Categories
Life

A laundry in Brooklyn on a Monday evening in March

laundryMonday evening at the laundromat, corner of Lorimer St. and Graham Ave. in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

“Hello, hon, how can I help you?” the  lady on duty asked me as she folded t-shirts piled atop a blue plastic table. “Cold wash is $1. Warm wash, $2.50.” My fleece, which has a tag recommending that the garment be washed in cold water, decided.

I changed a $5 bill, loaded my laundry into a machine and sat down to finish a story in latest issue of The New Yorker about the movie “Noah,” by Darren Aronofsky, who, as it happens, grew up about 15 miles from the laundromat. I stared through the portal of the washing machine and imagined life aboard the arc as water inundated my clothes.

House Rules:

  • When cycle is finished, laundry left unattended in washers or dryers may be removed by the next waiting customers.
  • Check machines before loading items and please clean the machines after each use.
  • Kindly wipe clean any bleach or soap from tops of machines when finished.
  • We assume no responsibility for damaged, lost or stolen articles.
  • Absolutely no tinting or dyeing in any machines.
  • No sneakers, plastic or rubber items permitted in machines.
  • Do not remove laundry carts from store.
  • No pets or bicycles permitted in store.
  • No alcoholic beverages allowed.
  • No smoking.

A woman to my left in a hoodie typed on a MacBook Pro. A woman in black to her left knitted. “The Bachelor” played on one of two 55-inch televisions on the wall. Something about a single guy who brings a series of women home to meet his family. From the other screen poured a telenovela.