sinhuethedoctor

[sinhuethedoctor]

6 FEET AWAY (COVID-21)

My alarm goes off. "BEEP,BEEP,BEEP." Before I even open my eyes I blindly slam my hand down onto my phone to shut it up. Rolling over onto my side I take a look at it:

TUESDAY MARCH 16TH 2021

7:30am 

66 Degrees and Sunny

I swipe my other notifications away - probably about how President Trump skewed the online voting numbers in last Novembers election - and roll my feet onto the ground. Rubbing my eyes I walk into my bathroom and immediately wash my hands; force of habit at this point. I use the toilet then wash my hands again before brushing my teeth. I begin to get dressed and consider wearing short sleeves, being how warm it will be out today, but ruled it out immediately because that's risky business nowadays. I throw a thermal over my head and slip on a pair of long pants before tying my shoes. I grab my house keys, my phone, my empty wallet, my bottle of hand sanitizer, and my 10 pack of disinfecting wipes. I slip on my rubber gloves then place my mask over my face. 

As I head down the steps and out the door I give my father a Facetime call: 

"Shouldn't you be wearing a hood? You're not being careful enough," is the first thing he says after he picks up.

"Dad, its going to be almost 70 degrees today, give me a break. You know I'm always careful," I say as pull the bottle of hand sanitizer and the wipes out of my pocket and present them to my camera to prove myself.  

"Yeah, well if everyone was a little MORE careful, we wouldn't be dealing with this shit for over a year now!! They said 1 month!!!! It's been a year!!!" 

"I hear you pop, well I'm about to go to work just wanted to say hello,"

"Work....," he say's disgiusted. "....pfff. One day you'll get sick and regret this whole working thing."

"Maybe so, Dad. I'll see you later," I hang up. 

I jump on my bicycle and start to think as I ride. I mean, maybe I am stupid, I can be getting almost the same money to sit home. I only make about one hundred more dollars a month than everyone else my age is getting from the government. No, I can't do it. Better to be out in the world, delivering food on my bike than being huddled at home scared in a corner. Scared of the world. 

I'm early so I decide to pass by my brothers house first. I get to the edge of his walkway and call his phone:

"Whatsup?" he asks.

"Come out I want to see Salvatore,"

"Give us a second, we'll be right down," he hangs up.

A few seconds later the door open's up, my nephew Sal squeezes passed my brother and begins to make a run for it down the walkway to give me a hug at the other end. Before he was able to get two feet he was yanked back by his collar.

"Salvatore, what the hell are you thinking?!!" my sister-in-law, Nicole, screams at him. "You know better than that," she says as she pulls him close to her.

 The three of them stand in front of the door wearing their mask's and gloves and I stay where I am at the other side of the walkway.

"You know, you may be back to your real job soon. Trump has a big announcement tonight and everyone thinks he's going to announce a date to lift the quarantine," my brother says.

"Right, like the four other times this happened," I reply.

"Keep hope, this could be the one. Dr.Fauci say's the curve is flattening out," my sister-in-law tells me.

"I bet it is...," I mumble sarcastically. "When I going to get to hug my nephew?"

"Right now, Uncle Mikey!!" My newphew screams as he tries to take off again. 

"When you quit that job," my brother replies while snatching his son."And then quaranratine for 14 days after that. Then we'll see,"

"Yeah, yeah. One day. I'll talk to you guys later, I gotta go. Love you, Sally," 

"Love you, more!!" he manages to get off before being hurried back into the house. 

A ten minute bike ride and I was at work. Delivering groceries wasn't what I saw myself doing at this point in my life but then again the whole world can say the same thing about their lives. 

The store I deliver for is small but they're busy. I walk over to my designated staging area to pull my deliveries. Looking at the tickets and the amount of bags, I map out my route and figure I'll have to make about 6 trips back here given what I can fit in the basket on my bike. It's a beautiful day so I don't mind at all. The first delivery I make is the largest, six bags. I load up my basket, hop on my bike and take-off. 

When I arrive at the house I grab the bags and carry them to the garage door and place them right in front of it. I walk to the front door, ring the bell, and walk back towards my bike. Moments later the garage door opens about two feet. A hand reaches out, pulls the bags into the garage and immediately the door begins closing. 

The rest of the day was most of the same. Bag placing and bell ringing. It was the safest way to do it nowadays. Mr. Scagnetti actually came the window and yelled out a Hello which was nice. It was always good to interact with people, even from a distance.

By the time I started my last delivery it was already dark. From there I'll go to my dad's. Once or twice a week I pass by and he talks to me from the balcony. It's good to get some actual face-time with him rather than the virtual Facetime.

It's actually the part of my week I look forward to the most. I miss my dad a lot and it hurts not being able to see him. 

I placed my last bags in front of the last garage and jumped back on my bike. I love riding at this time of night because curfew is setting in which means there are barley any trucks on road. This is what I live for these days. I'm always so caught up with making sure things are clean, washing my hands, avoiding people, and staying healthy that I never really feel free until I'm riding my bike. I speed down the service road and relentlessly gain momentum. I scream "FUCK CORONA!!!" as I pass through the intersection. 

By the time I saw the truck, it was six feet away. I don't even remember what it looked like. I only remember the drivers eyes above his mask. He looked scared.

When I got to heaven, my mother was the first person I saw. It had been 6 months since she died from the virus. We hugged each other tight and finally, I was free.