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getting to her feet. She managed to smile at him, then grabbed her purse and the Arby’s bag. “We just need to hit the road. It was awfully nice talking with you.” She took Mattie by the arm and helped him off his booster seat. “Say good-bye, Mattie,” she repeated.
    “G’bye!” he called, waving at the stranger with his free hand.
    The man stood up, but didn’t leave the table. “Hey, listen, I’m sorry. I was just…”
    Susan kept walking, pulling Mattie along. But she realized they couldn’t make a clean getaway. They had a long drive ahead, and Mattie would need to use the restroom. She bypassed the glass door exit and headed toward the alcove where there was a wooden highchair along with several orange plastic booster seats in a stack. In the alcove, she bypassed the men’s room and started into the women’s lavatory.
    “NOOOOOO!” Mattie screamed. In his latest mode of resistance, he stopped and tried to sit down on the dirty tiled floor. He was at that age when little boys start to realize places like this were only for girls. So getting him into a women’s room to pee or poop was a major ordeal lately. “No, I don’t want to go in there!” he protested loudly.
    “What did I just tell you about making a lot of noise in restaurants?” Susan growled. She took him by the arm and pulled him up. She tried not to drop her purse, the bag of food, and her Diet Coke. With her hip she pushed open the women’s bathroom door, and then she peeked inside. “No one’s in there, honey,” she said with a sigh. “C’mon, the coast is clear. Let’s go….”
    “NOOOOOOOO!” he screeched, resisting.
    A shadow swept over the alcove, and Susan glanced up to see the stranger coming at them. “So—Mattie, you don’t want to go in the ladies’ bathroom?” he was saying. “Well, I don’t blame you, sport.” He grinned at Susan and started to reach out his hand for Mattie—his big, grown-up hand. “I’ll take him into the men’s room for you—”
    “Would you please just…no, thank you!” Susan snapped at him. “We’re fine here!” She yanked Mattie into the lavatory, and felt cold Diet Coke spilling down the front of her sweater. It seeped through her T-shirt to her stomach. Mattie let out another wail of protest, but in he went. With her shoulder, Susan quickly pushed the door shut behind her—right in the man’s face.
    She still had a firm grip on Mattie’s hand. Whining, he twisted around and tried to sit down on the restroom floor. He kept Woody firmly tucked under his other arm.
    “That’s enough out of you, young man,” Susan barked, pulling him up. “Now, get in here….” Guiding him toward the open door to a toilet stall, she made sure the toilet was flushed. Why in the world some people didn’t flush after using a public toilet was beyond her. This one was clean. “Do you think you might have to go number two?” she asked.
    Pouting, he shook his head.
    Susan took his Woody doll and then lifted the toilet seat for him. “All right, you know what to do,” she said briskly. She left him standing in front of the toilet. “And I don’t want any more screaming or crying. I’ve just about had it, mister.”
    “You’re mean!” Mattie retorted.
    “Yes, you have the meanest mother in the world,” Susan shot back. She retreated toward the sink and unloaded Woody, her wet purse, and the wet bag of food on the orange Formica countertop. The half-crushed drink container was only a quarter-full now, and the plastic lid had come undone. “Shit,” she muttered.
    “You said a swear!” Mattie called from the stall.
    Someone knocked on the women’s room door. “Hey, you know,” the man said loudly. “I was just trying to help!”
    Leaning over the sink, Susan took a deep breath. “Yes, thank you!” she called back. “We’re fine in here! You can go now, thank you!”
    She waited for a response. But there was none. She tossed the soggy bag of food and what was left of