In Card’s “Eumenides in the 4th-Floor Lavatory,” a monster in the formation of an infant, which represents a person’s past regrets and mistakes, slowly drives Howard mad. One day, Howard walks into the bathroom and discovers there is an infant lodged in the toilet. He decides to be a good person and pull it out, but quickly discovers that this is not a normal infant because it immediately attaches itself to Howard. He yanks the mutant off and shoves it back into the toilet. He gets a knife, cuts up the infant and flushes it down the toilet. But the mutant baby cannot be killed—it comes back to life and follows him around. Every time the monster sticks its suction cups onto Howard’s skin, the bad memories from his past flash through his head.
