WASHER DOWN

I had just walked into the laundry room, ready to switch a load of clothes from the washing machine to the dryer when I realized I was standing in a puddle of water in my bare feet.

“NOOOO!”

I could see that it wasn’t just a puddle but the entire floor was covered in a sudsy mess.

I quickly gathered the load of unwashed towels that was supposed to go into the washer and began mopping up the mess.

Moments later my son Alex was standing in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“The washer broke!” I wasn’t making much progress with the towels.

Alex looked over his shoulder. “It’s wet out here too.”

“What?” I came to the doorway and looked past him. I could see the water had seeped under one of the area rugs which was now soaked. “Oh, for the love of…” I grabbed my phone and called my husband Steven. He picked up on the second ring.

“Morning! How’s your day going?” he asked.

“It’s a disaster!” I cried. “The washing machine broke and there’s water everywhere!”

“Calm down. I’ll send one of my guys over to see how bad it is.”

“It’s bad!” I was looking around the laundry room for anything else that would sop up the mess.

“Don’t worry. Someone will be there within the hour.” His voice was calming me down.

“Okay, thanks.”

“What I need you to do now is call the appliance store and see if they have any washing machines in stock.”

“What?” That made me stop in my tracks. “What do you mean if?”

“A lot of my clients are having trouble getting appliances because of Covid. Everything is backed up.”

“No, no, no, no!” I was shaking my head and looked over at Alex who had a look of concern on his face.

“I’ll send you my contact at the appliance store. Just give them a call.”

I hung up the phone and looked at Alex. “We’re doomed.”

Alex laughed. “What did Dad say?”

“That there might not be any washing machines available right now.”

Alex eyebrows went up. “That’s not good.”

“Nope.” Just then my phone dinged. It was Steven’s contact number at the appliance store.

I took a deep breath and dialed. When I got his contact on the phone I explained my plight.

I could hear him sigh. “Well…”

“I’ll take anything!” I cried. “I just want something that washes clothes. I don’t need anything fancy. In fact I prefer low end, less things that can go wrong.”

“Oh, well we do have a few machines like that still in the showroom.”

“Perfect! I’ll be right over!” I looked over at Alex. “We’re in luck!”

Alex laughed. “So I hear.” He pushed a wet towel with his foot moving it closer to the middle of the puddle. “Good thing you like things low end.”

“Hey,” I looked around the laundry room. “What do I care what the washing machine looks like.” I began dropping some of the soaking wet towels into a laundry basket. “It’s not like I’m going to be bringing anyone down here to entertain.”

Alex nodded his head. “True.”

“Besides your Dad loves my frugal side.” I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders. “So it’s a win-win for everyone!”