Mike was just pulling his clothes out of the dryer when the girl walked in again. She smiled at him and started transferring her clothes from the washers to the dryers as he pulled the last of his clothes out of the dryer. As he started walking to the door with his load, she cleared her throat.

"You're not going to fold them first?"

Mike stopped and stared at her, his mind racing. "Um. . .no?"

"Let me guess," she smiled at him, "you're going to go home, dump them in a pile on the floor and then pick through them every day until you have to do laundry again. Am I right?"

Mike blushed at her chuckle and grinned back at her. "No, not at all. I was going to wait until I got back to my apartment and then fold them." Even to his ears, his explanation rang false, but he continued to smile at her.

"If you wait a moment, I'll help you fold them after I've got my laundry started," she said. "Put them over there for now and help me and it'll go faster for both of us," she told him, pointing to the rickety counter that ran along the long side of the wall. Mike did as he was told and in a matter of minutes the girl's laundry was loaded and tumbling in the ancient dryers. "Now, let me show you how to fold clothes," she chuckled to him.

"I don't even know your name," Mike said.

"I'm Kim," she replied and Mike introduced himself as they started folding the wrinkled clothes that he had deposited on the countertop. As they folded, Kim told Mike about herself.

"I'm in the process of kicking my boyfriend to the curb," she told him. "He's loud and abusive and lately he's been drinking a lot more than usual. If he's not careful, he's going to get fired from his job."

"If you're throwing him out, why are you doing his laundry?" Mike asked.

Kim chuckled. "It'll make more of an impact when I throw his clean clothes out into that greasy parking lot. I'm hoping that some of them will land in the oil stains that are all over the place and ruin his clothes. I may even help the process along by making sure his white shirts land in those places."

Mike laughed. "Well if you need a place to hide out, I'm in apartment 218."

"I'll keep that in mind," she smiled at him. "After he sees the condition of his clothes, I might need someplace to hang until he gets tired of looking for me or until he passes out."

"Bring a high-speed modem and you can stay for as long as you like," said Mike.

Kim arched her eyebrows at him. "You still use dial up? I may not be able to live under such primitive conditions. Maybe I'd better take a look at your place before I decide to crash there."

"You're more than welcome to stop by anytime," Mike told her as he gathered up the neatly folded clothes. "Just give me time to pick up a little."

Kim chuckled again and winked at him. "It's a deal," she said.