Coin Op

After a day dealing with broken laundry machines, I was inspired to write this...

    Otto Marcus paced around his apartment frantically picking up every piece of laundry that had piled up over the last six days. Otto was a procrastinator. He liked to come home from his job as a security guard and avoid anything that might cause him to have to make a decision or interact with another human being. But today he had finally come down to his last pair of mismatched socks, and the sudsy deed had to be done.
    Finally after scouring every nook and cranny where clothing may have been thrown, his white plastic basket was heaving. He hitched up his sweat pants (the last remnant of a full wardrobe) and struggled to open his front door while balancing the basket of dirty clothes against himself.
    Outside in the courtyard his apartment opened into the wind was howling at a frightening rate. Otto’s thinning hair whipped wildly around his head while he squinted and trudged on towards the door that led to the laundry machines. At the door, again he had tuck the basket under and arm and shove the heavy door open with the other, only to hear what he always feared hearing in this situation. The machines in the basement were already washing someone else’s load of laundry. Grimacing and struggling with the weight of clothes, Otto went out the back door to cross a walkway into another laundry unit.
    He opened the door cautiously, and after the squeaking door closed, he was relieved to only hear the building’s heater running smoothly with a low hum. Otto trudged down the stairs, each step a heavy thump and made it to the basement. He happily began pouring out a cup of detergent and dumped it in a spiral into the industrial washer, then filling it to the brim with his load. He had to push it down a few inches, eyeing the label inside the rim that read Do Not Fill Past This Line. He shut the lid and dug in his pocket for quarters, but stopped when he noticed the usual LED readout on the washer was off. He frowned and went around it to check the power cord. It ran snaking up the wall to an old outlet painted a dull grey color. Knowing nothing about electrical issues, Otto simply unplugged the cord and plugged it into the adjacent one. He turned an looked eagerly at the washer’s display. Nothing. He frowned deeper, walking back over to the washer as a child would storm away from a scolding.
    The lid slammed open as Otto emptied his clothes back into his basket, now soaked with sticky detergent. He rushed out of the building desperate to get his clothes in the wash before the concentrated detergent ruined the whole lot.
His last option would be to head down the concrete path running between the building with the machines being used and the ones that didn’t work, and hope that the last building on the corner would be available. He usually never used machines there because he found it too far of a walk from his apartment, but today there was no choice.
    The wind picked up and sent tiny bits of dirt to attack Otto’s eyes while he ducked his head and almost jogged down the path. After a few stumbles with the basket, he climbed the six stairs to the door leading to the last apartment building. He scrunched his face as closed his eyes opening the door. No machines running. That, at least was a good sign. He hurried down the stairs making loud echoes bounce around the concrete basement.
    The basement was full of old refrigerators and ovens that had been replaced from some of the apartments, but hiding in the corner were the two squat machines he was desperate to find. The display on the washer winked happily and Otto winked back as he practically threw his clothes into the wash. After loading the quarters and giving the rusty coin slot a good push, the machine roared to life filled full of water. Otto smiled lazily as he watched the simple machine in action, but furrowed his brow when he noticed the two large sinks next to the washer were half full with standing water. No bother, he thought, and made his way back to his apartment.
    After flipping through a days old newspaper for half an hour, Otto saw it was time to dry his clothes. He pouted slightly when he opened the door and saw the wind had picked up, and was now howling through the walkway between the buildings. He zipped up his sweatshirt and made it to the laundry.
    As he walked into the laundry room, Otto first noticed that the two sinks were now completely full of soapy, swirling water. His heart sunk as he opened the lid and saw that all his clothes were still fully submerged in water. His blood beginning to boil at the ridiculousness of the whole day, he took each article out one by one, ringing out the water and then tossing it into the basket with a wet plop. Ten minutes later, his laundry was out, and he pulled the heavy basket across the floor to the dryer. With rising anger Otto threw the clothes into the wide open machine and slammed the door shut. He was digging for quarters when he noticed the LED on the dryer was still off.     Clenching his teeth and chasing the power cord to the outlet, he saw the cord had been frayed and split a few inches from where it was plugged into the wall. Otto’s hand came down hard on the dryer, then immediately flung the door open and pulled his sopping clothes back into his basket.
    Now, running out of options, and dripping soapy water, Otto stumbled back down the pathway towards the machines near his apartment. The clothes were heavy for him dry, but now that they were soaked the weight was more than doubled, and he struggled to simply hold on to the basket. As he reached the door to the first building he had tried that day, he pleaded in his mind for the dryer to be free. Pushing the door open with his backside, he almost tripped and fell down the stairs, but caught his balance at the last minute thanks to the guardrail in the stairwell. There were no sounds coming from the basement, but Otto was not reassured. He crept into the laundry room as if he were about to commit a robbery, looking around for what might jump out and further sabotage his day. But upon entering the room, he saw both machines had their displays brightly lit and their doors open, as if welcoming him with a waving hand. He smiled back at them and started emptying his clothes into the dryer, each piece leaving strings of water on the floor and making loud splats as the hit the metal of the machine. Otto quickly pulled out his quarters and fed them in, and slammed the coin slot into the machine. A wonderful whirring sound filled Otto’s ears as the machine kicked on and sped up, and a huge smile was plastered over his face. He left the basket and made his way back up the stairs, listening to the wind as it howled and whined like a defeated foe. Otto open the door smugly and almost strutted towards his apartment listening to the muffled sound of the dryer, but just then an especially violent gust of wind blew through the complex and shook a power line loose from its generator. All the buildings went dark, and the wonderful whirring sound Otto had wanted to hear so badly all day ceased in just a few seconds. He stood dumbfounded in the dark, listening to the wind, and cursing himself for not just going to the Coin Op Laundry down the road.

 

Reviews

[Enthusiast]

Dear Tim,

This is a nice story. It's very readable, and I enjoyed the progression of events, intrigued to find out what could be going wrong next.

Some of the verbiage is a big cumbersome, but you use overall good descriptions throughout, with interesting visuals.

What's lacking in the story for me is depth in the character. There's a little bit of information about his living conditions, etc, but Otto remains a very flat character. He's not memorable to me. Maybe you could elaborate on his internal state a bit more as he deals with this series of events, or possibly parallel the outward difficulties with a more internal one.

This is my own personal opinion. Please don't take any suggestions personally. I hope other reviewers will be able to assist you.

Thanks for submitting this story. You did a good job. Keep up the good work!