Scene and heard

I went to the Laundromat tonight, my second successive time going on a Thursday. And I saw a couple of the same people, one of whom I had also seen once previously. He is a man who looks greasy enough that you could harvest it and run a car. He has skinnyish legs and a huge gut that way overhangs his trouser belt. He always wears the same shoes, trousers and hat, and always wears two white business shirts which are way too small for him, one as an open overshirt. The other has buttons undone at the top and bottom; the three or four that are fastened are under extreme pressure. If he laughed or coughed, they surely couldn’t survive. His belly is almost completely bare. I think he must have had his quarterly bath some time in the last 2 weeks, as he only churned my stomach while passing me. From a distance of 10 feet, his odour crept slowly towards me but was no threat to my lunch. Two weeks ago, I had to hold my breath whenever I got close to him.

The other person I recognised was a 7 year old girl who was there with her mother. OK, I recognised her mother also! Last time, she reminded me of my daughter, Hannah. She was trying to get a quarter out of the slot of the soap dispenser. When she asked my help, she said “my Quarter went in there”. This apparently had nothing to do with her! She also read her mother horoscope from a woman’s magazine: “…you will meet the man of your dreams…” Both were highly amused by this, especially as daddy was at home. Tonight, she was busy reading with the Laundromat owner. Very cute.