First Wash

(A launderette in Kentish Town, Sunday morning.)

Jack: Right, Gran. First flat, first wash. What do I do?

Jean: Stand there, love. No, a little to the left. Good. First, put your white clothes in the machine. And take out that red sock!

Jack: Oops. Okay. Then?

Jean: Close the door. Now put the powder in the little drawer at the top.

Jack: Done.

Jean: Turn this to forty degrees. Then put in five one-pound coins and press start.

(The machine starts.)

Jack: Wow. How do you know all this?

Jean: I don’t. I’ve had a washing machine at home for fifty years. I’m reading the sign behind you.

Jack: Gran!

Jean: Well, it works. Now we wait forty minutes. Tea? There’s a café opposite.