Laundry room politics

Maybe it was because I started when she walked in. 

Art lessons tend to throw my schedule for helping Demeter into some disarray, because I prefer to get her laundry done in the morning.  This time, it was late afternoon, when I seized the opportunity of an empty laundry room, and raced down.  It was also a warm day, and seeing no one, I slipped off my mask, as I sorted the hot, dry clothes and bedding out of the dryer.

The door swung open, and in strode a young-ish woman with ivory skin, and a shingle of unnatural red hair.  She looked questioningly at me, and I assured her that I was almost finished and added that I was fully vaccinated, slipping my mask back on.

"Do you live here?" she inquired.  The tone was reasonably conversational and was shaded by a slight accent that I couldn't place -- not quite British...perhaps South African? 

I explained that my mother had had a fall a few months ago, and that I did her laundry and meals.  In my mother's building, this information is usually enough to identify me; the residents of the condo  know about my mother's accident of seven months ago.

However, the woman persisted, still very politely:  "And does your mother own one of the condos?"

That's when I realised.  She thinks I've snuck in to use the machines.

I'm not quite sure why the idea of illicit laundry-room users is so prevalent, but it is.  I've never encountered any myself.  Years ago, when I was a relatively newly-wed living in a condo, my sister got cornered by the resident dragon lady, for the crime of doing my laundry as a favour.  I know it is a persistent fear in our current building.

I steadily replied to my gentle but firm challenger that my mother was one of the very first owners in the building.  We exchanged a couple of pleasantries, before I retreated to Demeter's unit to tell her the story.

Demeter told me that the accent I couldn't place is probably Kenyan.  A woman who attended Demeter's high school in Nairobi (many years after Demeter graduated, of course) moved into the building about two years ago.  

I'll address her by name the next time I see her.  That should startle her.