the laundry chronicles

an informal history

lest I forget

chapter one early impressions

after finishing college
my grandmother chose a path
somewhat different
from that of her sisters

they were

civic minded
career oriented
spinsters

she became a preachers wife
mother of six

In those days
Laundry
was sent out

nice people
didn't have
washing machines
at home

not even
piss poor
preachers

But, my grandfather
(described as a bit of a tyrant)
patriarch of his family
and church

had made up his mind
to purchase
one

perhaps it was his attempt
at combatting the stench
of the six little bedwetters
with whom he shared his home

or perhaps he just had some inate male love of things mechanical

whatever

my great aunts
not unused to protesting
(WCTO)

rallied 'round my grandmother
and with the same great zeal
they carried into great causes
(suffrage)

they fought my grandfather
long and hard
to keep the evil contraption
out...

no sister of theirs
would be slave
to a machine