Laundromat

In Creative Writing class, we were given an assignment, "Feed the Muse" Exercise A, to finish a sentence, paragraph, or write a whole story based on some words, clauses or sentences. One of them was Through the window of a Laundromat, you see a woman folding socks. Describe her. I decided to write a story based off this again (the first one was pretty depressing) featuring PAMELA HARPER WOWOWOWWOW

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A few years after meeting Rose, when the name calling and annoying pulling of her braids had sadly increased, Pam saw a girl folding socks in a laundromat. Through the building's dirty window, which was covered with month old bird poo, the girl seemed to be holding each pair by her fingertips, as though she hadn't even washed them yet. Curious, Pam left her towel and the bottle of Windex she had been spraying the front door with and crossed the street, making sure to look both ways before crossing. She prided herself for always following the rules. The bell swung open with a familiar jingle, and she greeted the chubby man at the counter, Mr. Park, who she saw every Saturday afternoon. Mr. Park offered her a chocolate chip cookie, which he always had too much of, and asked why she was here on a Thursday. Instead of answering, Pam stuffed a cookie in her mouth, smiled at him, and marched over to the girl with the socks. She had only folded around twenty pairs, possibly only two since Pam had first seen her. Pam also prided herself for being good with numbers. Somtimes, she counted the floorboards and tiles in her aunt's apartment when she was bored (or she would visit the landlady, who was usually in a bathrobe and hair rollers, and stay for a cup of decaffeinated tea), but she never counted the tiles of the laundromat (she talked to Mr. Park instead). While glancing at the floor, wondering how many tiles filled the room, she discovered that the girl beside her had no shoes.

"Where are your shoes?" The girl looked up at her and said, "I don't like wearing shoes. They make me feel uncomfortable"

"Do socks make you feel uncomfortable too?" she asked, even though she had no idea what "uncomfortable" meant. She would have to Google it later.

The girl shook her head. "No, my mum told me to do our laundry, but she forgot to give me money. I'm folding our clothes so she won't notice the smell until later, when the flies have come in. Mum doesn't really notice things like this." A small smile crept onto Pam's face, and momentarily forgot her disgust towards the "rotten clothes". She said mum! But the girl didn't seem to be "Bri-ish"; she only said that one word weirdly. After Pam mentioned her odd accent, the girl looked at her, confused.

"Doesn't your mum make you call her mum?"

Pam looked down at the floor, finding the tiles very interesting at the moment. "I don't have a mom anymore," she mumbled.

"Oh," the girl said, not sure how to reply. Pam broke the weird silence (she was only seven, and didn't know the word "awkward" yet) by asking what the girl's name was.

"Ehm, my name's Alexander Granger, Alex for short, and I'm actually a boy. But don't worry too much. Most people assume I'm a girl." A boy? His hair was almost up to his elbows!

"Uh... th-the... erm, my name is Pamela Harper? You can call me Pam?" She hated how her sentences turned into questions. Grammar rules stated that she couldn't ask a question without using a question word. Her first rule ever broken, in a laundromat with dirty windows and dirty clothes. Chucking nervously, she tried to distract Alex from her obvious rule-breaking by asking if it was okay to pay for his laundry. He nodded and promised to pay her back later, holding his pinkie up for a pinkie swear, something Pam had seen frequently in school but never experienced herself. They asked Mr. Park to be a witness for possible theft, although Alex was sure the police wouldn't have to interfere.

While they waited for his laundry to finish, they talked about their families, hobbies, favorite foods, and life in general (as they had seen strangers do in tv shows). Alex had a puppy, two older brothers who were in high school, a mom, and an ex-dad who had left the family before he was born. He liked mango banana kiwi smoothies without too much ice, and strawberry ice cream; not because of the color, but the flavor. He also liked playing baseball, basketball, video games, and cards (although Pam couldn't tell anyone else about that), and he knew some magic card tricks. On his birthday, he wanted a magician's hat and cape so he could impress the public with his "awesome skills". His favorite color was also green, although he liked darker shades of it. Pam preferred the pastel version, which reminded her of Easter eggs.

They carried his laundry back to his house together (Alex doing most of the labor, since Pam was a girl and he lived two streets away, therefore, miles away) and Pam met his mother, who was friendly, warm, and reminded her of Rose. They spent more than an hour in the backyard, playing fetch with the puppy and talking about types of weeds they could grind up and make into a smoothie. After she left, taking some mango banana kiwi smoothie with her, Pam felt giddy, like a fuzzy puppy with too much energy. She had made her first friend.

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Viola. This part of the story has many more paragraphs. Many many more (actually only 8 more but pshhhh that's okay. I can still math, just like Pam XD). I'm sorry for those of you who are uncomfortable with a boy looking like a girl. If this ruins your life, and you complain, JUST GO TO DIAGON ALLEY OR HOGWARTS OR SOMEWHERE IN THE MAGICAL WORLD I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE MEMORY POTIONS AND WHATNOT. Or you could search for magic and the ministry will erase your memory without charge (just ask them to erase it all, and maybe they'll listen). That's always nice.

#PamelaHarper