Moments of Tension at the Laundromat

I have been meaning to call the washing machine repairman for how long now…maybe four or five months?  Something always comes up and to date I have not done so.  Like it or not had to make a trip to the Laundromat.

It got to 105 degrees in Del Rio today and I am driving in a non-air conditioned car to the Laundromat…am I nuts?  Don’t answer that!

Actually it turned out to be a good decision as I was the only person there and I got to use five out of the six high load washers.  It wasn’t until after the last washer was done that more people arrived.  Struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was taking care of his 95 year old mother and all the difficulties he has because she fires all the help his sister and him hire.

A lady in her late 20’s arrived with two kids and I knew that was the end of my peaceful time.  However I was wrong, the little girl about 5 and the little boy about 3 years old were very well mannered.  She was laughing at some of the comments the gentleman was making to me.  He stepped outside to smoke and I kept on folding clothes when she comes running to me with her little girl in her arms and tells me to please call 911.

At first I thought she was kidding but quickly realized she wasn’t.  I told her I did not have a cell phone, so we both ran to the adjacent store for help.  The two lady workers were as much in shock as we were, one of them quickly called only to get a busy signal! WTH?  This is not Houston, it is Del Rio how can it be busy?

This poor mother with her child in her arms spotted a lady with her back toward us pouring herself a soda and talking on her phone.  She was dressed in scrubs and fortunately was a nurse (I say that because sometimes I dress in scrubs too).  Talk about someone being at the right place at the right time.  By now the little girl was foaming at the mouth and her little body was going into convulsions.

I remembered her little boy was by himself at the Laundromat so I went to look after him and to calm him down since not having medical training there was nothing I could do for his sister.  It seemed like ages but the fire truck arrived in about 4 minutes followed by an ambulance.

Her husband arrived a short time later to remove the clothes from the washers and to take their son home.  He seemed so familiar to me and I asked him if he worked at the Toyota dealership and he smiled and said, “I thought I remembered you ”.  Would you believe with my bad memory and all that I actually remembered his last name?  Well neither do I, but I did!  He had taken me for a test drive maybe two years ago?

I asked him if his little girl was epileptic, he said she had not been diagnosed as such and that this was the second time this happened to her.  I must say he was calmed and composed like one should be.  Never saw his wife again, I think she went in the ambulance with her daughter.

Want to give a warm welcome to Elizabeth who has joined our blog audience.  Thank you for your readership.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.