Got the first shot

The man and I put on our coats and walked across the snowy courtyard to the retirement center in the building next door and got our first dose of the covid-19 vaccine. It was all very methodical and stress free, with various white coated young people stepping us through the different stations, filling out the forms, checking IDs, waiting for the next available medical person who would ask you a list of questions before swabbing the arm of your choice and inserting that long needle. We got the Moderna shot, and the whole thing couldn't have been easier. The injection didn't hurt more than a pinch, and then we were sitting in the next room, waiting the required 15 minutes to make sure we had no allergic reactions, and greeting various neighbors who were also getting their shots today. 

One man called out to me by name, from six feet away of course, and through I returned the greeting, he could see I wasn't quite sure who he was under his double face masks, especially since my glasses were fogging up thanks to my own double face masks. "Ayana's dad!" he added helpfully and then it was all salutations and laughs. My husband muttered under his breath, "Quickest way to identify yourself—as someone's mom or dad." While we sat there, the Manhattan Borough President walked in and greeted us and everyone else like we all were old friends, and my man, again under his breath, observed: "She wants us to be very sure who made this vaccination site happen." "Well, she has my vote when next I see her name on a ballot," I said cheerfully, because those in-person appearances do matter, something Rafael Cruz in Texas still needs to learn, though AOC has been giving him a powerful lesson in showing up. 

Soon enough, we were given a card with our second-dose appointment, a bar code to scan for CDC follow-up should we choose to participate, and papers to read on what to expect in the way of side effects. After that, the white coats sent us on our way. Outside the building we took a photo, his brow deceptively fierce, my glasses cockeyed and ears sticking out from the elastic of my two masks. Yet it seemed to be a moment worth marking, the beginning of the end of fear.