Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: REVIVAL (10/15/20)
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TITLE: Behind the Mask | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
10/17/20 -
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Today broke the mould. Oh, everyone had masks and stood on the green dots but the chill in the air said something new was afoot. I should have had my head bowed like everyone else. As it was, I was trying to figure out who the familiar form in front of me might be behind the mask and yellow hat.
It started across the street from the bank. The light turned green, the wind gave an extra gust and one lone red maple leaf from the top of a tree parachuted over the roof of a bus, off the shoulder of a skateboarder and down onto the white leather shoes of a woman who had joined the queue. She attempted to kick the leaf off but it was wet and it stuck. She stood for a moment and then imitated a flamingo shaking off a weed that tangled around its web. All the while, she tried to remain on her green dot.
The elderly gentleman in front of her rested on his cane giving the impression of a 3-legged mannequin. He slowly gyrated when her small squeaks grew in intensity. Maintaining his feet firmly on his green dot, he attempted to help the woman by poking at the leaf with his cane. The scene had the bizarre feel of a game of Twister. She swung her foot wildly away and caught me right in the knee. I buckled on top of my green dot and she collapsed on top of me. The man with the cane piled on.
“Green dot! Green dot!” shrilled the guard. “Stand 6 feet apart. Social distancing. Green dot.”
Several ‘Good Samaritans’ instinctively stepped off their green dots to help but quickly retreated to their safe space. The skateboarder skidded to a halt and moved toward our pile of wriggling bodies. “Green spot! Social distancing!” hollered the yellow-vest. “Where’s your mask young man? Stand back.” None of us had the strength to move away into our social distancing position and the guard soon hovered still six feet off.
Then began the instructions. “Sir, you’ve dropped your cane. Do you need it to get up? Did you sanitize it?”
I’m not sure if the response was in Ukrainian, Greek, Romanian or something I just shouldn’t understand but he got his point across. The skateboarder kicked the cane to him. The three-legged mannequin rolled off the woman with the white shoes and right onto his cane. More Ukrainian.
The woman continued to howl in my ear. “That fool broke my leg. Get me off of here.” No one appeared to want to be the first transgressor to leave their dot. The sweet dear dug her elbows into my ribs before unsheathing her claws into my shoulders and attempting to push off. I did my best to nudge her up with my back only to have her swing her purse at the side of my head. “You filthy beggar. What do you think you’re doing?”
The woman behind me declared the obvious. “Miss. Miss. You have a leaf on your shoe.”
“On your dots,” ordered the security guard. “Keep the queue, keep the queue.”
The skateboarder waved his board. His phone was at his ear. “I called 911. The ambulance is on the way.”
Working hard to keep my leather shoes on the green dot, I slowly untangled my body and returned to my place. My mask had swung down off my ear so I reached to fix it back in place. That’s when I heard the gasp. “Pastor!”
The eyes of the former organist stared up at me. “You’d think we were having a revival around here with all this carrying on,” she said, starting to shake her leg again.
“Why don’t I just take that leaf off of your shoe and save the revival for the church meetings,” I replied.
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