I Hid in the Utility Room

Dear Delyara, There is nothing beautiful about that room. That’s part of why it worked. The machine noise, the half-light, the baskets, the smell of detergent, the fact that nobody comes in there unless they need something boring — all of it made the room strangely peaceful for two minutes because it was the least emotionally demanding space in the whole house. So I stood in there. Doing nothing. Pretending to be checking the washing. I think tired women understand things like this instantly. Sometimes the place you hide is not the nicest place. It is the place least likely to ask one more human thing from you.