26 Twenty-six - How to use the bathroom

Stacey took the clothes that Telea pushed into her arms and accepted the towel placed on top. In the bathroom, she was about to undress when she spotted all the bottles of products lined up on the sink and on the floor in the shower cubicle. The stylised Tadpole writing told her nothing she needed to know.

"Uh, Telea. Are you still there?" she called.

"Yes. Do you need help?"

"What are all these bottles? Which one do I use?"

"Oh. I can see why you'd find this mess bewildering," Telea laughed, pulling out a few bottles from those lined up on the floor in the shower cubicle. "Use this for your body. It's a gentle body wash and scrub. This one's a hair wash to get rid of grease. This one's a hair conditioner so that it doesn't get too dry. Those should be enough for you. There's a hair dryer under the sink. See?"

"How does it work?" Stacey asked, looking blankly at the unfamiliar circle on a stick like a weird magnifying glass without the glass in it. She had seen hair dryers before but this was one hairdryer she had never seen before.

"This part blows hot air, so be careful. It can also curl or straighten your hair, depending on how you use it," Telea explained and demonstrated. "You turn it on and off with these switches here."

"It doesn't need to be plugged in?"

"They still use plug-ins where you lived before? That's ancient technology from the last millennium already. These are wireless. They run on mechanical energy, so you just need to shake the hair dryer a bit before you use it. The charge lasts for ages though. You won't have a problem."

Wow. Advanced technology. Was there a way to bring this tech back to Earth? Would it make her rich if she did? Were the laws of physics any different here?

Telea was just leaving the bathroom when Stacey called her back again.

"Telea," Stacey stared at the faucet and showerhead with their lack of taps or levers. "How do I turn on the water and adjust the temperature?"

"The temperature has already been set to my favourite temperature," Telea said. "You don't have to worry about a thing. See this machine here?"

"Are those numbers?" Stacey frowned at the strange symbols.

"Oh. I forgot you don't know any Tadpole. Yes. That's a three and that's a five. I like my showers to be quite warm."

So they used celsius or centigrade to measure temperature. Or something similar.

"To turn on the water," Telea waved an arm at a small translucent red tile beneath the shower head. "You just wave. See? You do the same when you want to turn it off. The hand basin sensor is on top of the faucet. See here?"

"Ah."

"Nifty, hey. So much better than those mechanical taps," Telea said, "but the downside is that when there's a blackout, turning the water on manually is rather troublesome. Any other questions before I go back out?"

"Uh, yes," Stacey pointed that one of the articles of clothing that she guessed was a bra or crop top type thing but couldn't figure out how she was meant to wear it. It didn't look like any bra or crop top type article of clothing she had ever seen before.

Telea gave another laugh and demonstrated.

"Oh," Stacey rubbed her head. It was that simple. "I feel stupid."

"Don't," Telea patted Stacey's back. "Any more questions?"

"No."

Stacey had her shower and Telea insisted on helping her to dry her hair when she saw the clumsy way Stacey was handling the hairdryer. Stacey almost falling asleep while she sat. It was so nice to be warm and clean again. The pyjamas she was wearing were so fluffy and warm. They were cute too. Mindy had done a great job of choosing her a pattern with pink spring flowers all over them. While Telea was drying her hair, to prevent herself from falling asleep before her hair was dry, Stacey looked through the other things that Tonton and Mindy had bought for her.

Not bad. It looked like Tonton had already gotten a good grasp on her preferences and Mindy had found girly things that weren't too excessive in style. She could live with these. It was a nice feeling to be so looked after. It warmed her insides after the cold reception she had received from the town's residents the past two days. Being treated like a student again wasn't so bad either. There wasn't as much responsibility. People were taking care of her. She could just go along with the flow and have fun.

"You've had a big day. Get some rest," Telea tucked her into the bed once Stacey's hair was dry. "You have to wake up super early tomorrow morning - well, we all do, to get our makeup done, but you'll likely have to get up a bit earlier than the rest of us ladies. Someone will wake you up, so you don't have to worry. Sleep well."

Stacey was just about to fall asleep when the other two ladies came in. She noticed Telea hush them and gesture to her curled up figure in the bed. Melesse and Beryl automatically began to walk more softly and tip-toe around the room. Stacey drifted off listening to their soft voices discuss their opinion of the day and what they thought of various trainees. It was so nice to not be alone anymore.