CHAPTER FORTY NINE – STRANGE MORNING ROUTINES

"Absolutely not, I forbid it!" Jasmine gaped at Gary as if he'd just revoked her hot water privileges forever. "No way am I letting you start drying my unmentionables on those creepy twisted racks outside on the fire escape!" Gary simply sniffed, adjusting his spectacles in that infuriatingly dismissive way he did whenever Jasmine pointed out the blatant insanity of one his ritualistic routines. "I will thank you not to disparage the time-honored practice of air-drying delicates for maximal longevity.” "Oh yeah?" Jasmine rounded on him, planting her hands on her hips. If this hippy-dippy weirdo thought he could start stringing up her panties like freaky Feng Shui wind chimes for the neighborhood pervs, he had another thing coming. "Well in case you haven't noticed, this isn't the Victorian era -- it's the 21st century, pal! People have these revolutionary new inventions called clothes driers that, you know...DRY CLOTHES." She punctuated the last few words by jabbing Gary in his bo