Research

Before the advent of industrialization, laundry was done not in machines but in streams by "letting the stream carry away the materials causing stains and smells."

We have to ask ourselves: Is this still happening, albeit on a larger scale?

If so, where exactly is the "stream"?

And who are we washing? Which one of us, or even what part of us, is a "stain or a smell"?

Stand back and ask yourself this question: Am I red wine, cranberry juice, or a lucky club soda?

A connection perhaps?

As well, track suits rose in popularity in the 1980's. They are praised for the following characteristics:

• If wearing the full tracksuit, you can easily hide stolen items under your clothing
• One can also hide quite large weapons, such as knives or baseball bats, or a plumber's pipe

Why are we keeping piping bundled up in track suits?

And what part of our own plumbing is hidden under someone else's track suit?

Do some of our drains travel down through the walls, out into the dirt, and then into the nylon folds of some thug's tracksuit?

Does it stop there, or do the pipes usher us into their bodies as well?

And are these perhaps the very pipes through which we are "washed" -- all or part of us taken away like stains and smells?

I can't find anything in particular missing on my person, yet I have a pervading sense of unease. In the grocery store and around town, it does appear that other people are missing perhaps a vital organ or cognitive chunk -- yet, they seem not to notice themselves.

I carry a wrench now so that I might unscrew curious piping -- to see who falls out.

So far, all I know is this: there's a whole lot of water headed off somewhere -- where to I don't know, but perhaps into the bodies of other people -- and we may or may not be floating in it as pieces and parts.