A Friend's Last Gift

The laundry room was three flights down from her apartment. Maggie kicked herself for picking a building with no elevator. Oh yeah, the decision had made sense at the time. It had been a misguided attempt at getting more exercise. In the end, all it turned out to be was irritating.

The one positive thing about not dating was that she always had the laundry room to herself on Friday nights. She loaded all her clothes into the machines and let them go. Good thing she’d grabbed her keys, might as well get the mail. Walking up a flight, she opened box 33 removing the contents.

“Good evening”

Startled Maggie dropped everything. The mail fluttered about her feet, and her keys bounced toward the front door. She turned to see Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. Okay, he was more like the average guy next door but still, that wasn’t bad. “Hello” she squeaked. He extended his hand towards hers.

“Pleasure to meet a neighbor. I’m Clark Handy. New to the building. I’m moving into apartment 34.” Maggie grasped his hand and shook it. He had a strong grip and beautiful blue eyes.

“Maggie Worth, apartment 33, welcome to the building.” She knelt to pick up her mail and reached for her keys.

“You’re the first person I’ve seen. Is it always this quiet” he asked as he knelt to help her.

“It is on Friday nights. It is a great time to do laundry; although, you’ll have to fight me for the machines.”

“No fear, I take all my stuff to the cleaners so the machines are all yours.”

“Thanks,” Maggie replied. Pity, she thought. He’d make a great companion on laundry night. Clark handed the mail back to her and said good night. She watched him walk out the door into the night. Well, that was the first positive surprise of the night. Maybe her evening was looking up.

Maggie tucked the mail under her arm and headed back to the laundry room. She would read until it was time to put the clothes into the dryer. As soon as she stepped into the room, the positive feeling of meeting Clark evaporated. She set the mail on top of a dryer as she stepped down into the laundry room. Her slippers began to squish, and the problem became uncomfortably clear. One of the washers was gushing water like Niagara Falls. The wet floor wasn’t the only bad part of this scenario. The overflowing washer contained her delicates. Bras and panties were floating all over the floor. As Maggie rushed to turn off the washer, she slipped on a pair of granny panties and fell squarely on her ass. The water soaked into her jeans. That was the last straw. The tears came in a flood of emotion. Tsunami waves of feelings washed over her. Maggie could not believe this was happening to her. Only one thing could make this situation any worse.

“Need help?”

Maggie turned her head to see Clark, standing in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear. Yep, this was indeed the worst day of her life. No, she thought, that was a lie. It was just another in a long string of crappy days.