Dry Lightning

When I was a kid my mother hung all of our laundry on a clothesline to dry. Everybody in the neighborhood did. In our case, we didn’t have a dryer, but even after we got one later on, we still hung our sheets out on the line.

My father used to say that he preferred the feel of air-dried sheets. Now it is very rare to see a clothesline anymore, and apparently not just in my current neighborhood either. Somewhere along the line, it has become gauche to hang your clothes outside for the world to see. You know, it's uncivilized or something.

Here's what it has come to.

I, for one, think clotheslines should be back in vogue. They’re cool, they’re retro, they let you see what your neighbor’s unmentionables look like, and they are so, so … green.

What’s not to like?

But don’t be like Ed Van Horn, my wiffle-ball opponent in the sixth grade, who nearly wrung his neck on our clothesline chasing a foul ball. Ouch.