Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Next In Line

The older lady picking up her laundry is supervising the asian woman putting the freshly washed and dried clothes into the bag, correcting her technique, making sure they're stacked exactly right.

"Just a minute," the asian woman says to me with an apologetic smile, and the woman, noticing me standing there for the first time, gives me an icy stare and then turns back to overseeing her clothes.

"No problem," I say, and even though an impatient howl is sitting just below my sternum, I compose my features and try not to freak out as the two of them negotiate several arcane niceties of folding before the asian woman goes to get the older woman's folding cart.

Slowly, without turning around or further acknowledging my presence, the older woman backs up until she's standing directly in front of me, creating a line of two, as if to make sure there's no confusion as to who was here first.

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One year ago today: You Talk to Strangers
Two years ago today: Line
Three years ago today: Haunting the Bastard
Five years ago today: 11/1/11 - another morning
Six years ago today: 11-1-10 Sous chef rhapsody

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