I danced from foot to foot and snatched the next empty hanger off the closet rod. Three shirts left to hang. Then at least I could sit and press my heel up into my crotch to help ease the pressure while I folded my socks.
Gotta pee gotta pee gotta peeee, I thought, bringing my legs together and bobbing up and down a couple of times before going back to my nearly-incessant shifting from one foot to the other. By the time I got the shirt straight on the hanger, my hand was trembling so much it took a few tries to get the hanger back onto the rod. To make things worse, the next hanger got stuck coming off, and I bent it a little from tugging on it too hard in my desperation to get it free.
I fumbled with the next shirt and dropped it on the floor. Bending over to pick it up increased the pressure so much I almost dropped the hanger too; as it was I had to quickly stuff my hand between my legs to keep myself from leaking.
Fortunately, hanging this shirt and the last one went smoothly. I crossed my legs and squeezed them together as hard as I could, then dropped to my knees and pressed my heel right where I needed it the most.
“Ohhh…” Even that tiny bit of relief felt so, so good.
I rushed through the socks, only folding each pair rather than rolling them up like I would normally. Rocking on my heel, I dumped all of them into the open drawer below my shirts and shoved it closed.
Now to stand up. Ohh, I have to pee so bad…
My muscles trembled in the brief second when I switched from my heel to my hands. Somehow I managed to hobble out of the small walk-in closet and over to the nightstand by my bed without feeling like I was about to leak.
Please, please, I thought, my gaze fixed on the shallow bowl of folded papers sitting on the nightstand.
Letting go with one hand made my bladder spasm, even though the other was still in place, helping my tired muscles to hold on. I picked up one of the papers and shook it to unfold it, praying it was the one that would finally let me have my relief.
I moaned softly when I read it: Water all the plants on the balcony.