THE RINSE CYCLE

Vanessa pulls up to The Swirls on 54th Street and gets out of the car. Already, Vanessa could hear loud voices coming from inside the laundromat. She grabbed the clothes from the trunk of the car and then she entered. Vanessa did this every Sunday. I loved the gossip. I was here for it, that and my laundry. It smelled of laundry detergent and sweat inside. Talk about a nasty flavor when you accidently leave your mouth open for too long.

“They’re my children too, woman!” said Michael, a construction worker who put on his green vest angry-like.

“Yeah, well I’m more than sure I will win custody,” said Miranda, a woman with a scrounged face.

Michael and Miranda, every time Vanessa see’s them at Swirls—they were always arguing about something. Another episode of The Impossible Couple—their love was destined to come to an end. How tragic? A lot of people ending up divorced these days. From the sound of it, I guess they are finally divorcing. I just hope the kids will be okay. Vanessa considered that fact they were all teenagers at the moment—Mike Junior was 12, Cristella was 13, and Patricio was 15. They were all old enough to understand adult stuff.

“I will see you later, Miranda, at the house.”

“Oh, no you won’t. You need to find somewhere else to live. That’s my grandma’s house. You have no rights to the house. The deed is not in your name, and I will be changing the locks as soon as I’m done with this laundry.”

“Yeah, whatever, Miranda. I will see you later.”

Gun shots fired as Michael almost stepped out of the business.

“Drive by!” said Michael.

Everyone got down as low as they could. Everyone got into their routinely positions. Anyone who lives in the southside knows this was what they had to put up with almost weekly. Vanessa saw an empty washer on the opposite side of Miranda, but she waited for the sound of the bullets to stop and used her laundry basket for cover. The room was both tense and frightened. Everyone pretended they were okay and calm, but the kids were scared. The sirens came quick. Michael was then stuck at the laundromat and Miranda had to endure his presence while the street went on lockdown.

“Man, I just wanted to be in and out and do my laundry today. Why God? Why?” said Vanessa with one hand up to the sky and looking up.

The gun shots had stopped and now the police were outside looking for the shooter. All the Swirls customers in the room decided to get up off the floor and continue their laundry. Vanessa cautiously walked over with her laundry basket and went to the washer that was to the left of the room, on the opposite end of Miranda. Miranda’s kids stayed down on the floor behind the washers. Vanessa could see that Miranda was frustrated that Michael was still in the room. She grabbed her hand.

“It’s okay, girl. I’m here.”

Michael gave Vanessa such a dirty look when she held Miranda’s hand.

“Oh, sure. The girls always stick together,” said Michael.

“What? A woman can’t hold her home girl’s hand,” said Vanessa.

Michael always had to start something; he was the instigator. Vanessa and Michael started bickering at each other.

“Oh, shut up, you!” said Michael.

“Don’t you tell me to shut up, you bum. You always have trouble looking for work and jobs never end up calling you back to work,” said Vanessa.

Michael walked over to Vanessa as she tried to separate her whites. He got really close up—and in her face—trying to intimidate her. There was a severe lack of deodorant type of smell and icky sticky sweat was rubbed off on her right arm as he got into her personal space.

“Are you trying to get in between me and my wife?”

“Honey, you slipped through cracks all on your own. She already let you loose from her finger tips—like Rose left Jack in the ocean after the titanic sunk. Your marriage is the titanic and Miranda is already on the boat ready for her new—lover.”

Michael blew raspberries in Vanessa’s face and sprayed her with spit. He then grabbed her laundry detergent, flipped the box open, turned it upside down and into the trash it went. His kids that were right behind him saw the whole thing and were stunned. The rest of the people at The Swirls were equally disgusted with him.

“See you’re an animal Michael,” said Vanessa.

“And you’re a pain—” said Michael.

Michael then grabbed Vanessa by the neck and pushed her up against the wall. “I’m calling the police,” said the manager on duty.

He didn’t like that Vanessa was always talking mess to him all the time, he was tired of it—it was the last straw for him. Vanessa fearful face showed she was second guessing her actions—along with her choice of words. Michael was not to be played with. Miranda had never seen Michael do anything like that before—she was panicking in silence.

“Freeze, put your hands up,” said the police officer with his gun pointing at Michael.

This was the end of their relationship for sure, Michael and Miranda were no more. Vanessa was thankful that the cops had arrived. Michael let go of Vanessa without hesitation and put his hands up. He knew this was it for him, he was done and gone—like locked away and throw the key away, gone.

“Next time, you meet someone—lets make sure—he’s okay in the head. Also, I learned today to not talk so much,” said Vanessa.

“Good riddance to him. And yes, you do talk a lot, but I love you anyway girl,” said Miranda.