The Little Cotton Rocket that Could

Today, the dumpster that is usually conveniently situated just inside the gate of our apartment complex was missing.  Annoyed, Jessamy and I began trudging down the street to the garbage dump on the corner.  About 15 seconds into the trek past the staring men in gellabiyas, I realized two things: 1) I was lacking an undergarment from the waist up and 2) I was carrying a reasonably transparent bag full of female bathroom garbage.  This would not ordinarily have been an issue save for the fact that many Egyptians think that tampons violate a woman’s virginity.  Whatever, we agreed rolling our eyes, half the male population in Egypt thinks it’s ok to reach out and touch us like shiny saucers in a china shop, and the other half expects us to just climb into their cars and spend the night with them every time they flash their lights at us on the Corniche, there are NO way they would even CONSIDER that we might be virgins.  So what are we hiding?  So we dumped out trash and parted ways as Jessamy headed to class and I shuffled back towards the apartment all by my onesy.  And what did I find waiting for me just inside the gate of our apartment complex?  A stray tampon!  Silly bugger must have decided that the inside of a see-through plastic bag was not a conspicuous enough location for itself, so it leapt to freedom in a shockingly successful to display itself more openly.  I still don’t know if the doorman saw me pick it up and run inside.