Spin Cycle

STACIA

Stacia moves through her studio apartment gathering dirty laundry scattered everywhere. In perfect arabesque form, she hooks her bra from the floor with her left forefinger then lowers her raised right leg and uses her big toe to snag some lace panties on the floor behind her.

She tosses both garments with a flourish into the tall wheeled laundry cart next to her. Although the cart is wider than she would like and won’t fit into the narrow closet in her apartment, it is practical. She has to store the cart in the corner of the main room. She has no laundry facility in her building.

Her apartment is only 500 ft.² It has a galley kitchen, a small bathroom, and a larger room that serves as a bedroom, living room and dining area, thanks to the small bistro table and single chair that Stacia purchased.

Stacia can’t help but think what a depressing photograph that lonely little table and single chair would be in this darkened apartment. The photo would have to be black and white and be called a “A Study in Going Nowhere.” 

Her apartment is actually sunny once the curtains on her four windows are pulled back. Her apartment is on the second floor of a four story building in Staten Island. The street below is pleasant and lined with shops.  

While it would be nice to have a larger apartment, the rent is affordable and the apartment is within walking distance of the credit union where Stacia works, a grocery store, and a laundromat. 

Stacia feels incredibly weary. Her days are long. The notion of bankers hours is a cruel deception. For at least two days a week she must work until seven gathering documents for both internal and external auditors.

The long hours sap her energy. She feels like a character in a video game that run out of “lives,” requiring a player to gobble up some silly object in order to re-energize 

She is one of three tellers at the credit union. One of the tellers is moderately friendly. The other, however, who happens to be her supervisor, has the personality of a tollbooth attendant: surly and curt with everyone.

Stacia has worked for the credit union for six months since relocating from London to Staten Island. One afternoon, just weeks before she left London, she walked into her apartment that she shared with her boyfriend to find him having sex with her best friend Lydia.  

What irked Stacia was not that he was cheating on her with Lydia, or her boyfriend had let her down. It was that her boyfriend was copulating to the rhythm of her favorite song, Burning Down the House, by the Talking Heads. He had never been this creative with her.

That evening Stacia sobbed to her mother over the phone. Her mother urged Stacia to return to the United States and start over with someone worthy of her. Stacia relocated two weeks later..

In addition to having to wrangle with her unpleasant supervisor and work overtime, Stacia feels gravely underutilized. She cannot understand how she can be both exceedingly bored and frantically busy at the same time.

This evening, Stacia had to stay late at the office again. The frequency of auditing requests worries Stacia and makes her wonder if the credit union isn’t about to go belly up at any moment. At least she’d be able to collect unemployment benefits.

LAUNDRY

It is 7:30 P.M.

Stacia hasn’t eaten since lunchtime. She has no food in her apartment. She hasn’t had time to shop in days. For more days than she can recall she’s subsisted on Ramen noodles and grape Gatorade.

This evening when she gets home she doesn’t even set her bag down. Instead she quickly grabs her laundry cart which often moonlights as a grocery cart. She walks to the grocery store a block away. An hour later she returns home with three full heavy reusable bags of groceries crammed into her cart.

She eats a prepared Caesar salad with broiled salmon for dinner. She eats it so quickly that she hardly takes the time to chew. She gulps down an Arizona ice tea with her salad. The tea is the only thing standing between her and the need for the Heimlich maneuver. 

When she finishes, she grabs a book from her nightstand, Dean Koontz “The Bad Place.” Stacia had read the book numerous times. It was one of her favorite horror novels. She tosses it, a some sour cream and onion Pringles, and a bottle of water on top of her dirty laundry in the cart.

The laundromat is next-door to Stacia‘s apartment building. It is open all night. 

It is 10:00 P.M.

Stacia wheels her cart to the door of the laundromat, turns around, and thrusts her butt against the door forcing it open. The interior of the laundromat is humid. The heavy odor of perfumed detergents is cloying.. Stacia coughs. Her eyes water.

Stacia props open the door using an empty laundry detergent bottle. Someone has already opened the only window in the establishment at the far end of the room near the emergency exit. On this evening, thankfully, there is a sufficient cross breeze moving through the laundromat. 

The laundromat lay out is typical; a long room with a row of washing machines on one side and dryers on the opposite wall. There are three long tables arranged end to end in the center of the room. . At the rear of the room are a coin operated vending machine with detergent and fabric softener, and a change machine. 

Stacia uses the change machine to get change for three $10 bills. She purchases two containers of unscented laundry detergent, and two packs of fabric softener. She scans the laundromat to see what machines are available. 

She decides that she must use the larger commercial washing machine. This machine holds more than twice the volume of clothes that a regular washing machine can hold. Not only that, the cost of operating the larger machine is less than the combined cost of two regular washing machines. 

Unfortunately, the laundromat only has one commercial size washing machine. The laundromat is typically in heavy use in the evening.

Counting Stacia there are nine people in the laundromat. All six of the washing machines including the large commercial machine are in operation. 

Stacia takes a seat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs near the front door. She parks her cart next to her, grabs a bottle of water and a book and waits for the large washing machine to become available.

Three of the nine customers leave the laundromat with their clean laundry. Six customers remain. 

ATTACK AT THE DAISY ATM

 It is 11:00 P.M.

There is a large screen television mounted above the washing machines. It is turned on and set to a local news station. Apparently an elderly woman has been assaulted and severely injured while using an ATM machine nearby. 

The station shows camera footage of the victim with her face blacked out on a gurney being placed into an ambulance. The newscaster is interviewing the police chief who states that the extent of the woman’s injuries is not yet known, and that the perpetrator is still at large.

A young man and woman in jogging gear, who were in the laundromat when Stacia arrived, remove their wet laundry from the large washing machine. All eyes in the laundromat swivel in unison towards the couple as if controlled by a single brain. 

Stacia leaps out of her chair and races with her cart towards the large washing machine. The synchronized eyeballs lock onto Stacia with open hostility.

A very large man dressed in overalls with a tape measure poking out of his chest pocket squares off in front of Stacia. He wears steel-toed construction boots, covered with white powder-like residue. He stands with his arms akimbo and says nothing. He doesn’t need to. His presence alone clearly says, “Not on my watch.”

Stacia backs off quickly, retreating to her seat with her cart. Super Mario puts the first of three huge loads of laundry into the commercial washing machine.

Two middle aged women then exit the laundromat. Four customers remain.

It is midnight

The anchorman continues to report on the ATM attack. Stacia realizes instantly that the ATM machine in question is directly across from the credit union where she works. There are other area ATM machines but this one is famous.

 A local graffiti artist had, without permission, spray painted his trademark image on the lower half of the ATM machine. The image shows a large neon purple and pink 1970s style daisy in highly reflective, ultra glossy paint. 

The art loving denizens of the neighborhood aggressively pushed back against the bank’s planned removal of the daisy. They sent letters of protest to the editor of the local newspaper. They hired a lawyer to file an injunction against the bank to prevent the daisy’s removal. The bank capitulated. Everyone refers to the machine as the DAISY ATM.

Super Mario removes his first load of laundry from the large washing machine and puts the clothes into two dryers. He then puts his second load of dirty laundry into the big washing machine.

The young couple that had used the large machine just before Super Mario leave the laundromat. 

Two customers remain: Stacia and Super Mario. 

It is 1:00 A.M.

Stacia continues to watch the news while waiting to use the big machine. The newscaster states that there is no working camera at the ATM machine and that video footage comes from a camera located across the street at the credit union so mostly shows both the assailant and the victim from behind.  

Footage shows the elderly woman standing facing the ATM machine while the assailant stands behind her and slightly to her left. Viewers see the assailant shove the woman violently to the pavement. They see the woman’s forehead smash into the concrete. 

They then see the man bend down and grab the victims purse. 

The assailant is wearing a dark colored hoodie that he has pulled up over his head. He wears blue jeans that are cuffed up to his mid calves. He is wearing dark colored Chuck 70 Low Tops, popular these days. Stacia has the same pair.

For a short moment, following the attack, the assailant does turn around to face the direction of the credit union. Viewers can see that the assailant is wearing a dark colored windbreaker open with a dark colored T-shirt underneath. They can see his reflection against the painted daisy behind him on the ATM machine.

Super Mario now removes his first load of laundry now dry from the two dryers and forcibly tamps all the clothes down into a cloth sack. His biceps are as thick as Stacia’s thighs.  

He then puts the wet second load of clothes into the same two dryers and starts the machines. Finally, he adds his third load of dirty laundry into the large washing machine. 

 It is 2:00 A.M.

Stacia continues watching the coverage of the ATM incident. She has seen images of perpetrators committing crimes many times, especially as a copy editor in London. However, there is something unusual here. She can’t quite put her finger on it. 

The buzzer goes off on the large commercial washing machine.  

Super Mario removes the dry second load of laundry from two dryers and puts them into a cloth sack just like the first sack. He then puts the wet third load of laundry into the same two dryers and starts the machines. 

It is 3:00 A.M.

Copyediting requires scrupulous attention to details and the ability to find the tiniest mistakes that others may not notice . Stacia scoots forward in her chair, elbows on her knees, chin in her hands. She scrutinizes the television footage, tilting her head inquisitively like a dog who hears an unusual sound in the yard, 

The anchorman states that the condition of the woman has been downgraded to critical. He uses the fake irritating, empathetic tone that many broadcasters used when reporting on something tragic or sad. He tells viewers to call a listed number with any tips regarding the perpetrator.

Super Mario removes the now dry third load of laundry from the two dryers. And yes, he has a third cloth sack. He pushes the clothes into the sack. Now he has three full cloth sacks of clean clothes that he tosses over one shoulder as though they have no mass whatsoever. His stumps out of the laundromat .

Now Stacia is alone.

She gets up to put her soiled clothes into the commercial washing machine. She moves slowly for somebody that has waited hours to do this. It dawns on her that though she has waited hours to use the large washing machine the sudden ability to do so is anti-climactic. She feels somehow energized. This is the state of mind that she and her mother have referred to as “a second wind.” 

It is Friday night so she can sleep in tomorrow. When she wakes up her clothes all have been cleaned even if it took an entire night. 

She takes her seat again in the chair by the door. She reaches for the can of Pringles and her book. She rereads the first four chapters. She has now finished half a can of Pringles that she has washed down with her now warm water.  

It is 4:00 A.M.

The buzzer on the large commercial washing machine goes off, telling Stacia that the washing cycle has ended. Stacia removes her laundry and piles it into her own cart, which she wheels over to the dryers. She places her wet laundry into two dryers. 

Stacia once again takes her seat at the entrance to the laundromat. The newscaster continues his coverage of the attack at the Daisy ATM.  Suddenly a banner appears on the lower part of the screen that says: ELDERLY VICTIM OF ATM ATTACK HAS DIED OF HER INJURIES.

Stacia notices an immediate change in the tenor of the reporting; the broadcaster’s, empathetic tone has been cranked up to a 10. The police chief is on the station again, promising the family of the victim that the police will apprehend the culprit.  

Another message appears at the bottom of the television screen. This one says: FAMILY OFFERS A $10,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO ARREST. The message includes a phone number to call with tips .

The news station continues to show images of the assailant. The footage of the assailant shows the moment the he turns around to face the credit union camera. There on the glossy surface of the ATM Daisy behind him is an image reflected on the daisy.. The cuffed blue jeans enable the tattoo on his calf to show up on the ATM Daisy .

Stacia uses her iPhone to take a photograph of the image on the TV screen .

THE FINAL CUSTOMER 

It is 5:00 A.M.

She looks up to see a middle aged man with one of the wide, although short, laundry baskets piled high with clothes.  Even full of laundry, the basket does not appear to have enough clothes to justify the use of the large commercial washing machine.  

Stacia asks herself why she should care about the use of the large commercial washing machine that she waited hours to use now that she no longer needs the machine. Ugh, she thinks. I’m probably gonna have nightmares about that machine. 

The man puts puts his dirty laundry into one of the regular sized washing machines and starts the wash cycle.  He then walks over with his empty basket and takes a seat next to Stacia, with one empty seat between the two of them. He turns his basket upside down and puts his feet on the basket like it’s a footstool.

The newscaster is interviewing the police chief again. The chief says they have no leads on the perpetrator and that he is asking people to be vigilant and to call the hotline to provide any information that has to do with the ATM attack.

“Sure hope they catch that guy,” says Stacia. The man nods. “I don’t think they have anything on him,” he says. He has an English accent.

The man starts the drying cycle for his laundry. 

Because his pants had already been a couple inches too short (something that Stacia and her mom always referred to as flood pants ) they become shorter still due to the fact that he’s put his feet on an elevated surface. Stacia immediately notices the tattoo on the man’s lower right calf.

When Stacia lived in London, her boyfriend taught her the game of Conkers. The game is popular in England and Ireland. It is played using horse chestnuts. The horse chestnut is a brown, round, smooth seed inside a spiky green round outer shell called a horse chestnut burr. 

Each of two players works a string through the center of their conker using a small sharp object like a nail.  Then each player one at a time swings his conker towards the opposing conker. The first player to crack up the opponents conker wins the game. . In Stacia’s opinion, the game is one of the most tedious on the planet. Other than golf.

Nonetheless, Stacia knows that there could not possibly be more than one person in all of New York City with a horse chestnut burr tattooed on his leg,. With her cell phone casually resting next to her in her chair she presses the emergency button for 911. She allows herself to think about what she might do with $10,000.