Smiley and I checked out the local laundromat today. I imagine I could fill an expansive novel with the human saga suggested by archaeological evidence at the laundromat and our combined talents for prose. Here's the basic timeline of what we decided happened: 
1952: U.S. Marine and Twin Falls, ID native Hayton “Buddy” Dodd is injured at Bunker Hill; best friend and Twin Falls High classmate Warren “Buzz” Cooper pulled him from his foxhole and sprinted 2 miles downhill with his friend on his back to a medevac, which successfully transported him to a field hospital, where doctors were able to treat his injuries 1954: Buddy and Buzz return to civilian life in Twin Falls looking for work, a place to settle down, and women with whom to settle. Utah has just abolished all casino gaming and a big, new, joint venture is being erected at the Nevada border. Both men take jobs at Cactus Pete's casino in the newly constructed-from-scratch town of Jackpot, Nevada. They commute together for two years and continue to live in their respective apartments in Twin Falls 1954: Buzz and Buddy attend a dance at Rancher's Hall in Twin Falls featuring Benny Goodman's band, where Buzz meets and dances with Jan Ogalman. They immediately hit it off, exchange numbers, and begin their courtship. Jan was born in 1935 New York, New York to an Estonian immigrant laborer father who worked at a pomade factory. Upon the commencement of the Great Depression, both father Andres and mother Eunice - who took on work as a seamstress when money became scarce – were desperate to try any promising new locale that might afford more prosperity. Andres, having read about Twin Falls, ID in what he did not realize was a tongue-in-cheek article in a discarded issue of Collier's Weekly, decided to move wife and then only daughter Jan to Southern Idaho in 1937. Jan was only 2½ years old at the time, but to this day, she still starts her oral biography with the fact that she was born in New York City. 1954: Oregon outlaws all casino gaming, hurting Buzz' prospects as a slots technician, a skill that easily translated from his military training as a communications officer. Buzz begins commuting to the newly relocated Cactus Pete's casino in Jackpot Nevada. 1954-1957: Buzz and Jan's courtship continues. Buzz broaches the subject of marriage early on, but is convicted that he must first own a home and offer a more sizable income before they may wed. Jan's conservative Estonian father, Andres, also insists that Buzz travel to Narva to commission the tailoring of a traditional top hat. Buzz resolves to do whatever it takes to earn his love's father's blessing. 1957: Buzz and Jan Wed. Buddy was the best man. The theme was “Rocket to Stars”. Bridesmaids' dresses featured aerodynamic flanges and fin-like trains. Great appreciation is unanimously expressed over Buzz' top hat, except among those in attendance who are not Jan's parents. 1957: Buzz and Jan move into a chic, newly constructed rancher one mile from Cactus Pete's casino, where Buzz has moved up to Slot Technician Supervisor. Buzz and Jan's house is conspicuously distant from the only two businesses in the unincorporated spread called Jackpot. Buzz reasons that as Jackpot expands and becomes a lively metropolis, their home will define the inner edge of the suburbs, and will become so valuable that the family may relocate to a more cosmopolitan locale, possibly New York City, to which Jan has begin to show signs of ascribing unreasonable idyllism. Jan secretly subscribes to Cosmopolitan Magazine. 1959: In pursuit of their dream to trade Jackpot for a denser congealing of civilization, Jan gets a job as a drink server. Not wanting to distress her conservative parents with thoughts of Jan serving strangers in a skimpy dress, Buzz and Jan tell Twin Falls friends and family that she actually works the front desk of Cactus Pete's Hotel. Buzz secretly subscribes to Playboy Magazine. 1960: While not yet on track with their financial plan, Buzz and Jan decide to conceive a child. They tentatively name the baby Hope [for a girl] or Brighton [for a boy]. The first child is stillborn. 1961: Buzz and Jan each cancel their magazine subscriptions and both secretly purchase individual subscriptions to The Economist. Jan begins knitting blankets and Buzz takes up model rocketry. 1963: Jan scores a deal with Cactus Pete's Gift Shop to sell her Blackfoot-Indian-Styled blankets on consignment. Despite the conflict provoked by the fact that both Buzz and Jan are deeply racist and both regard Blackfoots with extreme suspicion at best, the taste of entrepreneurial success influences their thinking about their plan for relocation. 1965: Called upon to cover for Cactus Pete's general maintenance staff, Buzz empties the change from the guest laundromat on the ground floor of the hotel. Here he learns two facts that give birth to the idea that will become his life's crowning achievement: first, that people pump a lot of quarters into laundry machines in Jackpot, and also that Cactus Pete Peirsanti plans to discontinue the laundry to make room for two more guest rooms. Buzz uses this information, which he overhears through a dryer exhaust duct, to plan a bold move. 1966: Buzz and Jan invest their entire nest egg, which they have scrupulously saved from their income earned at Cactus Pete's, in their new brainchild. Jackpot Coin Laundry, located just two blocks from Cactus Pete's and directly across route 93 from the new Four Jacks Casino, opens to the public. The location was a sources of some contention between Jan and Buzz. While Jan suggested that their best bet was in closer proximity to Cactus Pete's, where the overwhelming majority of travelers stayed in town, Buzz, his reasoning clouded by both an eye to the future and a growing resentment for his supervisor at Cactus Pete's, Bosco “Bungle” Peirsanti, Buzz insists on locating closer to the promising new Four Jacks Casino. Buzz and Jan both continue their employment with Cactus Pete's. 1967: Jackpot Coin Laundry turns in a profitable first year. Buzz estimates that at their current level of profit, their capital investment will be paid off by 1973, after which their nest egg will be rapidly rebuilt. With a conservative estimate resale value of the business, Buzz and Jan are sturdied by the promise of relocation to New York as soon as 1977. 1967: Jan becomes pregnant again, though they do not agree on the extent to which the pregnancy was planned. They tentatively name the baby Sarah [for a girl] or Abraham [for a boy]. Inspired by their newfound hope – and Jan's evolving figure – Jan quits her job as a drink server to focus on making blankets and raising the baby. Buzz buys and installs a new style of prefabricated “Mobile Home” [trailer] adjacent to the Laundry so that Jan can make change on demand and have more space for her blanket operation. Jan begins selling blankets directly to customers at the Laundry. Buzz builds a tool shed next to the trailer and Laundry. 1968: The baby is stillborn. Buzz and Jan both cancel all magazine subscriptions and start watching television. Buzz' favorite show is “Route 66” and Jan's is “The Dean Martin Show”. Buzz moves his now-extensive collection of Playboy magazines to his tool shed at the trailer adjacent to the Laundry. 1969: Jan begins an unplanned pregnancy in January of 1969 and they tentatively name the baby “Junior”. Junior Cooper is born September 11, 1969. 1970: Jan becomes weary of the morning commute to the trailer adjacent to the laundry. She begins taking a change of clothing and staying overnight in the trailer. Not wanting to spend the night without her husband, she implores Buzz to stay with her. Though they continue to receive all mail at the ranch home, and they never acknowledge the move, they take up permanent residence in the trailer. 1972: Jan succumbs to depression and begins to drink hot toddies during the day. She buys her honey and lemons in twin falls for fear of reproach among the people of Jackpot. Junior's development in language skills is hampered by 8- and 12-hour stretches of silence. 1973: Buzz begins an affair with a drink server 15 years his junior. It will last for the remainder of his life. Jan in her stupor will never suspect that Buzz is cheating. Guilt-stricken Buzz begins overcompensating by spending more time doting on Junior, despite an obvious deficit in parenting skill. 1974: Buzz and Jan redouble their efforts to accrue a sufficiently sizable nest egg to relocate to New York City. Buzz installs a soap vending machine and adds two sets of high capacity washers and dryers in the Laundry. As the population of Jackpot grows, primarily as a function of the expansion of the Casinos' employee pool, the Laundry continues to become more profitable. Buzz draws up a budget and discovers that, if he can sell the laundromat for a very modest profit against his original capital investment, the family can relocate as early as January of 1977. 1975: The Coopers are advised to detain Junior from entering Kindergarten for another year, citing developmental issues as tactfully as possible. Jan contends that Junior is an exceptional genius and that he is too smart for kindergarten. Buzz never speaks his opinion on the matter to another living soul, but does take a renewed interest in Junior, bringing him along on every repair oriented errand, from special jobs at Cactus Pete's to odd jobs around the laundromat. 1976: Junior is finally allowed to enter kindergarten and is implicated in a mysterious fire. He makes friends easily, much to the consternation of his father, primarily because of the social circles to which Junior seems to gravitate. Jan begins sharing her toddies with Junior in small doses. 1977: Buzz is forced to acknowledge Jan's alcoholism. He takes steps to minimize the damage the problem will do to the family, including the installation of a new kind of electronic change machine in the laundromat. With conduit, wire, and receptacle in place, Buzz plugs in the new change machine. 
Junior, age 7 and uncomprehending, having watched the entire process, shoves a penny into the junction box that houses the 110v receptacles for the new change machine. Buzz instinctively moves his son away from the dangerous voltage and takes over the task of retrieving the penny without stopping to think of his own safety. The high voltage passed through his right hand, directly to his left foot, which was in standing water on the floor. The spasms from his electrocution and subsequent heart attack sent quarters from his coveralls pockets flying about the entire laundromat. Memorial services are both paid for and hosted by Cactus Pete's, including a memorial buffet dinner with crab legs, sirloin steaks, and made-to-order omelettes. 
The shock of her husband's passing brings Jan out of her stupor. Realizing that she is in an income deficit with just the laundromat and her blanket production, she risks the nest egg and contracts the construction of a building next to the Jackpot Coin Laundry. The building is to be a Mexican restaurant called “Aye, Arriba!”. The laundromat continues to be her primary source of income. Down to the last $2500, Jan decides to give up on the restaurant fantasy and open a very loosely conceived retail outlet, which turns out to be part gift shop, part convience store. DesperateDesparate from seeing her own hand writing a check for her last bit of money, Jan casts her fate to the wind and orders a combination VCR/TV and about a dozen of her favorite movies. Buddy does plumbing – Jan offers cactus pie and $20. just as he is about to leave Jan rolls out space heater that she wants mounted. Buddy, cussing, puts it up as fast as he can manage, using scrap and salvage parts from his old friend's workshop (including the garbage can in the workshop). [unlicensed] Video rental business takes off About to move to NYC, Junior gets in big trouble and nest egg goes toward his legal defense. truck – clutch is loose; neighbor fills tires for quarterly trip to Twin Falls junior is handyman in twin falls 
jr married Shoshone girl, of whom Jan does not approve, but Jan loves her grandkids 2008: Jackpot is still unincorporated. Four Jacks Casino is for sale and is currently being eyed by Iranian investors as a possible location for a discount brothel. The Cooper family ranch home on the outskirts of Jackpot remains uninhabited, except for jackrabbits and lizards. NOTE: I am going to have to finish this later, if ever. I haven't done an actual blog post in over a week, and now I'm not even going on photo safaris because my blog is bogged down in this thing. EJECT
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