Social Distance

A fictional tale of young love in a post-pandemic world… updated to include recent events.

Hannah dressed meticulously. Each piece went on in a specific order: After the undergarments came the stockings, then two petticoats, the first with wide hoops sewn into the fabric, and the second made from a light, flowing fabric, slipped over top of the first. Her blouse buttoned high, up to her chin, and the sleeves fit snugly from wrist to elbow to accommodate the long gloves she would slip on over top after lacing her calf-length boots. A skirt of royal blue silk finished the ensemble, paired with a matching bodice laced over the blouse. She pinned her hair in an elegant yet casual updo and topped it with a wide-brimmed bonnet.

She slipped down the staircase quietly, hoping to avoid unnecessary questions from her mother. She didn’t want to have to explain where she was going. Her mother would not approve of her meeting a boy unsupervised, but today was special. Today was her sixteenth birthday and Noah had a gift for her.

“Is that you, Hannah?” her mother called from the kitchen.

Rats!

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Are you going out?”

“Um…yes, just going for a walk.”

“All right. Be careful.”

“Of course. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

Hannah escaped through the front door and waved at her mother through the kitchen window.

When she reached the park, she spotted the bright blue of Noah’s cap. He was waiting for her in the gazebo, as planned. It was one of Hannah’s favorite places; private, with a lovely view of the pond and gardens.

Noah sat on the bench. His companion, a small mixed-breed dog, sat at his feet.

“I’m glad you made it. Have a seat.” Noah gestured to the empty bench opposite his. “I can’t stay long. I told my mom I was just walking Roscoe.”

Hannah sat, adjusting her hoops to fit the bench.

She had known Noah most of her life, but this was only the third time they had met in person outside of school. It was a bold move, frowned upon by the adults, who preferred teenagers only interacted from a distance.

“Happy birthday,” Noah said. “I made something for you. Can I give it to you now?”

“Yes! Please!” Hannah beamed with delight.

Noah placed a small pink box on the end of her bench and then retreated back to his seat.

“Go ahead,” he said, “I hope you like it.”

Hannah untied the ribbon slowly to savor the experience. She seldom got gifts from anyone outside her immediate family. Inside the box was a pendant on a silver chain – a tiny pink blossom suspended in a clear resin dewdrop.

Hannah gasped. “I love it!”

“It’s Verbena. I love the way you can suspend things in resin and they stay perfect and protected forever. My grandmother taught me. She used to make these and sell them at markets, in the Before Time. She said she was good friends with your grandmother back in those days. She tells me stories of the crazy things they used to do.”

Hannah paused a moment to imagine her grandmother as a young woman. She could definitely see her doing crazy things. She made a mental note to ask Nana Bella about the old days.

“I want to put it on, but I don’t have a mirror. Can you help me?”

Noah hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure it’s perfectly safe.”

Hannah reached into her handbag and removed a small bottle, which she used to spritz the pendant and then her hands. She stood and turned around so that Noah could reach the back of her neck. He fumbled with the clasp, awkwardly navigating her cumbersome bonnet. He removed his hat so he could see better, and then managed to fasten it after a few tries. She had never been so close to a boy before, and she suspected from his shaking hands that he shared her anxiety. She could smell his mysterious, intoxicating scent and feel his breath on her neck. What they were doing was so forbidden; her body tingled with electricity. She imagined herself turning around at that moment and kissing him, but she could never do that. Even now, they were taking a risk. If someone happened to see him this close to her, they could be in trouble. The danger of being caught and punished made it all the more thrilling.

Hannah caressed the smooth teardrop-shaped pendant with her gloved fingers. She couldn’t wait to touch it with her bare hands.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“So are you,” Noah whispered.

His hands lingered at the nape of her neck, and then brushed her shoulders briefly before he hurriedly stepped back. The touch of his gloves sent shivers down her spine.

“This is the best gift ever. Thank you so much,” Hannah said. Her heart hammered in her chest. She ducked her head to hide her flushed face behind the brim of her bonnet. The more self-conscious she felt, the more her cheeks burned.

“I-I should go,” he stammered. “My mother has dinner ready.”

“Yes, me too. I’ll talk to you tonight,” she said.

Hannah watched Noah leave, Roscoe trotting by his side.

She sat for a moment, eyes closed, hands clasped over the teardrop pendant, her mind swirling with impossible fantasies. After some time had passed, she set out for home, a spring in her step.

“Well hi there, Smiley!” A voice said. “What’s got you so cheerful?”

Her grandmother sat on a blanket on the front lawn, in the shade of the big oak tree. Her bare toes sported purple nail polish to match her hair. She was the picture of comfort, in black yoga pants and a baggy t-shirt.

She patted the blanket. “Have a seat, sweetie. Tell me about your day.”

Hannah gathered up her hoop skirt and plopped down on the blanket. She pulled off her bonnet with its plastic face shield and tossed it on the grass beside her. She took a deep breath and tilted her face toward the cool breeze as she peeled the long gloves from her hands.

Nana Bella reached into a small cooler and grabbed a can of Coors. She held the can toward Hannah. “Beer?”

Hannah hesitated. “My mom might give me shit.”

“Fuck it. It’s your birthday. Sweet sixteen, baby! She’ll get over it. I got your back.”

“Thanks Nana. I love you.” Hannah opened the can of beer and took a sip. Her mother wouldn’t get too mad if she only had one.

Nana Bella cracked a beer for herself and then looked at her expectantly.

“Can you keep a secret, Nana Bella?”

“Can I? Oh, hell yeah. You have no idea, girl.”

“I just came from seeing a boy.”

“Did you now? Well, that is juicy.” Nana Bella grinned.

“He’s a friend from school. He gave me this.” Hannah held up the pendant for her grandmother to see.

“Noah? He’s a nice boy. His grandmother is an old friend of mine, you know.”

“How did you know?”

“I’d recognize Angela’s handiwork anywhere.”

“Yes, Noah told me. She’s been teaching him. He made this one.”

“It’s lovely. Make sure you sanitize it or your mom will have a cow.”

“Already did.”

“Noah told me you and Angela did some crazy things when you were young. I’d love to hear some stories.”

Nana Bella laughed. “I bet you would. Oh, yeah, I’ve got some great stories for you. Things were different back then, in the Before. We were free. Angie and I used to go to concerts. We loved music. We saw so many awesome bands together.”

“Is that who ‘Rob Zombie’ is?” Hannah said, pointing at the image on Nana Bella’s shirt.

“Hells yes! I saw Rob Zombie live three times. But there were so many more. There were massive music festivals that lasted for days. Angie and I would camp out and spend the whole weekend partying. There was this wicked thing called a mosh pit, where people would cram together like sardines, dancing and shoving, sometimes even punching each other for fun. We’d climb onto the stage and dive into the mosh pit. People would catch you and pass you to the edge. It was like surfing on a sea of hands.”

“They were touching? Without gloves? Didn’t anyone get sick?”

“Yes, but only from too much booze.” Nana Bella laughed and waggled her can of beer. “There were no bad viruses back then. Well, I mean, yeah, there were… there were things that could make you sick or even kill you, but it took a little more than getting breathed on, if you catch my drift. And you could stay pretty safe as long as you had a condom.”

Hannah thought for a moment, and then her eyes widened. “You mean sex? With strangers?”

“Not always. We got to know each other first, but when you do the nasty with someone, there’s a certain level of familiarity that develops pretty fast. But also, we could meet people and hang out together and get to know each other.” Nana Bella sighed. “That’s the thing I probably miss most. The companionship of strangers. All the new friends out there waiting to be met. That was how I met your grandfather.”

“I wish I could touch Noah. Today I even imagined kissing him. But of course that’s impossible.”

“Not as impossible as you think. You two could get together one day, when you’re older.”

“It’s not fair. Why do we have to wait until we’re 18 to date? I’m old enough now. We wouldn’t do anything bad, we just want to spend time together. And even then, there’s so much paperwork – application to date, health checks, quarantine certificates. What if we did all of that and then decided we didn’t like each other?”

“Then you’d have to start over. Apply and quarantine to date someone else. I know, that’s a lot to go through just to be with someone, but it’s worth it, if you find someone special.”

“I mean, I’d do it for Noah. I hope he’d want to too. But why can’t we just spend time together to see if we even want to date?” Hannah finished her beer. A comforting warmth had spread through her belly, lowering her inhibitions and loosening her lips.

“Preachin’ to the choir, sis!” Nana Bella said. “Back in the old days we could test-drive the car before we bought it, so to speak. Date someone one week, someone else another. Live together for a while, maybe not. Whatever we did, it was our choice. Things got a little nutty after the Great Pandemic.”

“But that was so many years ago! Aren’t we safe now? Most everyone is vaccinated and nobody has been sick since, well, ever, that I can remember. Why do we have all these stupid rules?” Hannah reached into her grandmother’s cooler and helped herself to another beer. “What was it like? I mean, I studied it in school, but what was it like to be there?”

“The pandemic? Well, it was a crazy time. It was scary, for a lot of us. The whole world was locked down for weeks to control the spread. The economy crashed. I’m sure you learned about all of that in school. But the lockdown was working. We were getting the spread of the virus under control and the death toll started to slow. And then suddenly there was a bunch of asshats who didn’t want to do it anymore. They were tired of quarantine. They decided the virus was fake, just because they hadn’t caught it. They were sick of being told what to do, and they took to the streets in crowds, protesting the restrictions, screaming about their rights and freedoms. Like a bunch of damn toddlers having a temper tantrum.”

“I can’t believe they thought it was fake. Didn’t they see how many people were dying?”

“They claimed it was a big conspiracy. That all deaths were being labeled as COVID-19 to fake a pandemic. The number of people around the world that would have to be involved in such a conspiracy is mind-boggling. But there are always some wackos who would rather believe a complex conspiracy than a simple truth.”

Hannah shook her head. “Wow. I can’t even imagine.”

“And then in the midst of all the chaos, a black man was killed by police – totally unrelated to the pandemic – which set off anti-racism protests around the world.”

“Black Lives Matter,” Hannah said. “I learned about George Floyd in school.”

Nana Bella nodded. “It was a turning point in world history. People were rightfully pissed and they wanted change. Sure, a lot of the protesters wore masks and tried to keep distance, but it’s not easy to do when you have crowds of people and things get heated. The protests lasted for weeks. It sucked that it happened during a pandemic, but it’s not like you can plan that sort of thing. It happens when it happens, and change was long overdue.” Nana Bella paused and took a sip of her beer. “You know what happened after that.”

“The variants.”

Nana Bella nodded. “You know it. It’s in all the history books. Each time we thought the virus was under control, it mutated. First we had the Alpha strain, then the Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on. Omicron was super infectious but not as deadly. By the time we reached Omega, everyone was more or less complacent even though percentage-wise, we’d had more death than the Black Plague. Two-thirds of the world’s population, gone, but all everyone could think about were their damn rights and freedoms. More protests rose up, this time against travel mandates, mask wearing, and vaccines.”

“My mother was born during the pandemic, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she was. She was conceived during the first wave. My boyfriend Tyler and I had just moved in together, and we both worked at the same grocery store. Life didn’t change much for us during the lockdown. When everyone else got to work from home or take time off with free money from the government, Tyler and I were working overtime. People were such rude assholes, shoving, ignoring social distancing guidelines and swearing at us when they weren’t allowed to buy stupid amounts of toilet paper and other stuff. I took more abuse in those days than I ever have in my life. When Tyler and I did have days off together, that time was precious. I doubt we would have gone out, even if we could have. We were so much in love. I wonder if we’d still be together today.”

“I wish I’d met him,” Hannah said.

“Me too, honey. You would have loved your grandfather. He was a lot of fun. Great sense of humor. I’ve always loved a man with a sense of humor. Even in the thick of the pandemic, with fear and death all around us, he still managed to crack a joke. Even after he got sick…”

Nana Bella’s eyes grew glassy and she stared off into the distance for a few moments, then she cleared her throat.

“When Tyler got sick, I should have stayed home because I’d been exposed, but according to our boss, Tyler hadn’t been tested yet, so he wasn’t a confirmed case of COVID. For all we knew it was just a flu. The boss said that if Tyler wasn’t going to come to work, he had to find someone to cover his shifts or he was fired. I covered his shifts as well as my own. I was at work when he texted to tell me that he had called 911 because he couldn’t breathe. I texted back that I loved him and would call him as soon as I got off work. He never answered his phone because he was on a ventilator. He was gone the next day and I never got to say goodbye.”

“I’m so sorry, Nana.”

Nana Bella squeezed Hannah’s hand. “It’s ok, sweetie. It was a long time ago, but I still miss him. A few weeks later, I found out that I was pregnant. That was right around the time the second wave hit. I got sick and spent three weeks at home, alone and scared, but I recovered.  We didn’t have any COVID vaccines yet, and it was impossible to tell who would get really sick until it happened.”

“If most people are vaccinated now, then why do we have to be so careful?”

“Because life always finds a way and even a virus has a will to survive, as we’ve seen with all the variants. Every time we block it, it adapts. Maybe it’s nature’s way of dealing with overpopulation. There are plenty of theories. But also, because that pandemic took a toll on humanity. We were never the same after that. Psychologically, society is still damaged, even all these years later. There is always that underlying fear. We had no sooner learned to manage COVID-19 and all its variants, when Monkey Pox came along and scared the shit out of everyone all over again. The Pox didn’t amount to much; it wasn’t as infectious and only killed a few, but it served as a reminder that new viruses can develop at any time, and a potential threat is always around the corner.

But we were pros by that time. The 19 had taught us how to manage a pandemic. So, this new type of paranoia took over. Nobody wanted anymore lockdowns or mandates, especially not the ones who had the most to lose – you know, the rich folks, the governments… The social distancing and sanitizing that was necessary during the 19 became common precautions, and now it’s just a lifestyle. Virus wear became fashionable.”

“I wish I could dress like you, Nana. You look so comfortable. But my mom would probably have a fit. Plus, everyone would laugh at me. All the girls my age are wearing hoops. Fashion sucks.”

“Remember, it’s all for your protection. Your face shield. Your gloves and all the layers of clothing you dress in – they’re treated with anti-viral chemicals, which is easier than scrubbing and showering every time you touch anything. Is it overkill? Probably, yeah. But you never know. If we’d been doing all of that when COVID-19 first came along, a lot of people might have lived. Your grandfather might have lived, who knows?” Nana Bella’s eyes misted. “I just wish Tyler could see how things turned out. So many times he was harassed by police on his way home from work at night, just because he was a black man. I wish he could know that racism in police forces was finally exposed and that people at least tried to fight it.”

“I wish he knew that too. He sounds nice.

“He was, honey. He would have loved you so much.”

“Still, I think your clothes are a lot better than mine.”

“Patience, my dear. When you turn 18, you can choose how to dress in public. But keep in mind, I don’t give a shit if anyone laughs at me or gives me the evil eye. I’ve already survived the worst pandemic in history and several lesser ones. I’m hard to kill. You, my dear, have your whole life ahead of you. If living that life means taking some extra precautions, isn’t it worth it?”

“Maybe. I guess it’s better than dying. But I still wish I could be with Noah. Nothing dirty, just like, hold his hand and maybe kiss, you know, like in those old movies you showed me.”

“You’ll get there. All good things take time.”

Hannah’s mother called from the house. “Mom? Is Hannah with you?”

“Yeah!” Hannah called.

“Dinner’s almost ready. Time to wash up.”

“Ok!”

“Thanks, Nana,” Hannah said. “Don’t tell Mom about the beer, ok?”

Nana Bella winked. “Our little secret.”

Hannah ran upstairs to her room and found a message waiting on her laptop. It was from Noah.

“I know it’s a little soon, but will you date me? I have paperwork ready to sign.”

Hannah typed a quick response before rushing off to wash her hands.

“YES!”

Copyright © 2020 Mandy White