Listening to their awfulness, I found the strength to stand and walk out of the stall. They were shocked to see me, and they went all quiet and and silent and still and frozen. They were ashamed of themselves, I guess, for building a secret clubhouse out of the two-by-four boards and ten-penny nails of their pain. I could be deadly serious and deadly funny at the same time, so I washed my hands really slow, making sure each finger was cleaner than the finger before. I dried them even slower, using one towel for each hand. And then I looked at those two men. I studied the angles and shapes of them like I was taking a geometry test.
-Sherman Alexie, from Do Not Go Gentle