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As I picked my way through the building, I felt my anxiety rise. My pulse throbbed in my temple like a drum. I got caught between two people by the onion display and had to wait for one of them to move. A man nearby suddenly sneezed, which made me jump and then squeeze past the woman blocking my way.
Finally I reached the orange display. And oh baby, it was worth it. There were individual Valencia oranges stacked high, and big bags full of them underneath the display. I grabbed one bag, then grabbed a second one. If Molly was serious about how much she loved oranges, then one bag wouldn’t last very long.
Time to make a break for it. The checkout lines were short right now, if I could get through the crowd in time.
I started that way, then stopped.
There’s one more thing I need to do.
I made a detour deeper into the store. It was crowded, and I couldn’t avoid getting within one meter of several customers, however I found what I was looking for near the back. When I returned to the front of the store, the checkout lines were longer than before. I decided it was still worth it.
I exited the store and walked across the street. The woman with the baby and cardboard sign looked longingly at the box under my arm. I could see the desperation in her eyes, and the pride she was swallowing just to be outside, begging.
“Mi scusi,” she said in a shuddering voice.
With my hand holding the bags of oranges, I pointed at her sign. Then I held out the big box of diapers I had purchased. Her eyes jumped from the box, to my face, then back to the box. She babbled a question to me in Italian.
“Um, per te, I think?” I said. “These are for you. That’s what I’m trying to say. Per te?”
Tears ran down her cheeks and the cardboard sign fell to the ground. She took the box of diapers with one hand, placed it on the ground, and then lunged at me, hugging me tightly with her free hand while clutching the baby in the other.
“Grazie,” she whispered through her mask. “Grazie, grazie,grazie…” The baby was pressed between us, and he looked up at me with big blue eyes, wondering who this strange man was.
Alarm bells went off in my head. Aside from Molly, this was the first physical contact I’d had with anyone inweeks. In terms of pandemic safety, it was the worst thing I could have done.
But she clung to me like I was her savior, and I couldn’t bring myself to push her away. “You’re welcome.” I patted her on the back with my free hand.
I didn’t like praise. It felt immodest taking credit for a good deed, or bragging about an accomplishment. I did it to help her, not to give myself a pat on the back. If there had been a way to give her the diapers anonymously, I totally would have done that.
She finally let go of me, then scooped up the box under one arm. Even though most of her face was covered by her mask, the look in her eyes was unmistakable.
Happiness. And hope.
I waved goodbye and slung my oranges over a shoulder.
It’s just a hug,I thought while walking home.It was worth it to help her.
37
Molly
The Day With ORANGES!
It was bad enough that I slept terribly, with nightmares about getting caught by the police, and about upsetting Donovan, and about going to bed without saying a word to each other.
Then I woke up alone.
For a few moments it felt like I had been abandoned. My bed wasempty.I had messed up last night and now he was gone. Our fun adventure had come to an end. I was alone again, just like I had been the first few days of the lockdown.
But of course that wasn’t true. For one thing, I was inhisbed. His suitcase was on the table to my right, and his shirts were hanging up in the closet.
For another thing, there was a folded note on the pillow next to me.
Out running errands. If I don’t come back, it’s because the zombies got me.
I smiled at the joke. It meant things were okay between us, despite what had happened last night. But I still felt guilty about everything.
I brewed a cup of coffee and walked out to the balcony. The sun was shining brightly and there was a cool morning breeze that stirred my Residencia Al Gladiatore bathrobe. I pulled it tighter around myself and watched the plaza below. A woman was hurrying along with a bag of groceries, making use of the four hours when she was allowed to be out for non-emergency reasons.
