Bad Kansas by Becky Mandelbaum

Author:Becky Mandelbaum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

The hotel was busy, even for a Saturday night. It was a nice hotel, the kind with chandeliers and bellboys. The girls kept adjusting their dresses and wiping the makeup from under their eyes. Ben put his hands in his pockets and tried to feign a look of disinterest as they joined the check-in line.

“I can’t stand hotels when I’m drunk,” the girl said. She was standing close to him, so that her arm brushed against his. “The lighting makes everyone look like a clown. Reminds me of Vegas, in a bad way.”

“Oh, me too,” Ben said, although he had never been to Vegas.

“It’s a nice coat,” the girl said, and began to finger one of the buttons. “My dad once had a coat like this. Got it in Egypt or somewhere like that.”

“How extremely interesting,” Ben said, and then, when she wasn’t looking, he snuck away to the restrooms. Outside the door to the men’s room, an old woman was grappling with the drinking fountain. She had to stand on the tips of her orthopedic shoes in order to reach the spigot. When she was done drinking, she turned from the fountain only to knock over her bag, whose contents spilled onto the floor. Geriatric piñata, Ben thought. Among the mess was a crusted tube of ointment, a troubling number of sugar packets, and a toothbrush whose bristles frayed out like an ancient broom. An orange prescription bottle rolled to Ben’s feet. He picked it up and brought it to the woman, who was struggling to get down to the level of the purse.

“Let me help,” Ben said, gathering her things.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” the woman began, but by this point the job was already done.

“Do you want the toothbrush back?” he asked. “The bristles touched the ground.”

The woman frowned. “Go ahead and put it in. And the sugars. I guess this is my punishment for pilfering them in the first place.”

“Everybody steals sugar,” Ben said, hoping she did not feel embarrassed. He handed her the purse, which she hauled onto her shoulder as if it were filled with sand. She thanked him, and he went to join the others in line, forgoing the bathroom altogether. He hoped Freddy and the girls had witnessed his little moment of heroics, but Freddy was in business with the hotel clerk and the girls were turned toward each other, deep in chatter. They jolted into character when they saw him.

“Where’d you go?” his girl asked, pressing a hand to his chest. “I thought you’d abandoned me.”

“Just the bathroom,” Ben said. He looked back and saw that the old woman was smiling at him. He smiled back at her, hoping he did not look like the type of man who was about to do whatever it was he was about to do.

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