At mealtimes, the Eating Disorders are supervised. Under the watchful eye of an aide, they are required to eat, and then for two hours after the meal, neither the Anorexics nor the Bulimics can go to the bathroom unaccompanied, although the night before Bunny saw Nina sneak into the Arts and Crafts room where she vomited into a trash can.
Now, Bunny hears Nina before she sees her. A yowling into the telephone, a lachrymosity as cacophonous as a car crash, and all the more remarkable coming from this waif with matchstick arms and legs. To add to the disturbance, Underpants Man, like a low-level buffoon with a bullhorn, orders her to get off the phone. “Time’s up,” he points to his wrist as if he were wearing a watch. “Time’s up.”
The fact that Underpants Man wears his underpants as outer pants does nothing to temper Bunny’s dislike for him, but even if he wore his underpants as they are intended to be worn—under his pants—Bunny would still loathe him. Underpants Man, the telephone Stasi.
“Time’s up.” Underpants Man jabs again and again at his imaginary wristwatch. “Time’s up.”
Time’s up for what? No one is waiting to use the phone; Underpants Man, least of all. He calls no one and no one calls him. Under different circumstances Bunny might’ve felt compassion for him, but the circumstances are what they are: Underpants Man is relentlessly badgering Nina to get off the phone while she blows snot bubbles from her nose.