The mysterious tall guy's washer finished before Howard's dryer. They continued to play Go Fish. The whole time Howard wondered when the third person would arrive. The one who was washing clothes in the washer that neither belonged to him and the mysterious guy across the table.

However by the time his dryer finished nobody had come through. The washing machine remained dormant, waiting for the owner of the clothes to come.

It was a sad look Howard felt. It reminded him of a time he was waiting for his mom to pick him up after soccer practice. One of the other moms had offered to take him back home, but he said no... he should wait for his mom. But his mom didn't come until an hour later. This was before cell phones. he waited and waited, and it felt like an eternity. He thought maybe he should've gotten the ride from his teammates mom.

He thought of this as he waited for his dryer to finish. The final ten minutes he had waited alone. The mysterious tall guy had left after his clothes were done in the washer. He preferred to hang dry his clothes he said. Howard thought that was neat.