I have all night -- part four

I slept most of the day away. When I wasn't sleeping, I was crapping. Beer, blow and smokes do that to me. Around 4 p.m. I decided to get out and get some air and blow the stink and funk off me. I grabbed my laundry and headed to the place on 104th between Broadway and Amsterdam.

Fortunately I picked a good time. The place was pretty empty and I had my pick of the washers. I snagged one near the front and got some quarters from the woman behind the counter. While she was getting me my change her little girl came out from behind the counter with a ball she was bouncing. It slipped out of her hand and rolled over to me. I picked it up and held it out to her but she took a look at me and ran back behind the counter to her mother. Smart girl. She could smell satan on me.

I handed her mom the ball and headed back to my machine. After I dumped the Tide in and some Clorox 2, I pushed the quarters in and closed the lid and waited. A few seconds later I threw my clothes in and then headed out the door. I needed grease and there was only one place to go -- Sal and Carmine's.

There was no line which was rare for a Saturday. I got one cheese and one pepperoni. I didn't want them heated up. Sal and Carmine's was best lukewarm. I wolfed down the slices while reading a Daily News that someone left on the counter. The headlines screamed about a Columbia coed who was raped on 114th and Riverside the other night. It was the third rape in or around Riverside Park in the last couple months and everyone was starting to get paranoid. The story said she'd been at Cannon's, a bar I frequented often at Broadway and 107th. She'd last been seen leaving with a guy who the police had not hunted down yet.

I skipped the rest of the story and moved to the letters to the editor page which were full of the usual rants. Then I hit the sports section before finishing my meal and hitting the deli at 101st for a cup of coffee. Then I headed back to the laundry and put my clothes in the dryer and took a nap in the back on one of the chairs. When I woke up, the clothes were dry and I threw them back into my bag. Usually, I folded them there. I'm a creature of habit. This time I took them home and threw them and myself on the bed.

The pizza and coffee had lifted most of the hangover. The crash wasn't that bad this time. I figured I'd stay in and watch TV, but around 9 p.m. I got antsy and remembered that I still had some beer and other goodies. Normally, I didn't indulge two nights in a row, but I figured I was on a roll and when you get on a streak you keep playing.