Covid Love

by Maxwell "Max" Sebastian Burchett

People were grabbing toilet paper off the shelves as if their survival, their very lives, depended on it.

I had been smiling to myself at the craziness, but then I thought maybe I should grab some toilet paper, too.

I didn’t. Toilet paper was the least of my worries.

But I headed to the grocery aisles and loaded, and overloaded, my shopping cart with anything that looked as if it had a long use by.

That’s when I saw her. And she was looking at me. Oh god, she must be thinking that I was like the people in the next aisle fighting over toilet paper.

“Well, did you get some toilet paper?” Yes, that’s what I said to her. Probably the worst first line of all time. But it was so ridiculous that she stopped. Then laughed.

“No, I think I’m all set for toilet paper. I see you didn’t get any either. You must already have plenty of toilet paper.” We were laughing.

“Oh yeah, definitely, I always keep tons of toilet paper.” More laughing. “You can never have too much toilet paper is my philosophy of life,” I said. Now I was on a roll, so to speak.

She said she was finished shopping. Of course, I said the same. After we got through the checkout, we walked to the parking lot together, chatting. She had a nice style of conversation.

Chloe was her name. It struck me as a name that suited her. Even with a mask, I could tell she was beautiful. We continued to talk. And talk.

It was sort of surreal to have a conversation with someone you’ve never met before and wearing masks.

“This is sort of like a masked ball isn’t it, I mean with us wearing masks?” Then I instantly regretted saying that. Standing in a parking lot is like a masked ball? Worse than my toilet paper line.

But Chloe bought right into it. “Oh, yeah, you’re right! It is! At a masked ball, don’t people take off their masks?” she asked.

“Yeah, how does that go? There’s a countdown, right?” I said, having no actual idea.

“At midnight, right?” she said. “But let’s not wait that long. I’ll go first. You count.”

Love at first sight must actually be a thing, something for which there is no protection, no masks.

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