Laundry

One breezy morning, Anna and her grandmother washed linens on the lawn. They mixed buckets of well water with warm water from the stove and sat on the grass and scrubbed, rinsed, and wrung. Then they hung the laundry to dry on a line.

Anna’s grandmother had adorned each pillowcase and sheet with a lace border and her family initials. Late that afternoon, Anna helped her take the laundry down.

A few hours later, she drifted to sleep on an ironed white pillowcase that smelled of sun, wind, and pine.