That morning I was really anxious, it couldn't be possible again, again that nightmare was not possible.
To top it all off, I had run out of my styling cream, my hair was a total mess. The best thing to do in these cases is just to put a cap on my head, after all I wasn't going that far. I would just stop by the coffee shop and ask for a coffee to go, well I figured they were only dispatching to go.
So I took all my previsions, all of them, and went out.
To my amazement, everything seemed normal, even though the cafeteria was really dark I didn't understand why despite what was going on everyone was acting so normally.
That instead of calming me down, increased my nerves.
For a moment I felt that I was the focus of attention, I didn't understand why people were so indiscreet if I was just a woman with a cap, I mean, women have been wearing that garment for a long time. I just wanted to drink my coffee and get out of there.
When I approached the bar, I noticed that the usual barista was there, that calmed me down a little, maybe with him I could understand better why in spite of the circumstances everything seemed so normal, however, he looked at me with the same strangeness of the others or at least that I could notice when I realized that I had not taken off my sunglasses.
I thought, what nonsense, you put on dark glasses and a cap and you are unrecognizable, like in the cartoons. I took off my glasses, and the light was made, but the barista continued to look at me strangely and as if he didn't know me.
Gee! We had been seeing each other almost every morning for a year. For a moment I thought it was my dark circles under my eyes as I stayed up late with YouTube.
In spite of everything, out of inertia, I said to him, "Please, the same as usual."
"The usual?" He said, "That’s funny, but welcome in! What can I get for you?"
I felt like taking off my cap so he would recognize me, but it would have scared the poor man and I would have been unnecessarily embarrassed.
I didn't want to waste any more time and get out of there, besides I felt like I was suffocating, I couldn't breathe well.
"Mokaccino, piping hot, please, to go" I said full of anxiety, but trying to hide it with a forced smile.
What a rude barista, it's one thing to pretend not to recognize me and another thing not to smile back at a customer. Could it be that he didn't see my smile?
As soon as I had my coffee, I left in a hurry and sat down in the square, it was my plan from the beginning, I didn't want to be in that closed place or near so many people, I was breathing fast but the air didn't seem to flow healthily, even breathing was uncomfortable.
I took off my latex gloves, disinfected my hands with alcohol, took my cup out of my bag and poured the coffee in it. Some teenagers looked at me and whispered. I didn't understand why life seemed so normal for everyone, the nightmare was back, we had to be protected.
The coffee looked perfect, as always, dark, intense, frothy, delicious, but its fragrance was faint, very faint. The coffee had not lost quality, it was my sense of smell, for sure, I thought, I had already caught that demon virus, this time I was going to die, it had already taken away my ability to smell. This time I had little time left, I thought.
My hands began to tremble, I brought the cup to my mouth and....
Disaster!
I had a mask on, I didn't even remember it.
I was so paranoid that I didn't even remember I wore that thing when I left the house, of course I went to bed watching videos that said the Covid was back, slept only a couple of hours and came out with anxiety running rampant.
I checked my phone and realized that the videos were from 2020.
I drank my coffee in a hurry, no longer out of anxiety, now because it was starting to get cold. I threw the coffee-stained mask in the trash. I laughed at myself, as the teenagers laughed loudly at me.
