The Washroom

The Washroom is a laundromat in Colby with a small coffee-serving room concealed behind its working laundry. Owned by Clyde, it gives late-night visitors a place to linger over coffee and pie, not merely wait for a load to finish. Eli helps make that second life possible, and Auden’s visits mark a change in her experience of the night: the laundromat becomes a meeting place and a point of entry into a world beyond solitary drives.

Layout and Atmosphere

The first room is unmistakably utilitarian. Coin-operated washing machines line one side, dryers the other, with folding tables and plastic chairs between them. A machine meant to dispense small boxes of detergent and fabric softener is out of order. When Auden first arrives with Eli, he sets his canvas bag on a washer, takes out a bottle of Tide, puts his laundry in, feeds quarters into the machine, and waits for water to begin sloshing behind the glass. The scene keeps the ordinary work of the laundromat in view even as the visit leads somewhere less expected.

Eli guides Auden down a narrow hallway between the washers and dryers to a plain white door. The smell of coffee is what persuades her to cross the threshold. Beyond it, the bright appliances and linoleum give way to a dim room with deep-purple walls, a single window bordered by multicolored lights, and a few small tables. A small counter stands near an open back door, through which a warm breeze enters. The shift from laundry room to coffee room is spatial and atmospheric: a hidden social interior sits just beyond the machines, reached by a hallway and a door rather than by a conspicuous storefront entrance.

Clyde, Eli, and the Coffee Room

Clyde owns the laundromat, a bike shop, and several other Colby businesses. Eli jokingly presents him as a mogul; Clyde prefers the description renaissance man. His interest in food is an active part of the room’s character. When Auden visits, he serves her and Eli mugs of coffee and generous slices of pie, including the apple pie Eli recommends to the newcomer. Auden finds both the coffee and pie excellent, and Eli compares the pie favorably with the Wheelhouse. Clyde, however, describes himself as a beginner at baking who got a late start. As he reads a copy of Gourmet, he studies a recipe for potatoes au gratin and reflects on learning to make a proper piecrust.

The room also grows out of the companionship that preceded it. Clyde says he bought the laundromat because he wanted something to do at night. Before there was a coffee shop, he and Eli would spend the spin cycle together, sharing a thermos and whatever pastry Clyde was trying out. Clyde credits Eli with the idea of making the place welcoming to other people who, like them, wanted somewhere to go late at night besides a bar. Eli initially demurs, but Clyde insists that the idea came from him. The coffee room thus develops from a private routine into an invitation: a place where the wait for laundry and the hours of the night can be shared.

A Place in Auden’s Nights

Auden’s first visit follows a stretch in which she has been trying to occupy her nights alone, driving to the Wheelhouse, through Colby’s streets and neighborhoods, and sometimes stopping at the Gas/Gro. In retrospect, she finds those outings dull beside what she begins doing with Eli. The Washroom is one part of this expanded nocturnal life: she shares pie and coffee with Clyde while he talks about his cooking experiments, and the visit sits alongside late errands, food after the clubs, and other excursions with Eli. The contrast is not simply between one venue and another; it is between aimless time passing and nights that acquire company, destinations, and small discoveries.

The pattern depends on chance meetings as much as plans. After closing at Clementine’s, Auden spends time talking with the other employees, then leaves on her own. Fifteen minutes, half an hour, or an hour later, she may encounter Eli at the Gas/Gro or Beach Beans, and an adventure begins. The Washroom is among the places that have helped make their shared nights possible, while the laundromat itself offers a practical excuse for being there: Eli brings laundry, and Clyde has something to serve. Auden’s account connects its domestic routines—washing clothes, waiting, drinking coffee—to her growing access to experiences she had missed.

Reappearance and Significance

The Washroom remains present even when Auden is not there. When she stays in her room studying instead of going out, she glances at her watch and imagines Eli’s likely route: the Washroom around midnight, Park Mart later, and then somewhere she cannot guess. The imagined stop shows how completely the laundromat has entered her map of the night. Its significance now includes the possibility of Eli elsewhere without her, as well as the memories of adventures they have shared there.

At another point, Auden searches the Colby phone book for Eli and finds that the small town lists only one laundromat. She calls The Washroom, reaches Clyde, and asks whether Eli is there. Eli comes to the phone and tells her she is missing out on apple crumble. The exchange makes the business itself a usable link between them: the place has a phone, Clyde answers it, and Eli can be reached there amid the late-night food and company associated with the room.

Near the end of the story, Auden arrives at Ray’s and compares it with The Washroom. Ray’s is bright, has shiny tables, and lets customers sit as long as they want; it had once served her when she had no other options. Now, she reflects, she has plenty of options, though she has come to see Eli. The comparison gives The Washroom a lasting place in her changed night life. It is not the only place to sit late, but it belongs to the social world Auden has gained: one shaped by shared routines, unexpected encounters, and the company that makes the night feel open rather than empty.