Laundromat, The

The Laundromat

Eddie took in the splendid view from the fourth floor office. He saw
most of Galveston Bay, and where the water changed from dull green to
ocean blue as it merged into the Gulf of Mexico. The colors of the
water were striking in contrast to the white sandy beaches. The burled
wood desk and credenza were oiled, giving the appearance of amber
liquid, and the oil smelled rich. He leaned back in the tall leather
chair and he put his feet up on the credenza. He felt the power of the
man whose office this was. No one he knew had an office like
this.
He didn't hear the door open.
"Eddie! Have you lost your mind!"
Eddie knocked his coffee cup off the credenza as his feet jerked.
" Lucille! You scared hell out of me! What're you&;#8230;"
"If Mr. Eddleston catches you in his office your ass is grass, man! And
you spilled&;#8230;"
At the mention of Mr. Eddleston's name, Eddie got that vacuous feeling
in his stomach. He got that feeling more often than he liked these
days.
"Christ! Is he back?" Moving quickly now.
"Any minute, man. I'd get my ten-cent ass out of that two thousand
dollar chair if I were you!"
"I&;#8230; I'm sorry. I jus' like the view, you know. I..."
"Boy, you've been the mail clerk here for two years, if you want an
office like this your going to have to have one of them faith healers
lay some mighty powerful hands on you or somethin'!" Lucille said with
her hand on her hip. Her head swayed slightly as she spoke.
"I, uh, you're right. I'm sorry. I'll get my cup, and, uh..."
"C'mon, let's get out of here." She took him by the arm and pulled him
into the hall. Lucille was three inches taller and considerably
stronger than Eddie. His already low self-esteem was slapped hard.
Lucille kept one hand on her hip as she watched him walk down the hall
to the mailroom. The hand on the hip was a well-known sign of the
Office Manager's dominance, like the pawing of the earth by a
bull.
It was Friday, and Eddie would see his friends tonight. Those were the
people who respected him; saw him for what he really was. The people at
this office weren't smarter than him; they just knew the right people.
It's who you know, not what you know. Stockbrokers were just
salespeople in starched white shirts. They all had bleached-white teeth
and a line of bullshit a mile long.
**
The bus ride home felt longer than usual, but when Eddie stepped down
to the curb at his exit it was another world. The air was different
this close to the beach, and his feeling of uncertainty was lessened,
although it never completely left him.
His apartment was mid-block so it took only minutes to reach the front
door, retrieve his mail, and walk up to the second floor of the old,
whitewashed mansion about four blocks from the Gulf of Mexico. He
entered; glanced at the mail- all bills- tossed them on the dinette
table and took his clothes off. As usual, there were no messages on the
answering machine.
After his shower, Eddie put on his starched khakis and a black open
neck camp shirt with a large, red dragon on the back. He looked at
himself in the mirror and smiled. Near the mirror was a large, bulging
laundry bag. He tossed the bag over his shoulder and left. Outside all
he could hear was persuading seagulls and the flopping of his thongs on
the cement sidewalk. He noticed that the air was heavy with salt
today.
Even at 6:30 the evening was hot and humid. Luckily for Eddie, the
laundromat was on Seawall Blvd.- the main street along the beach where
the temperature would rapidly cool. But he was sweating hard when he
got to the laundromat.
Eddie stopped to look through the window before entering the
laundromat. It was important for him to see who was already here; he
didn't want to be the first to arrive. Only Delancy was there, and
Eddie could see that he hadn't started his wash yet. Delancy was a
large man, balding. Timid. He was sitting in the little waiting area
reading one of the two-year-old women's magazines he had read before.
He was waiting for someone to show up and trying hard not to act like
it. Eddie had done the same thing when he was first to arrive.
As he entered the laundromat, Eddie remembered that the old cooler in
the back didn't do much to cool the long narrow room. He walked to the
first available washing machine and put a few things in it, but he
didn't start the load. Instead, he sat down beside Delancy and lifted
his chin in a gesture of 'hello'.
"Eddie! Didn't see you come in. How's it goin'?" He said as he was
wiping sweat from his upper lip.
"Doin' good, man, doin' good. How's the insurance business?"
Delancy turned excitedly to Eddie.
"Hey! I got a possibility today! A good possibility! I saw a listin' in
the want ads for a manager and I sent my resume to 'em. They sent me a
card saying they're goin' to consider my experience. That's a good
deal, huh? Them sayin' they'll call me and all?" Delancy squirmed with
his excitement.
"Yeah. I hope they call you in, man."
You best hope they don't see you in person, big boy.
Ram?n Ramirez walked into the room.
"Hey, dudes! Wassup?" Ram?n said as he put dirty clothes on top of a
washer but didn't load it. He walked over to the waiting area and took
seat next to the others.
"Damn, it smells like.... soap..... in here!"
Eddie laughed.
"You say that every Friday night--this is a laundry, man! S'posed to
smell like that."
"Hot, too." Ram?n said waving his arms to air out his armpits.
"Yeah, hot." Delancy agreed as he wiped sweat from his forehead.
"How's the supervisor's job goin', Eddie? You got many good lookin'
girls under you? 'UNDER YOU', get it?" Ram?n said with a laugh.
Yeah, I get it, man. Got it the first time I heard it in the seventh
grade.
"Getting' promoted again. I'll be Office Manager soon."
"Damn! Dude, why don't you hire me?"
Ram?n stood, smiled, and walked a couple of steps like a model. He
pirouetted in front of Eddie, and ended it with a bow.
"Guarantee you this smile can get the business in the door, at least
from women. And you know how many rich women are out there!"
"You look like Burt Lancaster with teeth like that!"
Ram?n's smile waned when he thought about what that comparison meant,
and it made him feel worse that he didn't know.
"Hey! That's one of them guys on 'Survivor', ain't it?" He finally
said.
Before Eddie could answer, Letita Godwin had come in and walked up
behind Ram?n who was too busy to notice her. She ran her hand through
his pomaded hair. He flinched hard.
"Oh, great! The queen has come!" Ram?n said in a poor attempt at
recapturing the high ground.
Letitia walked to the next washer in line, with the eyes of all three
of the guys on her ass, put a load in the washer, then detergent,
inserted the required coins and started her wash. Then each of the
others stood, walked over to their machines, and started their wash,
too. When the last machine started, the four turned and walked over to
the waiting area and sat.
"Letty, I might be going into management soon. I got a possibility!"
Delancy said.
"That's great! Me? I got two kids, two jobs, no husband, and too damn
many bills, you know?" She answered.
"Ever thought about being a hooker! Make lots of peso's there." Ram?n
said jokingly.
She turned aggressively to him.
"Yeah, the same day you come out of the closet!"
"OK, ok. I was just kiddin' you. Damn. Take it easy girl."
She looked exasperated and ran her hand through her hair.
"Lighten up, you two, its Friday night!" Eddie said.
"Yeah, lighten up." Said Delancy, glancing at Eddie, then at the cover
of one of the old magazines.
Letitia looked up at Ram?n.
"An' who you calling 'girl', you Zorro reject? I work a full-time job
and a part-time job. Then I go home to take care of two kids. It's just
a big circle-jerk. When I apply for a better job, they just want to
fuck me."
"I don't want to.....you know..... do that to you. I like you. I hope
you get a great job! I get a manager's job, I'll hire you." Delancy
said without looking at her, eyes blinking rapidly.
"Well, there are lots of those kind of people out there. You have to be
cool. And smart." Said Eddy. I'd like to fuck you, too.
"Yeah, but you got a good job, dude, you a manager. At a fancy company.
Easy for you to talk about being cool. You get lots of respect. You got
lots of money and can spend it to get girls. Me. I work at the car wash
getting' tips from dudes who have good jobs like you."
"What the fuck you tellin' us that for? You're&;#8230;how old are
you now?" Eddie asked.
"Man, I'm eighteen. I can do&;#8230;"
"Don't give me crap about what you can do when you pushin' towels at
the car wash! Why aren't you doin' something better, man!"
"Hey. Shit, I left more applications around town that Johnny left apple
seeds! And I'm still at the car wash. They just don' like Latinos. I
can tell&;#8230;"
"Oh, don't start that 'poor Latino' crap&;#8230;" Letty said.
"I don't think you're a poor Latino, Ram?n." Delancy said
unsurely.
"What the hell are you talkin' about? You forget my last name or
somethin'!" Said Eddy.
"Yeah, but you light skinned."
"Jesus Christ! Is there no end to you excuses, man?"
"Hey! Bro, its true&;#8230;"
'Look, you want me to tell you somethin'? I mean why you ain't got a
real job? I mean the truth, man."
Ram?n raised his chin a bit to bolster his ego. He had an idea about
the nature of the 'truth' he was about to hear.
"Give it you best shot, dude."
"Do you think the stockbrokers at my company come into the office at
5:30 in the morning and display made-up gang signs to each other? Or
grab their crotch? What you think about that?"
"I&;#8230;"
"And do you think department managers, like me, say 'wassup'. Hell no,
man. Shit, we say, 'Good morning, how are you'. We say, 'what's on the
schedule today?' We say&;#8230;"
Ram?n rolls his eyes. "What's on the fuckin' schedule! Holy shit! You
watch too many a' them TV lawyer shows, man? That ain't how people
fuckin' talk! You need to get the fuck out in the world, man, see how
things really fuckin' are!"
"Eddie, forget it. He's like the Titanic, man. Going down with all
lives lost! He believes the real world is the car wash. Jesus Christ!"
Letty said.
"What the fuck you talkin' 'bout, girl? You chauffeur ain't picking you
up is he!"
There was silence for the next few minutes.
"Eddie, I caint be like those people, you know, man?"
Eddie was thoughtful for a few minutes.
"Man, you know who Johnny Dep is?" Eddie Asked.
"Yeah. Ain't he a movie star?"
"Yeah. You think he is rich?"
"Shit yes."
"How you think he got rich, man?"
"Bein' a fuckin' movie star, dude. How you think?"
"By pretending to be someone else. By acting the way someone was
willing to pay him to act."
Eddie could see that the light went on for Letty, possibly for Ram?n,
but not Delancy.
"I get it, but I don't know how, man. You think I can become an
actor?"
"Kinda. Yeah. I heard one of the guys in my office takin' flack 'cause
he was dressed better than the other mail clerks, and he acted like his
shit don't stink, you know? What he said to the guy who was ribbin' him
was, 'you don't act and dress for where you are, dude, but for where
you want to be. He means act like you are already there, and other
people will think you belong there. An' you know what? That SOB is
right. Man, I mean really right on."
There was a moment of silence.
"What's wrong with my clothes, man?"
Both Letty and Eddie spoke the same words at exactly the same
time.
"Jesus Christ!"
Delancy said quietly in the background that he liked Ram?n's
clothes.
"Shit, Eddie, just let him go towel them cars, man." Letty said.
"What you mean by that! I'm getting' tired a your shit, girl. And I do
mean fuckin' girl!"
"Sit down, Letty. Listen to me, all of you." Eddie said. "Delancy put
the goddam magazine down, dude!"
There was quiet for a few moments while the others could see Eddie
trying to put it together in his head.
"What I'm sayin'&;#8230;what I mean, is, well, all of us-you, too
Delancy, you too, Letty, got to act different than we think we are.
Letty you go in for an interview like a girl expecting the dude to come
on to her, and, well, shit! He will! Delancy, you wanna be a fuckin'
manager, well, stand up and look people in the eyes, make them know you
are a smart man, a leader, and all that kinda shit. You know what I
mean? Read a fuckin' book about it. And, damn, Ram?n, I don't know what
I can say to you, man. You go into a place for a job and expect them to
give it to you 'cause you talk good bullshit, or you got a good ass,
dude, you gonna' be wipin' down cars when you collect social security.
You got to understand why people hire you."
He looked at each one of them and waited for them to say something.
None of them said a word.
"Shit. All those people care about is how you gonna help them put the
next dollar in their pocket. Delancy, you get that interview, you
better know what to tell the dude about how you gonna make them money
by being' the boss, you get it? Ram?n, no one, and I mean no one, gives
a rat's ass about your ass, or your mouth, man. They'll get your dark
brown ass out the door quicker than you eat them nasty-ass burritos.
Yeah! You, you with the loud mouth, you better figure out what you
gonna say to make them understand you can make money for them. These
dudes ain't stupid, they ain't new in the world, and they ain't gonna
take your shit for one fuckin' minute. You gotta act like a man. And
don't get all fuckin' offended by that! I mean stop with the gang
signs; you ain't no gang member, so just drop that shit, it don't make
you cool. Money will make you cool, man. M-O-N-E-Y. Cash. Dinero.
Pesos. Get it?"
Eddie was quiet for a moment. So were the others.
As Eddie looked at each one of them, he could see he got through to
them. And all were nodding their heads. And something was happening
inside Eddie. Somewhere in the small box of his confidence a movement
was made. He liked how he got them to listen, and that it would help
them.
The washing machines were stopping one by one. Letty got up, then the
others. They began to take the clothes out of the washer and put them
into an adjacent dryer.
"Damn, it smells like&;#8230; soap&;#8230; in here!" Ram?n
said.
They all laughed. Ram?n threw his arms up as the others started
throwing clothes at him.