Laundry Magic

I had been doing laundry all day, because that's how long laundry takes, and I was trying to finish it all before I went to meet up with some friends.  Almost everything had been folded and put away, and I was down to two loads--one in the dryer, and one already washed and waiting to be dried.  It was time for me to leave, so I asked my husband, as he was setting up his XBOX, to please put the last load in the dryer when the other load is done drying.  I even put the laundry basket in front of the basement door, so that it would be within his peripheral vision as he sank into the couch to engage in Modern Warfare. 

"Did the dryer stop?" he asked, which gave me the impression that he acknowledged what I had asked him.

"Not yet," I said, "it has about another half hour."  And with that, I grabbed my coat and keys, said good-bye and left.

And my husband, bless his heart, with his devout belief in magic, must have thought that when I asked that the clothes be put in the dryer that I was talking to my Fairy Godmother.  And he must have assumed she would put a spell on the clothes so that when they were done drying they would remove themselves and fold their way into the basket so that the wet clothes could dance their way in, and then she would beam down in a cloud of fairy dust to throw in some fabric softener sheets and turn the dryer on.  And I know he must have believed this, the poor dear, because when I awoke this morning I found the basket...exactly where I had left it the night before...and it was empty.