By Alejandro Rodriguez Muñoz
April 12th was a wonderful sunny day in Annapolis. We could not go boating if we weren’t fishing, because of the stay-at-home order. So we took the fishing lines and followed the wind in the Chesapeake Bay.
It was Easter, and we went home earlier than we really wanted because there was an Easter celebration in our neighbor’s front yard. I was skeptical that could go work in these times, and I was partly right.
When we got home, we found five neighbors seated on chairs right next to our house, drawing a circle, six feet apart from each other. We took some camping chairs from our garage and joined the chatting from our front yard, making the circle bigger. They were all drinking alcohol, enjoying themselves and each other from the distance. I was kindly surprised everybody was respecting social distance.
“We have been convidened!”, said Carla, seated in our circle. Everyone laughed but I could notice a glimpse of melancholy in everybody’s faces, broken and thankful for the wonderful strange gathering that was taking place. “We’re gonna have a big party there,” said Laura, my host mom, while pointing at the central square of the neighborhood—”as soon as we are decovidened.”
“Post-COVID party!” Carla shouted. Everyone seemed to have positive expectations about the future.
A new neighbor appeared walking her dog not far from where we were.
“Come social distance for a moment!” Carla shouted at her. She said she’d come later, but she never did. Given the fact that some people in the circle forgot about social distancing after some drinks, she probably did good in not coming. It was time to go back inside.