Slice of Life During the Pandemic

The thin young man stood in the open doorway of Old and New Bookstore, sucking on a cigarette. No mask, no social distancing as he conversed with the bookstore clerk, an artsy young woman standing just inside the door.

"I'm so sick," he whispered hoarsely to the clerk, coughing between puffs, not covering his mouth. 

The girl, taking a step back, ran a hand through her purple hair. "Have you been to a doctor?" 

"I'm going today," he gasped, exhaling blue smoke that slithered like a lizard into the bookstore's open doorway. 

The smoke ate away at the store's delicious scent of old leather and moldy paper, much like a cancer gnaws away one's lungs. 

by Sandra Plant
April 20, 2021