Wash, Rinse, Spin, Love

This was the last place I wanted to be.

- Roberta Messner

Sunday night at the laundromat. It was a huge inconvenience, especially with Christmas just a few weeks away. But my dryer was on the blink. I’d washed my clothes at home, and then transported them in plastic bags to finish the job here.

As I loaded the dryers—one for towels, a second for jeans and another for delicates—I caught sight of one of the machines below the three I was using. Spinning around together to the backdrop of the evening news were tube socks and a child’s party dress.

They don’t belong in the same dryer and I certainly don’t belong here, I thought.