Janette walked over to her desk, pushed some papers aside, and sat on the top with one foot on the floor and the other dangling leaving a good deal of inner thigh showing. 'We got a problem.'�
'Yeah, you won't be able to sit like that when he's around.'� Nicole said pointing to Janette's exposed leg..
Janette swung her foot a couple times, then put both feet on top of her chair. 'Not like this either.'� She said. 'But that's not the problem. The problem is we have one toilet, three women, and now, a man.'� Her voiced dropped . 'When men use the toilet they dribble, they splash, they leave the seat up. They may not even flush it. That's what men do.'� Her voice began to gain strength. 'Then when we want to use it we have to put the seat down. I get so tired of putting the seat down at home'�'� Her voice trailed off.
'Me too.'� Nicole and Cindy Lou nodded in solemn agreement.
'I mean,'� Janette continued, 'If men were thoughtful, they'd realize that women have to have the seat down. Right?'�
'Absolutely.'� Cindy Lou said.
'Well, yeah,'� Nicole said shrugging her shoulders, 'But what can we do?'�
'We can ask him to put the seat back down after he's used it.'�
'That doesn't work at my house.'� Cindy Lou said
Janette leaned forward. 'Hey, there's three of us. We can tell him to put it down or else.'�
'Or else what?'� Nicole said. What are we going to do, lock the door and hide the key?'�
Cindy Lou said. 'Let's put a sign up to remind him to put the seat back down.'�
'Oh sure,'� said Janette, 'If he's like my husband, he'll hang his wet towel on it.'�
Nicole giggled. 'Well,'� she said. 'We could always bolt the seat to the commode, but then he'd splatter all over and we'd have to clean it up every time he got through using it. I think I'd rather put the stupid seat down.'�
'Nicole!'� said Janette, 'We're being serious.'�
'How about a sign that says, 'If you tinkle, don't sprinkle?'� Nicole said.
Cindy Lou laughed. Janette said, 'C'mon. This is a problem. I don't want to have to touch that seat after Mr. Gerard dribbles all over it.'�
'Lay-dees!'� Ms Douglas glared into the room with her hands on her hips. 'If you can spare a moment, you may now show Gerard his desk and help him get organized.'�
Gerard sat down at his desk, rolled his chair back and forth, and began to investigate the drawers. He rifled absently through the files for a moment, then turned the computer on and examined the row of icons. Finally he got up and walked around the office once, twice, then stopped at the bathroom door and looked in.
'This is the common john; I mean the only bathroom?'� He scowled. 'This is not cool. I mean it's really'�'� He stared inside, the scowl becoming a frown. ''�uh, intimate.'�
The girls looked at each other as if to say, 'Now's our chance, but who's going to say it?'�
'I mean everybody out here can hear everything that happens in there.'� Gerard continued..
Janette cleared her throat. 'Uh, Gerard, we need to talk about the bathroom. Frankly, we don't care if it sounds like Niagara Falls in there, but'�'�
Gerard interrupted. 'It could get worse than that, believe me.'�
'If it bothers you just turn on the faucets again.'�
'But the sound of the faucets isn't going to drown out everything.'�
'Gerard, we don't care about, uh, bathroom noise. Make all the noise you need to, we're worried about'�'� Janette looked around for help with the right phrase.
'Splattering!'� Nicole said.
Cindy Lou chimed in, 'And leaving the toilet seat up.'�
Gerard smiled at Nicole. 'Well, you certainly tell it as it is.'� He sat back and crossed his knee. 'Tell you what. Cindy Lou, wasn't it? I'll put the seat down after I use the toilet if you ladies will put it up after you've used it. That's only fair. And Nicole, I'll work on improving my aim.'�
'Yeah, the toilet seat thing.'� Janette said, 'You know, since a man uses it in both the up and down position, and a woman can use it only when it's down, it makes more sense that the man should put it down after he finished.'�
'It's not a big deal,'� Cindy Lou said, 'Except when you see pictures of a toilet, the lid is always down. If you were to shop for a toilet at a dealer, and you were to look at the pictures, how many would have the lid displayed up? It's pretty plain that the toilet seat, and the lid, belong in the down position.'�
'Yeah,'� Nicole said, 'After you get something out, you put it away. When you lift the seat, you put it back down. I mean, after all, the seat is used more down than up.'� She settled back in her chair and crossed her arms. 'Besides that,'� she said, 'It looks better down than up.'�
'Whoa,'� Gerard said, 'Now I know what General Custer felt like. I'm being ganged up on here. Look, if we were to be totally objective, we'd each take care of ourselves. But you ladies first wanted the seat put down after each use, then it was the seat and the lid.'� His eyes projected deep thought. 'Now, if you look at it totally objectively, one should put the whole affair down, seat and lid, after it's used. The work load of raising and lowering becomes equal if it's required that the lid and the seat be put back in the down position after each use.'� He uncrossed his knees and leaned forward. His eyes flashed. His sober demeanor intensified. He continued, 'Maybe we should put a lid on the sink as well, and one on the wastebasket while we're at it.'�
'With all those lids to lift up and put down,'� Nicole said, her eyes as sober as Gerard's demeanor. 'I might sit in the wrong place.'�
'If we put a lid on the wash basin, Nicole would think it was a dance floor.'� Janette said.
'A dance floor?'�
'Yeah, for tap dancing.'� Janette ducked from the eraser Nicole threw at her.

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