For god sakes, why did someone feel it was okay to bring their stereo system with them to the laundry mat? It took the woman ten whole minutes to set up the speakers, stretch an extension cord from the dry cleaner’s window on the other side of the building, browse through stations and spurts of static, and now, everyone in here is being subjected to an awful rap station blasting from her corner. One guy walked out and came back with an iPod. Several others have dug earplugs and mp3 players from their bags, including me.
A tall man just came through the door in heavy, untied shoes that slipped on his heels and clonked on the dingy tiled floor as he trudged straight toward the woman with the blasting stereo. I thought he might ask her to turn it down, or better yet, turn it off. But, instead, he told her that he was going to Buddy’s, “for some chips or something.” Her face lit up, especially her eyes, in the way that a mother beams when her child does something particularly admirable. “Oh, okay,” she said, still smiling, eyelashes now batting. When he finally made it back across the room to the door, a jarring holler leapt out of her corner: “Bring me a sandwich, daddy!”
He asked her what kind, but fully immersed in the noise of her speakers, she couldn’t hear him . “What kind?” he hollered again, impatiently. “You can call me,” she yelled. “What you say?” he screamed back. “JUST CALL ME WHEN YOU GET THERE,” she hollered, louder. Everyone looked around nervously, because their voices sounded as if they were ready to tip over into a brawl. “WHAT?” he yelled again. “GET ME A TURKEY, DADDY!” He turned toward the door. “ON THAT SWISS CHEESE!” He continued leaving without a word. “C’MON, DADDY, ON THAT SWISS CHEESE!”
Another woman, just a few washers down, shouted toward the speakers, “Don’t forget to get your bread toasted! Gotta get that bread toasted, you know,” at which both women burst in full-body laughter. They’re still shouting back and forth with one another now. About how their towels can stay fresh in the closet sometimes, even several days after washing. And as soon as both women agree about a thing, laughter splits open, their bodies double over, hands go clapping, the rap station is almost nothing but static now.
5 notes