I pulled in at the end of the line. I looked at the grocery store itself. Before the pandemic, I went shopping there at least once a week for twenty years, ever since I moved here as a young man just out of college. It was hard to believe I hadn’t been in the store itself since March of 2020. My last memory of the store is of shelves totally emptied of toilet paper (which I really needed—I was down to quarter of a roll). After that, I’d ordered groceries on-line, with drive-through pickup. It seemed safer in those scary early days of COVID-19.
Today, of course, the only option is ordering on-line. My state—like many—banned in-store shopping five years ago, when some particularly virulent mutation of COVID hit. Vaccines caught up after a few months—but then new strains emerged that hit my state hard, and so stores were never allowed to reopen.
I—finally!—reached the head of the drive through line. A muscular young man—who might have been the star of the football team if high school sports were still allowed—quickly loaded my groceries into the trunk of my car.
I pulled away. Then I had my usual panic attack, hoping I’d remembered to order everything I needed. It’s such a pain getting groceries, sometimes. It’s not like it used to be, when you could just run into the store to grab one item and be out in five minutes. The drive-through wait can take forever sometimes—particularly the week before Thanksgiving.
I also hoped whoever had filled my grocery order had been careful. I hate it when I get wilted lettuce or moldy strawberries.
I turned on the car radio. It was the middle of the news. “—the new vaccine is said to show real promise. In trials, it’s been highly effective against effective against all seven COVID strains that are currently common in North America. Doctors say this vaccine may help finally end the pandemic after nine years.”
That, I thought, would be nice. Maybe I’d be able to go into a supermarket again! I can’t say I ever liked grocery shopping—but it would be so nice to get back to the pre-COVID normal. Even doing mundane things, like pushing a cart around a supermarket.
“In other news, a new mutation of COVID may be spreading in Brazil. It’s said it could be the most serious yet.”
Then, again, maybe I’d never be able to set foot in a grocery store again. Maybe there never would be a return to the pre-COVID normal