"What are we doing today, Martin?" Cross called from the floor of the back of the van, which was littered with red and yellow carnage from the morning's venture to destroy a McDonald's in pursuit of food for Amanda. Amanda and Vogel were playing around him with a set of Happy Meal toys that had also made it back into the van. Beast had been fast asleep under a pile of blankets behind the driver's seat, but sat up in instant alertness to wait for Martin's answer.
Martin hesitated only a fraction of a second before announcing, "Laundry."
For a moment, absolute silence and stillness fell over the van; then, all hell broke loose as every member of the Rowdy 3 (including Martin) groaned, gagged, shouted over each other, and generally had a fantastic time complaining about the inevitability of laundry day. When the energy began to die down, Cross stirred it all up again by yelling, "It's not my turn!"
The argument that resumed quickly turned into one about whose clothes smelled the worst. Martin watched in the rearview mirror until Amanda took a drink of soda, then drawled, "Not it."
"Not it!" Cross and Vogel screamed simultaneously, and Amanda squealed in protest. She threw the empty soda cup at Martin, who turned his head for an instant with a canine grin for her. Beast just cackled, having been taken out of the laundry rotation after her first excursion (Martin and Amanda still weren't sure how Beast had managed to start a fire in the laundromat, but weren't yet willing to chance it again.)
"Looks like it's you and me, Mandy," Gripps chuckled from the front passenger seat.
Amanda leaned over the front seat and shared a conspiratorial smile with him, "Well, I can't be sorry about that," she dropped her voice for Gripps' ears only, "But we'll have to figure out how to make these other fuckers pay."
He smiled back at her, his eyes only widening slightly for a moment in response. She retreated again into the back of the van and helped Vogel and Cross unceremoniously stuff laundry into a bag, groaning at the light when Martin stopped the van and opened the door.
She trailed Gripps and Martin, who each carried one of two gigantic bags of laundry, into the dingy space advertised with an overly bright orange and blue sign that declared "Hector's Laundromat". The other Rowdies gamboled around them, a whirlwind of noise and energy that imploded into the doors of the laundromat like a reverse bomb. This early in the morning, the only people inside were a middle-aged woman who did not look amused, and two young men who eyed them nervously and whose outfits clearly marked them as Mormon missionaries.
She was idly wondering why Hector would install such a hideously garish sign while painting the inside of his establishment mud brown, while Martin walked up and down the aisles of the laundromat, checking it out. When he was satisfied that no threats were lurking in any corners, Martin threw his bag down unceremoniously on the ground and found a seat where he could keep an eye on things. Cross flopped down on a bench, his head hanging haphazardly off the edge while he rested his boots on the window ledge above it. Beast and Vogel were drawn immediately to a dryer window, mesmerized by the clothes spinning around and around inside, their heads circling around and around.
Gripps nudged Amanda toward the vending machine stocked with laundry detergent, and she smiled at him as she surveyed the selection, "Let's see….'Spring Renewal', 'Botanical Rain', and 'Nonscented'. Botanical rain?"
He put a hand to his mouth in thought, tilting his head, and she fed quarters into the machine decisively, "You're right…we're more of a 'Spring Renewal' crowd. Especially after Wendimoor."
Martin chucked softly from the side and grunted, "Just pick whatever don't turn our clothes pink, Drummer."
She flipped him off without looking at him, but her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The first time she had taken a turn doing the laundry, she washed all of the underwear together (including a pair of red panties). The red bled into the wash, staining everyone else's underwear a perfect shade of baby girl pink. Four months later, the relentless teasing was still going strong, and the boys were still wearing pink underwear.
As Gripps and Amanda began to sort through the laundry, Vogel grabbed Beast and they began rolling down the aisle in mimicry of the clothes in the dryer, screaming with laughter.
Cross sang from his vantage point, "Rollin, rollin', rollin….Keep those Rowdies rollin'….Good ol' Rowdy bowling….todaaaayy…."
Cross eyed Amanda with a wicked grin, "Oh boy, do our clothes stink….Manda's gonna turn them pink…."
He stopped singing abruptly when Amanda threw a sock at him. Actually, everyone froze in place when Amanda threw a sock at him.
Then Vogel screamed, "SOCK WAAARRR!"
The battle was on.