Lake cracked the front door open and slipped through, trying to let as little of the howling wind & rain in as possible, then squelched his way over to the counter and grabbed a half-towel from the Mystery Box of Abandoned Stuff. It didn\u2019t really do much to make his soaked clothing any less soaked, but it at least persuaded the water to go into one place as he struggled out of his coat.
He paused midway through setting out some plates and threw me a questioning look.
\u201cCustomer come in? The Machine\u2019s running.\u201d
I\u2019d wandered over to one of the dryers and was making \u2018Wet Clothes Go In Here, Not On The Floor I Just Cleaned\u2019 gestures.
\u201cNope.\u201d I replied, intercepting the coat as it sailed in my general direction. \u201cDoing a cleaning run, and I thought I\u2019d see what the highest dryer setting does to an old towel.\u201d
\u201cProbably sets it on fire.\u201d Lake grumbled, trying to artfully arrange Indian take-out in what he probably imagined was a restaurant style. Truthfully, it was closer to prison chow-hall presentation, but there\u2019s only so much you can do with a soup ladle. And no, I don\u2019t know why he was using a soup ladle, or why there\u2019s one in the \u2018food stuff\u2019 section of the counter.
We sat and ate for a while, watching The Machine as it silently went through the various wash\/dry steps.
\u201cHow\u2019re you finding that?\u201d Lake asked, pointed to my current reading material with a poppadom fragment.
I nudged the Lonely Planet Guide to South-East Asia with an elbow.
\u201cIt\u2019s interesting.\u201d I replied. \u201cNot an area of the world I\u2019ve ever visited, obviously, but it does look amazing. Who abandoned it here, do you know? It\u2019s this year\u2019s edition, so they\u2019ll probably want it back.\u201d
Lake smirked, and gave me a Look. It took me a second.
\u201cIt\u2019s yours?\u201d
\u201cNo, it\u2019s yours now.\u201d
\u201cWhy,\u201d I asked. \u201cDid you get an ex-con parolee a travel book.\u201d
Another Look, this time with more of a \u2018figure it out\u2019 tone, if such a thing is possible.
I set down my fork.
\u201cYou\u2019re planning something.\u201d I stated.
\u201cIt\u2019s really more of contingency thing, but yes, there\u2019s a plan.\u201d He replied.
My turn for a Look.
\u201cAnd that idea for employee ID badges with photos, \u2026\u201d I prompted him.
\u201c\u2026 photos which could potentially also be used for passports \u2026\u201d Lake continued encouragingly.
\u201c\u2026 but they\u2019d never stand up to a serious check at an airport.\u201d We finished together.
I picked up my fork again and dealt with an attempted vindaloo escape from one side of the plate.
\u201cAnd I\u2019m guessing you know folks in the shipping trade?\u201d I mumbled through a mouthful.
Lake nodded.
\u201cThat\u2019s right\u201d He said. \u201cNo sensible way through an airport or major port, but smuggling exists, and there\u2019s no way to watch a ship every step of the way. And they way I\u2019m told it, once you\u2019re in-country, nobody cares that much.\u201d
My turn to give him a Look.
\u201cYou\u2019re taking this very seriously; Is there something you know that I don\u2019t?\u201d
He shrugged.
\u201cNo.\u201d Lake replied. \u201cIt\u2019s what I don\u2019t know that has me worried. Your meeting with Senior Supervising Parole Officer Davis makes no sense, so I want an exit route for the both of us when we find out what\u2019s going on there. Nobody covers up a fake ID for no reason, and that reason probably isn\u2019t good.\u201d
He sat back and gazed at The Machine, which had hit it\u2019s reflective spin-cycle phase with the uncomfortably distorted view of the Laundry. Suddenly he dropped his fork and clapped his hands, which startled me enough to fumble my plate and send rice over the floor.
\u201cWhat The Hell!?\u201d
\u201cI figured it out!\u201d Lake pointed triumphantly. \u201cWe\u2019re what\u2019s wrong with the reflection.\u201d
He caught me sneaking a look at his plate.
\u201cI had the korma, so don\u2019t you dare make a Guatamalan Insanity Pepper joke.\u201d He warned. \u201cLook at our reflections in The Machine\u2019s hatch.
I brushed the rice spill into a pile & looked up. It\u2019s always best to humour Lake until you can figure out what the hell he\u2019s talking about.
\u201cIt\u2019s blurry, but I see a counter, a door, these chairs, a coffee machine, a ratty-ass fake plant, \u2026\u201d I trailed off.
\u201cBut?\u201d Lake prompted with the expression of a magician about to unveil their greatest trick.
\u201cBut I don\u2019t see us.\u201d
He clapped and pointed at me. \u201cExactly!\u201d
I kept staring, looking back and forth between us and The Machine.
\u201cHow is that even possible?\u201d Lake wondered aloud. \u201cSomething about the vibration maybe?\u201d
\u201cMachine doesn\u2019t vibrate much.\u201d I offered in a distracted tone. \u201cBut I have another question for you.\u201d
Lake raised an eyebrow.
\u201cWe\u2019re sitting here with the drip filter coffee machine between us,\u201d I started, tapping the coffee pot with a fingernail.
\u201cYes?\u201d Prompted Lake.
\u201cSo why,\u201d I asked as I turned to The Machine. \u201cAm I seeing a reflection of an espresso machine in that hatch?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lake cracked the front door open and slipped through, trying to let as little of the howling wind & rain in as possible, then squelched his way over to the counter and grabbed a half-towel from the Mystery Box of Abandoned Stuff. It didn\u2019t really do much to make his soaked clothing any less soaked, but it at least persuaded the water to go\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[10],"tags":[],"fcn_genre":[],"fcn_fandom":[],"fcn_character":[],"fcn_content_warning":[],"class_list":["post-153","fcn_chapter","type-fcn_chapter","status-publish","hentry","category-the-transdimensional-laundry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fcn_chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/153\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_genre?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_fandom","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_fandom?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_character","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_character?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_content_warning","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_content_warning?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}