開けたことのなかった網

There is nowhere in my flat to put a washing machine, so every Sunday, late at night, I go to the coin laundry behind the station. When I had only just started using it, four 100-yen coins were enough and the drying was done. Now, three years on, the dryer stops every ten minutes.

Each time it stops I put in another 100-yen coin. There were days when the washing sat in the dryer for two hours and it cost about 1,200 yen. I had decided it seemed the machine had got old. Late at night there is nobody in the shop, so I have never said anything about this machine.

One night in June, when the washing would not come out warm even with four 100-yen coins in, I crouched down in front of the dryer. On the flap below, in small letters, it said: "Before use, please clear the dust from the mesh inside." I opened the flap and pulled the mesh out, and grey dust had built up thick on it.

I cleared the dust off and put in four 100-yen coins again. In forty minutes the whole load came out warm. The explanation on the back of the flap was short, and in Japanese even I could understand. For three years the one having a hard time every week had been me.

Someone waiting next to me, who looked like a regular, asked, "How do you open that?" I explained how to take the mesh out. That person learned it in three minutes. It had taken me three years. On the way home at two o'clock it was raining, but the washing was still warm. That was fine by me.