Object of the Week

The Toothbrush

Then the sanitary bin: a stainless box gone to rust, streaked with dried splatter. Next to it, against the wall behind the toilet, a toothbrush. I have covered political conventions, motorcycle gangs and the Kentucky Derby, and I can tell you without hesitation that this toothbrush is the most frightening object I have encountered in a public building. I don't know whose it was or what it was used for, and I want it understood that I will never find out.