Short Stories to Captivate

Old Woman

There was an old woman at the laundromat. She had short white hair and small round features. She lingered around, mumbling things to anyone who'd look her way.

Her voice was ragged. Her skin looked worn. She looked liked she'd lived a rough life in the past but her bright blue pants and her dull white shirt didn't reek of poverty. She was hardly understandable when she spoke, she was quiet but sounded like a long time smoker.

She wandered around the laundromat, opening doors for others, and lingering around the front desk. She asked where the manager was, she claimed she was to talk to her today. She spoke of asking for a job, but there weren't really any jobs to be had at the self service laundromat.

She asked for a dollar, for a soda she said, then left the laundromat. Other customers there had thought her to get in a car and not come back, but instead she shuffled, ever so slowly down the road. Her steps were small and close together, it would surely take her a long time to reach her destination in the summer heat.

Where was she going; what was she doing? Why was she looking for a job at her age? Where was her family? Was she reluctant to live in a nursing home, or was she simply unable? How long would she last walking back and forth to the laundromat in the heat, until her body finally gave up?

What was her purpose? Or was she simply surviving? What drove her to walk so far in the sun?

Who was she?

Ask, why does it matter? Ask, what does it matter who is is or was or will be? It only matters to those who fear one day being her. Those who fear being old alone and poor, those who fear a long but worthless life.

Ask, is her life worthless? Surely it wasn't once, surely she was someone once, but isn't she someone now? What is she worth? What does she have to be worth to matter? What is she worth to who, and where are they? Have the abandoned her? Is it being abandoned that we are afraid of?

Just a woman at the laundromat. She had short white hair and small round features. She lingered around, mumbling things to anyone who'd look her way.