“I need a bathroom quick. “Ahhhhhhh.” Cramp.”
He guided his wife to the toilet block worrying about food poisoning. As he looked beads of perspiration dotted her brow and her crowning glory became wet and lank.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” His strong grip prevented her collapsing. He guided her into the first stall.
“Gosh it’s big. There’s a loo for everyone………..”
His wife moaned. “Feels like a ring of fire.”
“You’re Not pregnant?”
“No.”
He pushed her back and looked. “You’ve crowned. ” He caught the baby. “Who knew the family loos would be where we became a family. Let’s call her Glory”
In response to Charli’s prompt for this week’s 99 word flash where she asks:
July 30, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that uses the phrase “her crowning glory.” (Thanks to Anne Goodwin for the prompt idea.) It can be in the traditional sense of a woman’s hair or applied to any idea of a best attribute. What happens if you play with the meaning or gender? Go where the prompt leads!
Respond by August 4, 2020. Use the comment section below to share, read, and be social. You may leave a link, pingback, or story in the comments. If you want to be published in the weekly collection, please use the form. Rules & Guidelines.
You may be wondering where the toilet came into it. Charli suggested that we set the story in an exotic background, in the loo… and the story was born. I had been taken with the family toilets that we came across in China. I had never seen anything like it in my travels to any other place. Naturally I photographed a selection. Toilets are something that I’m drawn to and I have posted about them in the past here and here and finally here. This toilet I was particuarly taken with because not only did it come with instructions, it also gave a philosophy on life.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
I guess “family toilet” is right…
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In more ways than one…
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Yep.
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Those loos aren’t for me. I like my alone time.
Every now and again you hear of a woman who doesn’t even know she’s pregnant it’s borne out. Yep, that’s a tale of a family loo!
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Yes it wouldn’t appeal to me to toilet with the family. It amazes me that there are still people who don’t realise they are pregnant – particularly younger women – but perhaps this woman was menopausal as the husband seemed quite knowledgable.
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Surprise! Glory is the perfect name – thank heaven it’s a girl.
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Absolutely. I watched a news article of a woman delivering in a ? Macdonalds Car park in the USA. I was so impressed the person managed to catch the baby. I wouldn’t have had a hope.
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They have family toilets in South Africa but they are aimed at mothers with children. The idea of daughters helping fathers is interesting.
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That is interesting Robbie. A great idea. We have disabled toilets here that are larger and mothers rooms with no toilets but the multi toilet cubicle has passed us by.
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That is interesting, Irene.
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Oh, my! That’s surprising!
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Thanks Becky. That’s good.
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You pursued a version of crowning I hadn’t thought of, Irene! Glory is a much more beautiful name than Toilet, though as a philosophy, an interesting one from Japan.
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LOL. Glory is definitely a better name than toilet although I guess it could get shortened to Loo.
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Great take on the prompt, Irene, and one you can’t revive for World Toilet Day in November! I haven’t seen family toilets but they’d be a real asset for parents with young children. I stayed in a cheap hotel in India once that had twin toilets, which was particularly handy as my partner and I both had the runs at the time!
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Thanks Anne. Perhaps that is why they had twin toilets – the condition is common.
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