gazed at her with an expression of longing on her young face. “I’ve never received anything from you besides what you’ve thrown away. This is my first and last request. If you give me the clothes you’re wearing now, I shall keep the heat and scent of you forever with me until the day I die, with gratitude.”
The woman stared at her younger self. At her younger body. At this individual created not through a womb and placenta but through the colon and defecation. She stared at what had hidden in the dark hole in the white porcelain all that time, torturing her, and was now declaring independence. If this really was goodbye, and if they really were never to see each other again, what was a change of clothing to her?
As her young self toweled off, the old self stripped down. Her garments weren’t anything fancy: a cardigan, a simple dress, a bra, panties, and socks. That was it. Naked, she watched her young self pick up each item and put them on. Panties. Bra. Dress. Cardigan. Her young self seemed to relish each item. Lastly, the socks were put on, the buttons on the cardigan done up. Her old self felt a chill against her naked body.
“All right, then. Now that you’ve put on my clothes, be off. I’m cold. I need to put something on.”
She turned again to leave the bathroom.
Her young self swiftly came between her and the door.
“Where do you think you’re going? Your place is not out here.” She pointed to the toilet. “It’s in there.”
“What are you going on about?” cried the old self. “Did I not give you clothes when you asked for them? Did I not do everything you told me to? Why are you so ungrateful? Enough with this insanity, be off. Be off!”
A sneer transformed her young self’s face. “That’s right. You gave me everything I told you to, and all you have left is that old lump of a body. For too long, I’ve endured down there while you got to enjoy your life on the outside, all this time. Now it’s your turn to go down the toilet. I shall take your place and enjoy everything you’ve enjoyed!”
The old self was furious. “You ingrate! What was there to enjoy out here? My life is the same as everyone else’s, and did you not, with your torture, ruin what little happiness I had? I withstood all that disgust and hate and made you who you are today. If you have any gratitude for what I’ve done for you despite everything that you’ve put me through, then use your finished body to disappear from my life! Get out of my sight!”