that what makes us stronger...

i'm immortal, esther said with a long stare and a slight smirk as she sat still in the weight of her malaria. i don't claim such heights, but i did walk with longer strides on thursday after a rat scurried over my foot as i peed with a candle next to me. i ran out of the stall with my pants still around my ankles and watched the grey round ball hurry up the wall and across the boards to the other bathrooms, the other rooms. it is not the first rat i have seen, but this one touched me.