Dirty Laundry | Teen Ink

Dirty Laundry MAG

April 2, 2009
By Zero_K DIAMOND, Moosic, Pennsylvania
Zero_K DIAMOND, Moosic, Pennsylvania
83 articles 0 photos 435 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life's no fun if you're not insane, otherwise you grow up to be an accountant." -Moi


He is your world. He is the one you would live and die for. You love the color of his skin – different from yours – the perfect balance between light and dark, day and night. You love the way he tells you he loves you. He says he'll marry you someday.

But your mom does not approve. You wonder every day how anyone can be so bigoted. Has she not felt the way you do at some point in her life? She doesn't understand, just rants and raves about your “taste in men” in that nasally voice you hate – the one she only uses when she's angry.

Later you sit on your bed, and turn up the volume on your iPod. “All the Same” by the Sick Puppies blasts through the ear buds.

Wrong or right … black or white … if I close my eyes … it's all the same.

Your mom has forbidden you from seeing him again, and Dad's taken to keeping a shotgun in the living room.

In my life … the compromise … I'll close my eyes … it's all the same.

You remember telling him you were afraid but that you wouldn't stop seeing him. He asked you to run away with him, just drop everything and run, figure it out as you went. But you said you wanted to wait and see if it would blow over. The look in his eyes was sad, as if he knew your parents would never accept him.

You hop off your bed and start shoving clothes into an duffel bag, making a trip to the bathroom for your toothbrush. You head to your desk and stare blankly at a piece of paper, pencil in hand. You write a quote that has been in your heart from the minute your parents told you that you were making a big mistake. It's short, but it's all you need to say.

You head down the hall to the laundry room. Your mom has piles of clothes on the floor, organized by color. You grab bits from every pile and toss them to the middle, creating a mound no longer separated into lights and darks.

Green, yellow, red, blue, black, white – all heaped into one huge pile. You lay your message on the top. It doesn't say who you're with or where you're going, but it wouldn't be hard to figure out.

“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.”



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 455 comments.


on Jun. 27 2010 at 3:48 pm
Xblue_raspberryX SILVER, Greensburg, Pennsylvania
5 articles 10 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
I may not be Mrs. America or popular at school, but i do a lot of nice sh** in life. I want some attention too!

wow this story is so sweet and in a way beautiful. i love how people dont care about the color of people. i hate rasists

on Jun. 27 2010 at 2:44 pm
waiting_to_be_found GOLD, Conifer, Colorado
10 articles 1 photo 73 comments
Wow nice. I love the final quote. I love how you wrote it too... it seems so reserved, and it's a good style for what you had to say :)

on Jun. 27 2010 at 11:00 am
livsinthecity SILVER, Toronto, Ontario
6 articles 13 photos 40 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love means never having to say you are sorry.
-Erich Segal (in Love Story)

great job....i admire that you dont judge people by the color of their skin....hats off to you

on Jun. 27 2010 at 4:13 am
cyanidesun BRONZE, Atascadero, California
1 article 0 photos 28 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block. -Paul Gauguin

Wow. Huge impact. I applaud you.

on Jun. 27 2010 at 3:28 am
kittypryde BRONZE, Alberta, Other
3 articles 0 photos 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
Do what ya gotta, work, pay the rent, grade papers, dont forget to live, breath slow and write. ( i think i just made that quote up....oh well, it's a quote right?)

Whoa. that was really good, :D five stars!

on Jun. 25 2010 at 7:43 pm
ilove2read124 GOLD, Dix Hills, New York
11 articles 0 photos 66 comments
LOVE itt its really good, short, but sweet.i really like it.love the ending good job =]

on Jun. 13 2010 at 4:02 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch

I LOOOOOOOOOVE it!  So thoughtful, and I totally agree with the quote at the end!  Completely incredible!  You're very talented.

Btw, could anyone who sees this check out and comment on my work?


VarsityRider said...
on Jun. 7 2010 at 2:14 pm
VarsityRider, Milledgeville, Georgia
0 articles 2 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice." - W. Shakespeare.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do." - Confucius

Wow! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love it!!!!!

on Jun. 5 2010 at 11:21 pm
Anna Halaburt BRONZE, Atlanta, Georgia
2 articles 3 photos 6 comments

This is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I absolutly LOVE the poetry of it, and the use of the Sick Puppies song.  The imagry pops and the fact that you didnt use dialoge helped!!!!!!!  ♥  i love it!!!!


on Jun. 5 2010 at 10:00 pm
Lalalovable SILVER, Antioch, California
7 articles 1 photo 50 comments
this was so touching... i can relate..

on Jun. 5 2010 at 7:04 pm
hopelesssharpie BRONZE, Srghsfgjd, Virginia
4 articles 0 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction must make sense." -Mark Twain.
"I'm not crazy, my reality is simply different than yours."
"I'd rather be hated for who I am than be loved for who I'm not."

It's so ironic, I read this this morning, and come six, my friends racist father was calling her white trash and saying she was lowering her standards because she had middle eastern and black friends, i hate people like that.

on Jun. 5 2010 at 6:40 pm
Love_with_no_Heart BRONZE, San Antonio, Texas
3 articles 0 photos 13 comments
this is absolutely amazing. LLLOOOVVVEE it. touches me, and i'm positive others as well. keep up the good work 

on Jun. 5 2010 at 6:04 pm
ThatClarinetPerson SILVER, Tequesta, Florida
8 articles 0 photos 226 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life. Don't talk to me about life."
~Marvin the Paranoid Android (from the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series)
Statistical analysis suggests that i am probably in tune with someone
(hahahahaha! I love this cause i'm never ever ever in tune >o

oh. my. gosh. i absolutely love this.

great writing. keep doing what you do.

peace, love, music


MapleSyrup said...
on Jun. 5 2010 at 3:26 pm
Oh my goodness... I was hooked from the very first sentence and teary eyed at the last. Very amazing, very true, and this tale should- will- last forever.

on Jun. 5 2010 at 3:20 pm
juliam PLATINUM, Windermere, Florida
21 articles 4 photos 60 comments

Favorite Quote:
All of us learn to write in second grade. Most of us go on to greater things

This is a really well written, moving and inspiring piece. :) 

HelloLove said...
on Jun. 5 2010 at 2:39 pm
HelloLove, Dexter, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at.
-Hatter
Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.
-Dutchess

this is really good! I love it ^^

on Jun. 5 2010 at 10:51 am
-alice- PLATINUM, Colorado Springs, Colorado
21 articles 0 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
I care very little if I am judged by you or any other human court; indeed I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. -1 Corinthians 4:3-4

This was awesome, and the quote at the end was what made it just work.  Great job!

on Jun. 5 2010 at 6:19 am
BeYOUtiful_13 BRONZE, Tinley Park, Illinois
4 articles 1 photo 98 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
~Marilyn Monroe

ohmigosh that was really good! I like the quote at theend. it represented the title actually. good job!

Twilight said...
on Jun. 5 2010 at 6:16 am
I loved this and it was so great i feel for you. 

toflyaway said...
on Jun. 5 2010 at 1:29 am
toflyaway, Melbourne, Other
0 articles 0 photos 85 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You're Bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret, all the best people are" -Alice In Wonderland (2010)

Amazing, the quote at the end just went "POW!". I loved it.