62
“I don’t know man. It’s weird. You know how I used to run a shop, before all this. Well, when everything started to change, I was one of the first to see the times and started offering the ‘contactless service’.”
They laughed as he did finger quotes. That was another one of those phrases that had seemed to come out more of a corporate slogan office than an actual spur of the moment phrase.
Alfie shook his head wondering what was next for him. Trevon seemed all the more excited to just leave it all behind. But then again, if Juan worked in a grocery store with people who shopped for customers who could afford not to go to the store, Juan suspected he might be in the same boat.
By the time Anselmo had walked back with Trevon to the truck, Alfie and Juan sat next to each other in the back of the truck. Juan touched his pocket tempted to pull out his mask realizing how close everyone was to him. Alfie’s mask hung by his ear as he shoved chips into his mouth. Anselmo smiled looking at Juan as he threw a bag in the back of the truck with them.
The mask had always felt silly to him. Like it was some kind of admonition of guilt, it served not to protect him, but protect other people in case he was ill. Wearing it had felt weird at first, but it became the new normal.
As the truck roared to life, Trevon began giving directions down the street to pick up Juan’s mother. Juan couldn’t help but imagine they were headed to a dystopian paradise.
***
Five.
His mother, who if she ever had listened to him, he couldn’t remember a time, hadn’t waited on the porch. Anselmo killed the engine as they waited.