The End of Van Life
What else is there at this point?
That day on earth, Boston to be exact, I was sitting on a bench in a laundromat. My clothes were already washed, dried, folded and in my reusable bag. I didn’t mind doing laundry every week now, something about taking care of the little you had. Or maybe I’m coping. I don’t know. I distinctly remember the smell of detergent and then lifting up my wrist to check the time but nothing was there. Gold for food.
“What a luxury” I said to myself out loud
That happened to catch the attention of a daughter and her mother sitting on the same bench as me.
“Mommy that man is talking to himself” the little girl said
“Come here” the mother said as she switched seats with her daughter
I glanced at them quickly, mother had on a purple bubble coat and tan timberland boots. Safe to say if I made any sudden moves I’ll get fucked up. I couldn’t help but think what aura I was giving off. A man in his 20s but looks like he’s in his 30s, dirty pants where the bottom meets the shoe. Not even to mention I was at the laundromat in the middle of the day instead of earning a living. My chest suddenly had an ocean in it, and inevitably my heart began drowning. Through the blurry eyes I looked up at a mirror and my smile was the farthest from sincere. The one you give a elderly person at night time to let them know you’re not a threat, yeah that one.
It was the middle of the day, but to be honest I had nowhere to go. That, I decided a couple weeks ago when I sold the solid gold watch. I looked around and saw 3 people, each with a mind of their own, ages from 17 maybe all the way up to mid 60s.
I looked at my hands and I could see my finger nail poking through the cotton gloves. I had these since a teenager, if that boy could look at me now. Never mind that.
I looked up and the woman that came in a minute ago came and sat next to me. She gave me a glance and a smile, at that, my mind became heavy.
“What an odd thing to do” I said to myself out loud
“Excuse me?” she said looking directly into my eyes
“Oh, I guess I said that was odd”
Her eyebrows creased and the wrinkles near her eyes were more prominent but again she didn’t stop smiling
“Did I do something odd? I don’t understand”
“Well you’re not from here.” I said sitting back in my chair and crossing my feet. “We don’t smile at each other, that’s for countries with free healthcare like Denmark or something.”
She stared at me with the same face for what seemed like a good 15 seconds. After that, she looked straight ahead and said: “It could be worse”
“How?”
“You could be a Knicks fan” she said
I looked at her. I could tell you even now that not a bone in my body felt she was joking.
I suddenly began to feel cold so I pulled up my sleeves and goosebumps were forming. Outside the window of the laundromat the snow was piling up blocking the glass.
I stood up and grabbed my bag off the floor but as I was about to leave I felt eyes on me. I looked at the woman and she said: “Be careful out there, there’s gonna be a blizzard tonight that will last a week”
“Thanks for the forecast but I’m not in a rush to go anywhere anytime soon.”
I walked outside and there was a dog tied to the pole, shivering, and looking up at me. I walked right past it into the parking lot. I could hear my footsteps crushing the snow beneath my sneakers, I was outside for less than a minute and my toes and hands already started feeling numb. But the bag of warm clothes in my hand was burning a hole through my mind. The only thing I could think of was getting into my van and cooking a pot of ramen noodles.
I walked to where my van was supposed to be but the parking spot was empty.
“A week long blizzard huh” I said to myself out loud
