The Senator

"Dai", my young daughter uttered with a three-year-old's joy of finding a new sound.

I thought of my visit to Russia as she repeated the word in the National Forest parking lot.

We had just finished using the bathroom outside because of the squalor of the outhouse.

"Dai, Dai, Dai," she repeated with increasing glee, as my mind raced for context and meaning.

That's when I saw the sign next to the cloud of flies and piles of human waste.

Senator Steve Dai

The right half of the sign was broken and wasted, and the bottom hook of the "i" was missing.

I thought of the Russian word for give, give, give — dai, dai, dai — and wondered.

Who was this senator, and what did he do?

I saw a small placard next to the sign, and got out of my car to look.

The gravel crunched under my feet as I walked across the parking lot — the smell of feces and piss hit my nose.

The placard read:

"I am the Senior Senator from Montana. Behold my gift to future generations who wish to enjoy the outdoors."

A fly flew near my eye as I looked through the broken door of the outhouse and saw the crushed white cylinder,
or where people used to sit, to discharge into the pit below.