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YourHub.com \\ The Valley \\ Stories \\ Creative Writing \\ Short Stories

The Clothesline

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Contributed by: Dee Piester on 7/16/2008

I'm certain there are those who will think of this as odd, but I have always had a special attachment to clotheslines. The preferred kind have iron T-bars at either end, approximately 10 to 12 feet apart and strung with five or six lines.

They are preferable to the umbrella kind for both better drying and space for hanging. T-bars can be dangerous though, if you don't pay attention to where you're standing. Being right under one once, I stood up and slammed the top of my head hard into the crossbar.

It's true! You do see stars if you're hit hard enough on the head. I was temporarily reeling and had a throbbing headache for awhile, but that did not dampen my clothesline fervor.

In the past, our yard boasted of just this very kind of clothesline, but then around the mid seventies, we got more modern. The yard was going through many plant, brick and cement work changes,so we bought a dryer and down came my clothesline.

To most, this would seem progress, but my clothesline was, for me, the very best kind of therapy. How the clothes were hung was a very precise routine by me and more than one friend, trying to help me hang the wash, would throw up their hands in desperation, commenting, "hang your own darn wash."

Everything was hung from smallest to largest; seam to seam, or out flat. Nothing could be hung looped and sagging. The clothes on my lines were the neatest part of my life, and being orderly is a form of therapy in itself.

Other therapy? If I was angry, I could slam those clothespins on and indulge in heated arguments only I was privy to. I could have many discussions, in my head, of topics that I avoided having with people.

If the day was pleasant, I could enjoy the breeze and formulate plans. Might be 'what's for dinner,' planning a get-together, reminding myself to make phone calls, send a card, or sometimes just letting my thoughts meander.

Clothesline time was the highlight of my week. Best of all, due to the precise hanging, most everything would dry close to wrinkle free,so I could do the folding right at the line, bring the load inside and put it away.

Somehow, modern or not, tossing clothes into the dryer just didn't have the same gratification as my clothesline and I missed it.

But, coming forward to the present, we are now very aware of being "green," and are taking very conscious steps to be good conservationists with water, electricity and recycling.

In an effort to be as green as possible, my husband, Tom, put up nylon lines running from the gazebo top across to a tree and then over to another tree. Voila! I have a clothesline again and I am thrilled.

Out comes the old bucket of clothes pins, (always saved "just in case"). No more random and careless tossing of clothes into the dryer; now careful sorting is back in my life and that feeling of order and neatness is restored.

Being retired, I can do one load a day, (just the right amount to fill the lines), instead of one huge wash once a week. Although frustrations were greater during the years of child raising, the clothesline promises, nonetheless, to be there for me when an unwanted problem rears its ugly head and I need to slam a few clothespins.

No, I'm not going to get rid of my dryer. I know there will be some cold rainy days I'll be thankful I have it, but for now, it's just wonderful hanging up the clothes again.

Thinking about my enjoyment in having this new clothes line, I started to chuckle realizing that my grandchildren don't even know what a clothesline is. They have only ever known dryers.

It will be fun telling them about Grandma's clothesline and how it is helping the ecology. I'll have to be careful, though. Their moms won't take kindly to my attachment to clotheslines if the kids start thinking they sound really neat and ask why can't they have one.

This ends my little narrative. Gotta' go hang a load of wash!

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