[Intro: Lila, Young Female Spoken-Rap]
Machine twelve turns. Machine nine shakes.
A red sock circles with the choices grown-ups make.
Mom writes "bedroom" on a box with no bed inside.
She says we are not moving. Then she tapes it twice.

[Verse 1: Lila, Young Female Spoken-Rap]
Under the laundry light, everything looks white,
Shirts in the window at half past night.
I feed four quarters in; the washer will not start.
Mrs. Cole says, "Kick the side, but not too hard."
A baby sleeps on a stack of jeans;
His dad scrolls rooms on a cracked phone screen.
Mom shuts her laptop before I see the price;
I ring Rafi's bell while the dryer turns twice.

[Chorus: Lila and Narrator]
Under the laundry light, round and round,
Coins in the slot, moving boxes on the ground.
Under the laundry light, tell me what is true:
Can they call it empty with our beds in there too?
The clothes come back warm, but the answers stay cold;
How far must a family move to grow old?

[Verse 2: Lila, Young Female Spoken-Rap]
Mr. Alvarez folds each shirt in a square,
One grocery bag resting beside his chair.
He says his new room is far from the train,
Then asks about school and looks down again.
Mrs. Cole dries blankets for apartment two;
Warm steam smells like the old soap Rafi used.
Grown-ups lower voices when a kid comes near;
I catch "vacancy" through the dryer's whir.

[Chorus: Lila and Narrator]
Under the laundry light, round and round,
Coins in the slot, moving boxes on the ground.
Under the laundry light, tell me what is true:
Can they call it empty with our beds in there too?
The clothes come back warm, but the answers stay cold;
How far must a family move to grow old?

[Instrumental Break][Vibraphone repeats four descending notes while dryer percussion circles beneath the Calder Rhodes motif.]

[Spoken Interlude: Lila, Young Female Spoken-Rap]
I draw seven floors and the kiosk by the street,
Every name by the door, every bike, every seat.
Then I draw one crane with a mouth full of brick.
[Spoken Response: Narrator, Young Female Spoken]
I kneel by the page. "Keep this. Don't let it get lost."
[Spoken Call: Lila, Young Female Spoken]
"For court?"
[Spoken Response: Narrator, Young Female Spoken]
"Maybe. And so nobody forgets."
[Spoken Interlude: Lila, Young Female Spoken-Rap]
I add a crowd with keys and a sign that says STAY.

[Bridge: Narrator, Young Female Rap]
They say "the market" like weather rolling in,
Like nobody signed it, like nobody could win.
Rain hits every roof; this notice chose a door.
Someone set the deadline and signed the final form.

[Final Chorus: Lila and Narrator]
Under the laundry light, round and round,
Coins in the slot, moving boxes on the ground.
Under the laundry light, we know something true:
A home is where somebody saves a seat for you.
The clothes come back warm, and the small bell rings clear;
Lila draws each name so it cannot disappear.

[Outro: Lila, Young Female Spoken]
Machine twelve stops. The room goes still.
I lift the drawing
from the windowsill.