Black Love in the Quarantine

4.29.2020

As I walked out of Home Depot yesterday, a thirty-something masked guy working there caught up to a thirty-something masked lady in yoga pants and a cut off shirt out in the parking lot. He was clearly trying to get to know her. She stopped to hear him out.

“Come on now. I got water. I got juice. I got plenty toilet tissue. You can wipe worry-free for the rest of your life.”

She cackled. “You a fool, can’t even fully see me with this mask on. I can have a beard under this thing for all you know.”

“Come on now. Ain’t no beard under that. Don’t do me like that. I’m a man of faith then…”

“I could be ugly as all get-out. How you know I’m not?”

He snuck in another look at her yoga pants. “Come on girl. I just know. I just know.”

As I walked by them, she said, “This a pandemic. I ain’t even meeting up with family.”

“We could just talk on the phone though. Give me something to look forward to after all this ‘rona mess pass.”

She mumbled something I couldn’t catch.

He said, “You smiling though. I see yo’ eyes gettin’ all skinny.”

Again, she mumbled something I couldn’t catch.

“Ok, at least let me get to see the face of the woman ‘bout to make this big mistake.”

I got to the car and opened my door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he took his mask off. She mumbled something about kids all over town. He said no, he “ain’t like that.”

I pulled out and saw her take her mask off. She did it with care, tilting her head to her hand as she undid the latch behind her ear. I made it onto the main road and looked back through my rearview. They were still standing in the middle of the parking lot, less than six feet away from each other. He had his phone out.

We now live in a time where toilet tissue, faith, and confidence lead the way to a woman’s heart. Lol #essay #upcomingbook