Her shirt had already begun to stick to her skin, but she couldn't wash it today. As she pushed the glass door open with her foot, she wondered if anyone but the employee had bothered to show up. No one had. Sighing softly, she figured it was for the best. She really didn't want the company anyway.
If only building had air conditioning. Most of the women in her neighborhood did their laundry in the morning, or the evening, when the sun didn't turn any suspect building into an oven. She couldn't bear the stares. And so the woman came here alone, even though it made her more thirsty, and the heat sapped her strength.
Thirst. She knew the feeling all too well. It only took her an hour in this heat, surrounded by hot clothes dryers to empty her water bottle. Everyday she emptied her water bottle, and every day she headed into the convenience store to buy a fresh one. Even though the store had better fans than the laundromat, she looked forward to those even less. Better fans meant more people, and more people meant harsher stares.
She would just have to bear up and bear every moment like she did every day. Things wouldn't get better any time soon, if ever, so she'd have to accept the way things went now. As always, she'd have to settle for anything and anyone, when no one nor nothing would settle for her.
The minutes dragged on, each one making her wish she lived somewhere else, as someone else. As she waited for her clothes to dry, she noticed a man outside. He wore a plaid shirt and ragged jeans, and his hair seemed a bit unkempt. So far, she didn't find anything out of the ordinary, except for what he carried in his hand. She swallowed, recognizing it as a leather bound book with gold print.
BEEP! The dryer called from across the aisle. She walked toward it, pulling her hot clothes out slowly, hoping the man outside would walk away. He didn't. Why would he even be here? Bible thumpers didn't come here, not to laundromats in trashy neighborhoods. They just didn't. So why him?
She picked up her basket, heading toward the door and slipping out as inconspicuously as she could. Unfortunately, the chime on the door gave her away. Turning quickly, she tried to duck away from his glance. It didn't work. Thankfully he didn't follow when she walked away...yet.
The water bottle purchase went through without anything unusual, and it served to get her hopes up. The sight of him served to dash any hopes she had of avoiding him, and anything he had to say. She walked past him quickly, hoping something would distract him. It didn't.
"Excuse me, miss."
She didn't stop to look, she only slowed her pace.
"Could I have a drink of your water?"
He seemed sincere enough. "Do you even know what I am?" She asked. "If you did, you wouldn't want to share a drink with me."
"If you knew who I am, you'd be asking me for a drink." He replied evenly.
The outrageousness of his statement caught her by surprise.
"But sir, you don't even have a water bottle...or a wallet for that matter. How do you plan on giving me water?" Her eyes narrowed. "Who do you think you are? Just because you're a preacher, doesn't mean your beliefs are better or higher than mine."
He took the water bottle from her hand studying it casually. "Anyone who drinks this water will just be thirsty again. Those who drink my water will never thirst again." Then he handed her bottle back to her. His eyes met hers as he said levelly, "Those who drink my water will gain eternal life."
It would be nice to not have to buy water every day after leaving the laundromat. She could finally hide from the eyes of the public. And to never thirst again... "Please, give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
"Go and get your husband."
The request caught her by surprise. "I don't have a husband." He still didn't understand....
"You're right; you don't have a husband." He smiled slightly, not to be condescending, but to show some sympathy. "Actually, you've had a husband, and four boyfriends before. The woman you're living with right now is your girlfriend."
Okay, maybe he did know. In fact, he knew more than she felt comfortable with. "So maybe you do know something." She quirked an eyebrow expectantly as she asked "How can you be sure that you have the only way to heaven? The only right way to worship?" Turning her head to glance around the street, she added. "We're good people with good intentions. How could God exclude us?"
"Who are you to judge God? You hardly know him." She could see a sparkle in his eyes, as if he had seen the punchline and she hadn't. "Salvation comes through me, and there will come a day when how you worship God won't matter, except that you do it truthfully and in his Spirit."
"I know a savior is coming, who'll explain everything to us." She folded her uncomfortably, wishing she knew what was so funny.
"I am the Savior." His grin exploded onto his face.
"You are?" A car blaring its horn a short distance away diverted her attention away. A moment later she turned her head back to the man only to see him gone. The woman only knew of one thing to do. She left her water bottle and her laundry at the laundromat as she walked away.
Soon walking didn't seem fast enough, and she ran. She pounded her feet against the pavement as she made her way back to her neighborhood. Knocking on doors and making phone calls, she told everyone she could think of what she had seen and heard. Some followed, some didn't. At first she didn't know where to lead them, until she spotted it back at the laundromat. The preacher had left his book behind, leaning against the wall on the sidewalk.
She knew exactly what to do now.
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