I’ve had a pretty eventful morning for a quite Saturday.  I was able to read about 20 pages of my book before getting out of bed.  I made a quick grocery store run before the parking lot was mobbed.  I even ran to the bank to get deposit a check and get a roll of quarters so I could go back to my apartment to do laundry.

Upon return, I made myself breakfast and hard boiled eggs for the week, subsequently setting off the fire alarm for now a second time while living here.  That was mildly inconvenient, mostly due to it’s unnecessarily shrill note, and that I started fanning the wrong detector before realizing my mistake.

Finally I got around to sorting some laundry, deciding I would get to towels first.  I went into the basement where the apartment’s two washers and two dryers are kept, and I threw in my towels to return upstairs and eat my breakfast.  After eating and sorting another set of laundry, clothes this time, I ventured back down to the basement.

To get to the basement, I have to go outside and then down into a separate door.  Right inside the door is one of those timer switches that you turn and the light goes on, but it sort of clicks the entire time since it’s counting down from wherever you set the thing to.  I usually just turn it just about halfway, since I’m never down there very long.

As soon as I had entered and turned the light on, I was immediately aware that the washing machine was on a rocket mode, and desperately trying to free itself from its hookups and the wall.  I ran inside and threw my laundry basket down, now realizing the machine was dangling off of the pallet platform it sits on.  After sort of just staring at it in disbelief for how fast and loud it is, I try pushing will all my might against the front of the thing, to no avail.  The only victory with doing that was that pressing my body against it muffled the ungodly loudness of the thing.

Briefly it started slowing down, and the light reading “Last spin and tumble” lit up on the display.  Mind you, these are bare bones machines we have down there.  There are options for water temperature and normal/delicate settings, and there’s an Start button.  The doors lock after you insert your quarters and press start, so there are few options other than waiting for your laundry to be done.

The spin starts going haywire again, and it’s trying to run away once again.  I get on the side that’s really dangling off the platform, and I press against the back of it with my right hand and keep my left at the front, and I shove as hard as I can.  This gets it at least back on the platform, but precariously since it is moving forward with every cycle.  I get on the other side and do the same thing, rotating back and forth until it’s as far back as it can go.  At this point I was hoping it’d slow down again since that light had turned on, but it had no indication of slowing down or staying up.

I took a look behind me at the door, paranoid someone was going to come in and see the weird new tenant hugging the washing machine.  Concerned that the person who lives above this part of the basement would hear the racket, I pressed all my weight on it, again muffling the sound.  Minutes went by in this style, me looking over my shoulder at the door every so often, and ultimately even yelling for the damn thing to stop (which I could barely hear over the grumble and swish).

What must have been five minutes went by and my bones felt entirely rearranged in my body by the time the spinning turned into a low pulse.  I leaned down and looked into the front window and watched in relief as it flipped my towels over a few more times and came to a halt.  I started clapping my hands in glee, and then it started spinning again in the opposite direction.  I slammed my palms on the window and nearly yelled again, in what would have been a very dramatic reaction, but thankfully it came to a full stop.

I stood up, shaky from feeling like I’m a Christmas tree in those shakers to remove the dead needles, and opening the door hauled my laundry out of there as fast as I could.  Although then I filled it up again with clothes, but I’m hoping since those won’t be as heavy the machine will feel comfortable staying put for this load.

We’ll see when I go and check on the dryer….