A moment of imbalance
Her question was direct. “Did you move the washing machine”. My answer was a little more nuanced. “No”.
Over the years, I’ve lived with a number of lauandry machines. All of them have had personalities. What some might call undocumented features. Usually, the machines have two states. Moving, and spinning. The second state is an unstable one. Lots of motion. When my sisters were smaller, they served as ballast, to keep the feet on the floor.
This time around, I had washed some assorted garments, including one of those bath robes that are made with terry cloth. Great for sucking up water, and in the case of a washing machine, choosing to sit on one side of the drum during spin cycles. Inherently destabilizing. I had heard an unusual alarm signal, and the nachine stopped. Full of water, of course. The panel light was cryptic. “UL”. I have learned to read error codes, and this is the brief way of saying “uneven load”.
And so I went fishing. Pulled a very heavy bathrobe out of the drum, and did an impromptu redistribituion. Closed the lid, pressed start and went back to whatever I had been doing in the next room. A minor crisis, averted. In my mind.
The machine had moved. In the words of a movie narrator, “just a step to the right”. Three inches. Enouth to be noticed and questioned.
Nothing broken. A missed moment of adventure, during the mundane task of laundry. If asked to do it again, I probably couldn’t, since it requires just the right imbalance of water, clothing and spin speed. But I know the why and the how to repair, so life is good.
