Episode 39: Laundromat: Washing Delicate Baby Clothes & Linens — 5,000 Core English Words

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Chapter thirty-nine. At the laundromat.

Emma's aunt, Ryan's mother, and half the street have given them baby clothes: enough for three children. Everything should be washed before the baby arrives. Then, on Monday, the washing machine at home makes a terrible noise and stops. The repair is a week ahead. So they fill four bags and drive to the laundromat.

Listen to how to use a self-service laundry, how to ask a stranger politely about a machine, and to the kind of conversation people have while they wait.

Ryan: I've never been to one of these. I'm a little ashamed to confess it.

Emma: Never? Not even as a student?

Ryan: My mother did my washing until I was twenty-two. I'm aware that's not ideal.

Emma: It explains a lot. Excuse me. Hi. It's our first time here. How does this work?

Attendant: Welcome. It's simple. The washers are along that wall, and the dryers are at the back. The small machines are four dollars a load, and the large ones are six fifty.

Emma: Do they take coins or cards?

Attendant: Both. You can pay with a card at each machine, or use quarters. The change machine is by the door, and it takes bills up to twenty.

Ryan: Do you sell detergent?

Attendant: In that machine there. One dollar a box. But for baby clothes, I'd use your own, if you brought it.

Emma: We did. It's a gentle one, with no perfume. A baby's skin is so sensitive, and some soaps are chemically strong.

Attendant: Good. Then use the delicate cycle, with cold water. It takes about thirty minutes. Don't overload the machine. There's a limited amount it can clean properly.

Ryan: And the dryers?

Attendant: A quarter gives you eight minutes. For small cotton things, low heat. High heat will shrink them.

Emma: Thank you. That's very clear.

Attendant: If a machine eats your money, come and find me. I'm the only employee here until four.

Emma: These three are free. Let's sort first. Whites here. Colors there. Blankets and towels in the big one.

Ryan: Do I really have to separate them? They're all so small.

Emma: Yes. That red sock would turn everything pink. It's a deliberate system.

Ryan: Look at this. It's the size of my hand. A hat with ears.

Emma: Don't start. If you cry over every hat, we'll be here until midnight.

Ryan: I'm calmly loading the machine. See? Detergent in the drawer. Door closed. Delicate, cold. Insert card. It's running.

Emma: Well done. A remarkable performance.

Ryan: Excuse me, ma'am. Is anyone using this dryer?

Shopper: That one? No, it's free. But it doesn't get very hot. I'd use number seven.

Ryan: Thank you. And is this your basket? I don't want to move it.

Shopper: Oh, yes, sorry. Let me get that out of your way.

Ryan: No hurry at all.

Shopper: Are those baby clothes? When are you due, dear?

Emma: In two weeks. If the baby is on time.

Shopper: First one?

Emma: First one.

Shopper: Do you know the sex?

Emma: No. We decided to wait. It's the last real mystery we have.

Shopper: Good for you. Fold everything while it's warm. That's my only advice. And sleep now, both of you.

Emma: Thirty minutes. Sit down. What's that in your pocket?

Ryan: A letter. It came this morning. I didn't want to worry you. It's from the district court.

Emma: The court? What did you do?

Ryan: Nothing! I'm innocent. I've been called for jury duty. It's compulsory. Every citizen can be chosen.

Emma: When?

Ryan: That's the problem. The session begins on the twentieth. Three days before the due date.

Emma: Ryan. You can't sit in a court while I'm in the hospital.

Ryan: I know. I read it anxiously, three times. There's a number to call. I presume they permit a delay when there's a baby coming.

Emma: Call now. While we wait.

Ryan walks outside and makes the call. A clerk listens, and asks a few questions.

Clerk: Jury office. How can I help?

Ryan: Hello. I received a jury summons for the twentieth, but my wife is expecting our first child that same week. Is it possible to postpone?

Clerk: Yes, sir. That's sufficient reason. I'll need your name and the ID number at the top of the letter.

Ryan: Ryan Johnson. The number is 4-4-7-1-9.

Clerk: Thank you. I can move you to a later date. You have an obligation to serve within twelve months. Would the fall be more suitable?

Ryan: The fall would be perfect.

Clerk: Then you'll receive a new letter. Congratulations, Mr. Johnson.

Ryan: Thank you so much. I'm delighted. And very relieved.

Emma: Well?

Ryan: Postponed until the fall. She was kind about it.

Emma: Good. I was concerned. What kind of case would it be?

Ryan: It doesn't say. Theft, maybe. An incident with a neighbor. The clerk can't tell you. A witness says something, a suspect says something else, and twelve strangers have to make a judgement.

Emma: That's a great responsibility. I don't know if I could punish someone.

Ryan: You don't punish. You decide what's true, as far as you can. The judge does the rest. I think it's a good thing, honestly. It's the democratic part that nobody sees. We elect people, we complain about politics, and then one day a letter asks us to do something ourselves.

Emma: My aunt was on a jury once. A violent case. She said she bit her tongue for two weeks, and stayed neutral, and it was a nightmare. But she was proud of it.

Ryan: I believe that. An elderly man at work has a quotation on his desk: "Justice is what love looks like in public." I used to think it was too much. Now I'm not so sure.

Emma: You're getting soft. It's the hats.

Ryan: It's everything. I keep thinking about what kind of place this child is coming to. I watched a history program last night while you slept. Settlers, tribes, an empire, a republic. Lords and arrows and bullets. Every ancestor we have survived some kind of violence. And here we are, in a laundromat, with no bigger problem than a broken washing machine.

Emma: That's not luck alone. People built that. Civil rights, reforms, a federal law that prohibits this, a congress that argued for years about that. It's slow, and expensive, and people criticize it all day. But it holds.

Ryan: Currently.

Emma: Currently. That's why you go in the fall, and you cooperate, and you don't complain.

Ryan: I'll wear a badge and everything.

Emma: You don't get a badge. You get a bad sandwich in a waiting chamber.

Ryan: I'm disappointed. And a little shocked.

Emma: What's your ambition for this baby? If you had to say it in one sentence?

Ryan: That he, or she, is kind. And independent. And not afraid of forms.

Emma: That's three sentences. Mine is that they're free to be whoever they are. I don't have an agenda. I don't want a candidate for anything, or a client for my dreams.

Ryan: No agenda. I'll remind you of that when you buy the first paint set.

Emma: The machine has stopped. Come on. Low heat, number seven.

Ryan: These are warm. Like bread.

Emma: Fold them like this. In half, then in three. It's the economical way. They take less space.

Ryan: Like this?

Emma: You've made a ball.

Ryan: It's a specialized technique. It's intended to be a ball.

Emma: Give it to me. Watch. Bravely. There. Now you.

Ryan: Got it. Hey, there's a nail in this dryer. A real nail. And a tissue.

Emma: Not ours. Check everything for holes.

Ryan: All fine. The complexity of this is beyond me, but we did it. Four loads, and nothing is pink.

Emma: A base of clean clothes. I feel ready, for the first time. The analysis is over, as you would say.

Ryan: I didn't polish my shoes for this, and I should have. It's an event.

Emma: Next week the machine is fixed, and we never come back.

Ryan: I don't know. I liked it. The welfare of the neighborhood is discussed here. I learned more in an hour than in a year of emails.

Emma: You're a consumer of laundromat gossip.

Ryan: Within the limitations of my time. Is yawning infectious? You've started me off.

Emma: It is. Home. The framework of this day is done, my lord. The province of sleep awaits, with or without a grant from the inhabitants.

Ryan: You've been biting your lip for an hour to say that, haven't you?

Emma: Since the empire part.

That is the end of chapter thirty-nine. Four loads of tiny clothes, one postponed jury duty, and a long talk between two dryers.

Keep these with you: "How does this work?" "Do they take coins or cards?" "Is anyone using this dryer?" "Is it possible to postpone?" "When are you due?"

In the next chapter, Ryan gets the car ready for the most important drive of his life.

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