When you go to the laundromat at 4:30 in the Morning, you are usually alone and Tommy enjoyed that. He would say, "The laundromat always has a calming effect on me. The hum and warmth of the machines, the smell of Bounce in the air, and thoughts about nothing accompanied by some quiet reading."
So when the man with the gun approached him he found himself frustrated even angry.
"You know you're screwing with my best time of the week, bringing it down," Tommy told the man with the gun.
"Give me your wallet, idiot. Don't talk to me," the robber said.
It seemed ironic that the thief had on a dirty hood in a laundry mat. It had a mustard stain just above the letter P. There were also stains from coffee and grease.
"I got no wallet dude. I have six dollars in quarters and due to the fact the dryers aren't the best here four of them are earmarked. So I can give you two dollars in quarters which I would do even without the gun."
"Give me your car keys asshole."
"No. Did you not hear me say this is the best time of my week? Do you not realize that when someones best time of the week is laundry they really don't care if you blow their head off? Besides, I'm going to heaven when I die I got that all sorted out," he gestured to the bible on the table behind him."
The man sighed a breath and cursed. He put his gun down on a large laundry table.
"So I got to kill you cause you wont give up your car or a bunch of quarters?"
"No. You gotta kill me cause I aint afraid to die. I'm not looking to die but I sure aint afraid to die."
He put the two dollars in quarters down next to the mans gun. And then spoke under his breath about how messed up his best morning was because of the incident.
The robber looked up at the video camera that claimed to be recording. They both new it didn't work nothing in that neighborhood worked. He pondered what ifs and their consequences and listened to the hum of the machines.
Tommy went back to his laundry and back to his morning and waited for the man to decide.