There are moments now and then when, if I imagine hard enough, it’s like it was before.
I don’t feel the ear loops from the mask.
I don’t notice the red signs on the floor, saying “6 ft apart!”
I don’t feel... the heaviness that tinges every single hour.
There are moments. 1/
I’m standing in line at the post office. It’s a beautiful day and sunlight streams in through the windows.
Miraculously it’s relatively deserted.
A bored little boy looks through the stamps for sale with his mother.
A man stands behind me, elderly, leaning on a cane. 2/
He’s tall, lean, and wears a “GO ARMY” sweatshirt paired with sweatpants, and those brown sandals that seem ubiquitous in South Texas.
I nod hello.
He nods in return, “Hi, doc.”
For a moment, I feel that queasy discomfort of being unable to remember.
Do I know him? 3/
I know patients expect me to recognize them, and I often remember, but there’re just too many.
Then I realize, he’s not a patient.
I forgot to unclip the hospital ID tag on my shirt pocket.
He grins, “What kind of doc are ya?”
I unclip the ID tag and smile, “Kidneys.” 4/
“My kidneys are just about the only damn part of me that works!”
He laughs. A choppy sound, dry.
I nod politely, saying nothing.
He continues with that easy familiarity that comes from being sociable, and lonely.
“I busted my knees jumpin’ outta planes for the army.” 5/