My dad's cousin

She crossed the street to talk to my mum and without so much as a ‘how are you’ started talking about her health. Specifically, about having been constipated for five days. It’s not like my mum and my dad’s cousin were best friends, they rarely met and their conversations never extended beyond which kids are going to which schools. But there my mum was, hearing in no unambiguous terms that despite plenty of effort, my dad’s cousin was still blocked up, that high-fibre food has not helped and that pills worked because her hole was open but still nothing was coming out. Trying very hard to scrub that mental image my mum tried to think of something else, anything else, the next thing that popped in her head was a question, how did she know that her ‘hole’ was open? How did she check? My mum’s cousin was still talking, preparing her stomach my mum started to listen again.
“… so he wasn’t happy staying there and I told him to leave if he felt that way. He says his new roommate is much cleaner and seems to be sane. How about your girl, how is nursing school going for her?”