Invitation to Dance


Later, Nicole thought that wearing those shoes to the laundromat was not the smartest thing. Neither was buying them. They were eighty-five dollars and she could have put that money toward a washing machine. But when she saw the heels and the slim black suede, she felt a sudden thirst. It was the same feeling you get on a hot day when you’ve been running around doing errands, too busy to realize how dehydrated you’re getting, and then you see someone right in front of you drinking a glass of ice water. She had to have them.

They were a classic open toe salsa style with a three inch heel and straps that wrapped around her ankle three times. The White Star laundromat was not a place for those shoes. It was a place where people wore sneakers on bare feet or slippers or slides, because it was the end of the week and they didn’t have any clean socks left.

But when she bought the shoes, she had to wear them right away. It was just a coincidence that it was Saturday and she needed to go do her wash. Anyway, nobody would bother her at the laundromat. Most people there kept to themselves.

Because she was going to wear the shoes, she had to wear something that matched. They were not shoes you could wear with jeans. So she put on one of her dresses, a simple pale green shift that ended at the middle of her thigh. The color reminded her of baby lettuce leaves, and it brought out her green eyes.

She drove to the laundromat, which was across from the Select Seafood restaurant and a little convenience store with bars across the windows, and parked in front of Air Nail, where the glass door was painted with a picture of a woman with very black hair and very pale skin and crimson lips and nails. She was holding a crimson rose which matched her makeup. Sort of like Snow White if she grew up and became a prostitute.

As she was getting out of her car she saw the Asian owner of Air Nail open the door and ask a woman standing on the sidewalk in front of her shop “You want your nails done?” The tone of her voice was more of a challenge than a question. The woman shook her head. She looked as if she was waiting for someone or something. She did not move from her spot on the sidewalk. Nicole guessed that when she did make her next thirty-five dollars, she would not be spending it on a full set.

Nicole walked toward the door. She passed a car with its windows open, music blasting out of the speakers. The guy sitting in the driver’s seat raised his eyebrows at her as she walked past. He had on a shirt that was a bright burst of orange, like a bird in mating season.

The White Star was a small square building with big glass windows. When she walked in the air was warm and dry and smelled like lint and bleach. It was busy. People were standing by the flat-topped skinny-legged metal tables folding their clothes, and pushing wet clothes in wire carts from the washers lined in the middle of the room to the dryers that were lined along the outside.

She looked for some machines that were not in use, and set her big blue plastic laundry basket down by three empty ones. She walked over to the change machine by the wall on the far side and got five dollars in quarters. A skinny old man with white hair was mopping the floor. He stopped for a second as she walked past and he smiled at her.

She started putting her clothes in the washers, added soap, and slid the quarters in the slots of the washers to start them going. Then she leaned against one of her washers to rest for a minute and look around. There was a tall rangy white guy standing by the door who stared at her. His eyes had the watery shine of a crack smoker and his dark blond hair needed some shampoo. He walked slowly over to her and when he got up close he said quietly, “If you want, I’ll pay for you to dry your clothes.”

Nicole turned her eyes from him as fast as she could and walked away. Pay to dry my clothes, she thought. In exchange for what? She looked for a place to escape. There were more people in the seating section by the snack machine and the coke machine. She walked over and sat down in one of a row of forest green chairs. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the tall guy go out of the side door and she relaxed a little. She could feel the sun coming in warm on her back from the window behind her and she closed her eyes.

She could hear the sound of the television from the wall by the side door, between the pay phone and the heavy duty dryers. A Visine advertisement was playing and the narrator was talking about red, dry eyes. Nicole blinked her eyes and stretched out her legs and circled her ankles. The arch of her shoes was a little high but it was not uncomfortable. She tapped her heels against the tile of the floor. She sensed someone watching her and she looked up. There was a man leaning against one of the washing machines in the center. Not the tall guy, thank God - someone else. Just leaning and looking at her. He had on a white T-shirt and jeans. Light olive skin, short black hair and a moustache. Ordinary looking, but with a light in his eye.

When she looked at him, he walked over and sat in a seat two seats away from her, right by the toy bronze car with a broken black steering wheel. There were two kids sitting in the car, a little girl around three and a baby of maybe one and a half with his hands on the broken wheel. They didn’t have a quarter to put in the coin slot and make the car rock, so they were just sitting there. The guy in the white T-shirt put in a quarter for them and the car started humming and rocking. He looked over at Nicole.

She looked away from him, over at the light green walls with a trim of wallpaper on top that had a pattern of tiny flowers. She heard a kid banging on an electronic game. A little high voice said in Spanish: “Help me, help me, they’re going to kill me and eat me.”

She looked at the little boy in front of them playing the game. He was about four years old, and so short he had pulled up a chair by the machine and was standing on it so he could reach the controls and see the screen. He was reaching one hand behind him so his father could give him more quarters before he lost the game. It was a demanding, confident gesture, like he knew there would always be quarters there if he reached his hand out for them. A four year old King of the World.

She starting laughing at the little boy and the man in the white T-shirt was laughing too. He leaned toward her with a smile.

“Hi, I’m Tony” he said. “Do you come here a lot?”
Nicole could see past him over to the side door and she saw the tall guy come back in and he looked to be carrying a forty in a brown paper bag. He must have walked across the street to the convenience store to buy it. Since he didn’t have to pay for my dryers, I guess he had an extra dollar or two, Nicole thought, and looked over at the man next to her. I may as well talk to him, she decided. Maybe the tall guy would stay away now.

She told him she had been coming here lately because her washer broke and that she had not bought a new one yet.
“Why don’t I give you my cell phone number? I know some people who sell washers and dryers and they can bring you one.”
“Who are these people? Do they have a store somewhere? ”
“No, they don’t have a store.”
“Then where are they getting the washers and dryers from?”
He shrugged. She looked at him and rolled her eyes. .
“Are you scared?” he asked.
“A little”.
“Don’t be scared of me.”
She looked at him and he was smiling. “I’ll be right back,” he said, walking away to go check on his clothes.

She gazed up at the white ceiling with its dirty tiles and heating vents and dusty fans. The old guy should be mopping the ceiling as well as the floor, she thought. Five pillars came down from the ceiling, green with flowers on top just like the walls. The green of the pillars and the walls was almost the same light green as her dress. It was weird to think that someone had spent time designing the color scheme of this place.

She heard someone banging on the snack machine. There were voices: the high pitched kid’s voice from in front of the game, then a deeper adult voice. English words and Spanish words. Someone tore open a bag of chips. The sounds danced around her in a random rhythm.

Tony came back and sat in the same seat and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.
“Where do you live?” he asked. It seemed to her like a question that was more appropriate toward the end of a conversation than at the beginning.
“In town”.
“Well, do you know where North Duke Street is? I live over there, 800 North Duke, Apartment 10…” He waved his hand in the direction of the center of town.
She laughed. “Why do I need to know where you live?”
“Maybe sometime you will be driving by and think about me and decide to stop in.”
“That’s very unlikely…”
“Well, think about it”, he said and got up and walked toward the Coke machine, taking some change out of his pocket.

Nicole listened to the sounds around her again. She felt wide awake. Background noises rushed into her ears with the strength of an orchestra. There was carnival music from the electronic game, and the pinging sound of a player firing at his enemies. Behind all that, the rattling and whirring of washing machines. It sounded like one was out of balance.

Tony turned around and came back and he was carrying two cans of Coke. He gave one to her and winked.

She opened up the can and took a drink. It was sweet and very cold.
“Thanks”, she said.
“By the way, are you married?” Tony asked.
“No”.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“He is a lucky guy,” he said, looking at her legs and her feet.
“You are a beautiful woman.”
“Um, thanks…” Nicole, said, and her face felt a little hot. She set down her can of Coke and reached down to adjust the strap of her right shoe which was starting to come loose.
“Do you get bored at home sometimes? I invite you to a dance with me tonight.”
“Didn’t I just tell you I had a boyfriend?”
“But I don’t have a girlfriend.”
She shrugged and looked out the window behind her at the cars in the parking lot.
“You’re making me sad”, he said.
“By next week you will have forgotten me.” Nicole told him.
“No, I will never forget you”, he said, leaning toward her, “Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because of your beautiful eyes”.
She laughed.
“I’m serious” he said.

She heard the last rattle and thump of one of her washers finishing.
“Excuse me, I need to go check on my clothes”, she said.

When her clothes were finished Nicole let Tony carry her laundry basket to the car. He waved at her as she drove out of the parking lot and waited at the red light by Select Seafood.

As the light turned green she drove away. Her foot pressed down on the gas pedal and she could feel the suede straps of her shoe embracing her ankle. Little sparks of sunlight were dancing on the asphalt. It was a beautiful day.