Far, far above the city a plane flies by, its hum arrives late and travels through the inner workings of Dunya’s head.
It calms her down to the point where she begins to fall asleep. The meditative sound of the jet engine mixed with a rattling sound that came into her other ear.
A rattling sound came from one of the washing machines, someone had probably forgotten to take out any spare change from their pockets.
The sun created long shadows of the lettering on the window that stretched from the floor up to the ceiling, ‘Wong Lee Cleaners.’
She looked up at the TV mounted on the wall showed a police chase involving a ice cream truck and two boys, both seven with one behind the steering wheel and the other working the pedals.
A yawn escaped her mouth and she went back to staring at her laundry spinning around.
And around.
She spotted a cockroach walking on the tile floor, the floor was clean especially because most of the machines tend to leak a bit. For a cockroach this must be a bit like a car-wash.
Just walk down the sides of the washing machines, through the puddles of soapy water and detergent, then wipe himself dry on a piece of clothing sticking out of a laundry basket.
The machine beeped and it was time to take her laundry out.
She took out all the newly washed clothes and placed in her second batch.
Occasionally she sniffs on a piece of clothing as she folds them.
The old chinese man, presumably the owner Mr. Wong Lee himself was sound asleep and snoring softly.
He was wearing a Aloha shirt a couple of sizes to big for him and a small ventilator was aimed at his sweaty face.
She dropped a pair of undies and while picking it up noticed a washing machine in the back.
It wasn’t like all the others old and worn ones, this one was brand (spanking) new.
There was a note on the glass window that makes you able to look at your laundry spinning around in the soapy maelstrom.
At first she continued folding her laundry but she kept thinking of the shiny washing machine that almost called her like a Greek siren, luring her with it’s beauty and rich choice of buttons and washing programs.
She did her best to sit still as she waited for her second batch of laundry to finish, she tried reading her book but kept peeking from the page over to the machine and back.
Her laundry was finally finished and the feeling in her gut had grown big and as she folded her last pieces of laundry she had a impulsive moment and dashed over to the brand new washing machine.
She tried to read the note but it was too tethered by being in the sun for ages, so she couldn’t make up what it said so she ignored it.
She peeked through the clean glass like it was a porthole into another world.
It looked like it had never been used before and the feeling in her gut almost popped out and pushed her against the washing machine.
She got undressed and placed all her clothes inside the machine, took all the loose objects from her pants and threw in four quarters and turned on the machine.
She ran over to her laundry basket and picked some clothes of it and went back to the machine and got dressed without taking her eyes off the glass window in the center of the door.
The washing machine began to make strange noises and rocking back and forth.
The old man seemed able to sleep through a air raid bombing and was still snoring into the ventilator which made it sound very odd.
And just maybe that was exactly how robot snoring would sound like, she thought to herself.
Water began to spill out of the machine and her toes were getting wet, she splashes her feet in the puddle and so did the cockroach.
The door of the washing machine popped open and gallons of water began rushing out making her slip and washing her out onto the sidewalk.
In front of her the cockroach was trying to get back on his feet, so she helped him by picking him up with two fingers and flipping it back on it’s feet.
Next to the cockroach was a pair of her undies, which was without a trace of dirtiness after being in the mysterious washing machine.
Giving them a quick sniff and imagining being in the Swiss Alps she suddenly remembers that she still has to do some grocery shopping.
It calms her down to the point where she begins to fall asleep. The meditative sound of the jet engine mixed with a rattling sound that came into her other ear.
A rattling sound came from one of the washing machines, someone had probably forgotten to take out any spare change from their pockets.
The sun created long shadows of the lettering on the window that stretched from the floor up to the ceiling, ‘Wong Lee Cleaners.’
She looked up at the TV mounted on the wall showed a police chase involving a ice cream truck and two boys, both seven with one behind the steering wheel and the other working the pedals.
A yawn escaped her mouth and she went back to staring at her laundry spinning around.
And around.
She spotted a cockroach walking on the tile floor, the floor was clean especially because most of the machines tend to leak a bit. For a cockroach this must be a bit like a car-wash.
Just walk down the sides of the washing machines, through the puddles of soapy water and detergent, then wipe himself dry on a piece of clothing sticking out of a laundry basket.
The machine beeped and it was time to take her laundry out.
She took out all the newly washed clothes and placed in her second batch.
Occasionally she sniffs on a piece of clothing as she folds them.
The old chinese man, presumably the owner Mr. Wong Lee himself was sound asleep and snoring softly.
He was wearing a Aloha shirt a couple of sizes to big for him and a small ventilator was aimed at his sweaty face.
She dropped a pair of undies and while picking it up noticed a washing machine in the back.
It wasn’t like all the others old and worn ones, this one was brand (spanking) new.
There was a note on the glass window that makes you able to look at your laundry spinning around in the soapy maelstrom.
At first she continued folding her laundry but she kept thinking of the shiny washing machine that almost called her like a Greek siren, luring her with it’s beauty and rich choice of buttons and washing programs.
She did her best to sit still as she waited for her second batch of laundry to finish, she tried reading her book but kept peeking from the page over to the machine and back.
Her laundry was finally finished and the feeling in her gut had grown big and as she folded her last pieces of laundry she had a impulsive moment and dashed over to the brand new washing machine.
She tried to read the note but it was too tethered by being in the sun for ages, so she couldn’t make up what it said so she ignored it.
She peeked through the clean glass like it was a porthole into another world.
It looked like it had never been used before and the feeling in her gut almost popped out and pushed her against the washing machine.
She got undressed and placed all her clothes inside the machine, took all the loose objects from her pants and threw in four quarters and turned on the machine.
She ran over to her laundry basket and picked some clothes of it and went back to the machine and got dressed without taking her eyes off the glass window in the center of the door.
The washing machine began to make strange noises and rocking back and forth.
The old man seemed able to sleep through a air raid bombing and was still snoring into the ventilator which made it sound very odd.
And just maybe that was exactly how robot snoring would sound like, she thought to herself.
Water began to spill out of the machine and her toes were getting wet, she splashes her feet in the puddle and so did the cockroach.
The door of the washing machine popped open and gallons of water began rushing out making her slip and washing her out onto the sidewalk.
In front of her the cockroach was trying to get back on his feet, so she helped him by picking him up with two fingers and flipping it back on it’s feet.
Next to the cockroach was a pair of her undies, which was without a trace of dirtiness after being in the mysterious washing machine.
Giving them a quick sniff and imagining being in the Swiss Alps she suddenly remembers that she still has to do some grocery shopping.
