She couldn’t have imagined ever seeing the station filled with masked people.
Every single person — children, parents, elderly, middle-aged, travelers, security guards. It didn’t matter who they were; all were masked.
She was a studier of faces, now she became a studier of hands, of postures, of gaits.
Hands tell so much about a person. That young woman must have treated herself to a spa day recently. Her hands were as coifed as her hair. The gnarled hands of the older woman told of painful struggles with arthritis. The bandaids on the little boy’s hands (and knees) spoke of lessons learned hopefully amidst fun. Wedding rings (or lack thereof) said something, but she knew not to trust that clue. The rough working hands on the one security guard suggested a second job or hobby; she wondered which.
She watched an older man, his shoulders slumped, as he studied his phone. Was he lost, she wondered, or had he just received bad news?
A little girl was tugging at her father’s hand, peering up towards his face, clearly wanting something from him, but he was engaged in conversation with another adult and paid her no mind.
Then she watched the older woman bury her face in those arthritic hands. Her shoulders heaved.
Was she crying? she wondered. Can I help her?
Her nature was to reach out and help, but this damned pandemic had handicapped her handicap. Without the ability to read lips, she was even more isolated in a crowd.
This is my response to the Unicorn Challenge. Each week they post a picture. Those who take up the challenge write no more than 250 words based on that prompt.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
This. 💔
❤
I thought of you while writing.
It posed a big challenge for the people with impaired hearing.
Yes, it did. At work, someone bought masks with a clear insets so people could see the mouth, but they looked so freaky to me that I couldn’t bring myself to wear them. Instead, I started working (again) on my sign language.
Honestly I can’t think of many things more isolating than deafness.
Any impairment poses challenges, blindness is I think more challenging.
Your keen observations really capture the vulnerability of all of us during that time, Sally.
The final paragraph is so sore.
Thanks, Jenne. I am traveling for the next week or so and donned the mask again. It brought back a lot of memories.
I was thinking – this is me. Then the last part was a knife! A wonderful write and an excellent drawing in of the reader….
This IS me — except for the last part. During COVID, I found myself studying people’s hands a lot. I often thought about children missing out on facial recognition skills too
I found myself right at home with the masks and social distancing.
(Finally! As a child the constant maternal refrain, “Keep you hands down, away from your face, no one can understand what you’re saying!”)
good remember-story
Social distancing — NO PROBLEM. I really like my personal space.
But the masks? — did not like that AT ALL.
Thought-provoking piece, Sally.
It’s too easy to forget about those less fortunate than ourselves.
Wonderful evocation of a time we all shared, Sally. As someone who derives hours of amusement speculating on my fellow travelers at airports, shopping centres etc, I could strongly identify with the situation. I would start with one my mother’s obsessions; the type and care shown in the shoes. 🙂
This is something I can relate to, especially now. I’m recovering from a terrible cold that has kept me indoors for one week except for yesterday when I had an appointment I could not miss. Donning a mask, I ventured out and was immediately reminded how difficult it was to understand what people were saying. Worse than than, people looked at me as though I were a leper, keeping their distance. Their fear and distrust was plainly visible on their faces, something we were unable to see when we all wore masks.
Excellent read.
I admit to being a habitual people watcher, and during maskgate I learned to read more about people from their actions and gestures rather than expressions and it’s stayed with me. A delightfully different take on what we all saw in the picture but chose to ignore!
That final reveal! Here I thought she was learning to read people because of pandemic masks (as we all had to do), and it was business as usual (almost) for her. Brilliant!
Very good. I was thinking she’d be able to give Sherlock Holmes a bit of competition, but the ending you gave put a whole different spin on it. You’re so right about the difficulty for those who rely on watching, rather than hearing. I noticed that I had to make more of an effort to use my eyes to show people that I was smiling. Reading people’s attitudes and feelings became very difficult.
COVID was a challenging time for a lot of reasons, but I often thought about my deaf friends and how isolating it was because of the masks.