Kate shoved the clothes into the washing machine, applied the soap at the appropriate moment, then settled into one of the plastic chairs that the laundry offered its patrons.  Her seven-year-old daughter, Rosie was wandering the aisles. 

Kate opened her book to read, but it felt more important to keep an eye on Rosie.  You could never be too careful with girls these days.  Kate didn’t want to appear like she was hovering, but Rosie was full of curiosity.  Soon she was investigating the arcade games.

Some older boys were engrossed in an arcade game, attempting to fetch one of the yellow and pink bunnies out of the bin.  After several tries the boys were discouraged and left. Rosie wandered back to her mother.

“Help me put the clothes in the dryer now,” Kate said to her. The two worked together to move the heavy damp clothes into the large driers.  Then Rosie wandered back to the arcade games.

Kate sat down and thought about whether she should offer Rosie the money to play one of the games.  Rosie turned and looked at her mother with searching eyes.  If it wasn’t bad enough that the games emitted music and bright lights, they also spoke to the child.

“Come on, come on kids,” a woman’s soft voice called, “It’s lots of fun.” 

“Hey man,” said a young man’s voice, “It’s your turn to win.”

“Lots of prizes!” said a crackling elder voice as if a grand parent were speaking.

Rosie smiled over to her mother as she hung onto one of the knobs of a brightly lit machine.

 Kate realized the voices were taking away her little girl, carrying her off to a world of dreams and broken promises.  How many times had she, herself, played those games, won nothing, but lost all her money?  Kate gave Rosie a discouraging shrug.  “No, Rosie.  You don’t need it.  You have enough toys.”  Rosie skipped away toward the food vending machines and began scrutinizing the crackers and cookies.

Kate sat down and stared into the bouncing, circling clothes inside the drier. It’s not that she wanted to ruin her day with thoughts about the horrible confrontation at the job, but she was feeling uncertain. She saw the face of Liz Schwartz, her supervisor, as they sat in Liz’s office.  Kate had fallen behind in her work and Liz was giving her a warning.  The whole thing was a mystery to Kate. From the minute, she arrived at work—always on time—until the minute she left—usually ten minutes past her actual quitting time, Kate was working full steam.  To be told that her work was unsatisfactory made Kate’s stomach churn.  Even after Kate had promised to do better, Liz seemed not to care. 

Now sitting in the laundry, Kate had time to think this whole terrible situation out.  Liz’s face appeared and her words replayed in Kate’s mind.  Not good enough, not fast enough.  Wasting time. How could it be? How could Kate work so hard and be told that she was not keeping up with the others?  If she had been standing around talking throughout the day, Kate could believe Liz’s criticisms.  There seemed to be a distortion in reality.  Like what Kate saw and what Liz saw were two different things.  Who was right?

Kate had not joined in the small talk that Liz shared with the others.  Now it seemed as if chatting with Liz and her co-workers might have been more important than doing the work.  Kate was not accepted by them. They had turned against her.

Or were they just kissing up to Liz because they were scared? On Tuesday, Kate overheard in the lunchroom, there was a chance that the work force would be cut.  That meant everyone would be playing musical chairs.  When the music stopped, someone would be left without a seat—without a job.  Liz’s criticisms took on new meaning.

“You don’t do what I tell you to do,” Liz said to Kate.  “And when you had a problem the other day with the computer, why didn’t you come to me and tell me?  You wasted time while you tried to figure it out.  I’ve told you before, you can’t solve these problems.  You have to have me take care of this.” 

But thinking back on that day, Kate remembered that Liz was too busy to help.  So, Kate tried to solve the problem herself—and in fact did solve the problem and went on with her work.  Why was solving the problem herself such a waste of time?  What was wrong with that?

Kate stirred with anger and rose up from the white plastic chair. As the clothes tumbled, she walked in circles in front of the driers. Rosie ran up to her then back again to the arcade machines.

“It’s fun.  Come on kids, let’s play,” came the voice from the machine. “It’s your turn to win.”

Rosie looked at her mother again with those pleading eyes. 

“Rosie, I want you to just forget it.  We can do something better, later today.”

They finished the laundry and packed it into the car.  As Kate started up the car, she turned on the radio.  It chattered about the weather and a big sale at a local store. Soon the radio had Kate thinking about buying a house and all the wonderful things you could do with a house.  Another advertisement made her worry about health care and whether she should buy insurance since none was available at her job.  When they pulled open the heavy wood door of their apartment, Bob was in the living room watching television. He blew a kiss at them then pointed to the television. It was an important ball game.

As Kate put the clothes away, she could hear a professional voice telling them that they could still move ahead in the world if only they got college degrees. She felt lost and left behind. All of humanity was making their way to the top of society, drinking the most sophisticated wine, wearing the best clothes, driving the nicest cars.  Playing the arcade games and winning.  “It’s your turn to win!” the voice of the machine promised. 

Who was Kate?  Yes Kate, the one who wastes time, doesn’t do her job right, isn’t good enough, doesn’t deserve to live.  The voices were everywhere. The push of co-workers, neighbors, family members, and even your own children—to live the fun life—the good life, no matter how much it cost.

“Mommie, there’s going to be a carnival in the park. Can we go? It starts soon.” 

Kate looked down at her daughter. Carnivals were always so expensive. The food was twice the price, the games rarely had winners. There was always the tease of something cute or pretty that begged you to buy it. She looked down at her daughter. Would Rosie really understand or would she hold it against Kate?

As a mother she had to warn her daughter of the dangers of this world: “You have to learn not to let those voices push you around. They don’t tell you what to do. They don’t tell you who you really are. We can do something better this weekend.”  Kate folded a towel and looked at Rosie.  The child looked so disappointed.

But after a walk in the park and some free books from the library, Rosie was smiling again. Kate felt happy that she could provide for her child without spending a dime. That’s why we need to support and protect our parks and libraries. They are important to families.