Today was laundry day… I don’t have an official dayof the week to wash clothes. In fact any day will do. Truth be told, there’s nothin like a clean pair of draws. You ever put on a pair right after they come out of the dryer? Thats the best, especially during the winter months or on those wet, cold day, like today’s weather here in Atlanta.I found myself down to the last pair of socks and the pair i had on were damn near sponge soaked. The nearest laundrymat was about a .25 of a mile away, which was in a little plaza conjoined to a gas statin slash convenience store owned by a local Hispanic family. I’ve enjoyed going to the laundrymat since my days of youth, and at this young adult age, the same amenties were everpresent that would entertain ones attention while awaiting your wash of clothes to complete. There was the vending machines, and of course the video games, which one of them just so happens to be PAC-MAN, an all-time favorite!
While I waited I noticed th crowd dwindling down to a mere 2 or 3 groups of people aside from the employees. One group consisted of what I assume to be a couple, with the bumper she was draggin, it better had been! They were accompanied a young boy no more than 6, whose eyes were glued to another group of young males playing the video games, eager for a closer look and participation in the graphical display of animation sprwal across the large pixel screen. It kinda rubs me the wrong way when a child can’t join in with other kids for activities, as such. I didn’t know if it was due to money, or realistically, the choice to to waste change, with the game being $1 to play, in quarters, which could easily be substitued for washer or dryer money. But he stood there, wide eyed in fascination, listening to the other kid’s excitement with the vibrant, high-energy graphics of “Marvel vs. Capcom”. Yet overall, he was in content with the juice and chips he munched on while obeserving the gameplay like a animated movie.
I approached the washer with my load of clothes, bottle of detergent, and fabric softner sheets I was lucky enough to find while awaiting an available washer. With quarters in hand, I filled the coin slot, started the machine, poured the detergent, and waited until the first cycle started to begin loading my stuff. I emptied the plastic bag of dirty clothes into the cylinder, socks, boxers, wife-beater T’s, jeans, and polo shirts. Those paying attention, you assumed right.. I loaded ever-ry-thang into one wash. I’m a man… And it’ll be clean, and I got quarters! LOL!
With that said, and now eating a bag of chips with a can of pink lemonade, like youn’ I mentioned earlier, I somehow came across thinking about the idea of racism and segregation, awkward huh. Not really. Its a constant nuiscance in our society, and here at the laundrymat I saw an INKLING of it’s ignorance at a resolution, in washing detergent. Follow me now…
While deciding which detergent to use, prior to finding that bottle I mentioned earlier, I stood in front of a vending machine that sold a number of brands to choose from. The one that happened to capture my attention was Clorox Bleach for Colors. Bleach… For Colors. Two totally different chemical compounds happen to share 1 bottle. Interesting huh?! To me atleast, and hopefully you as well. So what I saw was progress in the purest form, from which we, as living and breathing human beings, have come into existence. Perhaps, this was more than just a solution for washing clothing, yet perhaps an idea you can take home and wear everday.
-ZAK4InkJar