About once a week the girls husband gave her quarters so she could go to the laundry mat and wash clothes. This was pretty much the only time that she ever left the house so it was an exciting time for her. There was a tv at the laundry mat and she got to watch the game shows. The majority of her time in Baltimore she was alone without anyone to talk to. She pushed her baby in an umbrella stroller and carried the laundry up the street a few blocks or so away from the upper floor apt of a row house in Baltimore. This apt had 3 rooms. A kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom. Every word spoken upstairs could be heard downstairs. It was better than the previous row house though. They only lived there a couple of months or so maybe. Soon after moving in the girl heard noises in the night. She woke her husband. He said, it's just a rat in the wall. She slept restlessly. The next morning when she woke up there was a grapefruit size hole in the wall. About 2 ft from the baby's crib. She refused to ever let the baby sleep in there again.
The girl always tried to get the clothes dried to where there might be some quarters left over. One day she had 50 cents left over!! She stopped at a little mom and pop store on the way home from the laundry mat and bought a box of macaroni and cheese. She was so excited. She was very hungry. She stood and watched for the water to boil and finally she tore the box open and dumped the macaroni into the pot. And floating in the water with the noodles were roach egg sacs. She wanted to cry. She looked at the box and the expiration date had come and gone 2 years prior.
She went back to the store and spoke with the cashier. He could barely speak English. She told him the problem. He just shrugged his shoulders at her. She didn't get her money back. Another day with nothing to eat.
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To date, the girl always looks in the water to make sure there are no roach sacs in there when making macaroni and cheese.
