Kingston, NY 04-28-2020
In this time of Covid, a woman stands outside the Aldi, hanging on to her empty shopping cart. She’s in her seventies, more or less; no more than five feet tall. She seems to be waiting on the kid cleaning and organizing the carts.
He offers me one of my own, from the front of the stack. As I thank him, the woman pulls the collar of her amber turtleneck sweater up over her nose, and asks, “How’s this?”
-KingstonBarn Photo
“You still need a mask,” he says, “We have to do it that way.”
Smiling with her voice, she says, “I have to shop today. I just don’t have a mask.”
“Well,” the kid says with some kindness, ‘He’s coming. Just wait here.”
The store manager, a tall, middle-aged man with a crew cut just a little out of control, the way hair seems to be getting these days, walks out the exit and says to the woman, “So you don’t have a mask?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to shop today. Can’t I go in like this?” Her collar can’t hide the nervous little laugh falling off the back of the question.
“No, but let me see if I can find something for you.”
The manager takes advantage of an exiting customer to go back in the out door. Through the window, we all watch him quick-time it in the direction of the store office. I tell her that if he can’t come up with something, I have a bandanna in my car. “If you can wait for me to run back to it, you can have that.” quickly adding, ‘It’s clean.”
I can see she’s not sure about it, but says thank you.
The manager comes out while we are discussing it, and holds out a new medical mask, fresh out of the box. “We have these for the people working here, but we’re ok for now.”
Both she and the kid thanked him as she dropped the collar back down around her neck. The smile we’d just heard had gotten bigger. Taking the offering, she says, “I’ll be back with this in a little bit.”
“No, you should keep it. If you go anywhere else, the other stores will need you to wear one, too.”
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I get home with milk, eggs, and orange juice. The story of the day is Vice President Pence’s refusal to wear a mask inside a Covid ward and lab at the Mayo Clinic, where his mission is to comfort and assure Corona Virus patients and medical professionals that our country and his task force are doing everything humanly possible to help them, and everyone else, get through the worst of this crisis. Everything, that is, except wear a mask.
I don’t want that image; him, at the front of my mind when I think of this day.
When disaster happens, you’ll find hope in Mr. Rogers’ advice. His mother told him to look for the helpers in the middle of the chaos. You will find the people who stand against the bad simply by doing good.
You don’t have to look to the national news to find them. That’s the best part.
You can find the helpers every day right here. You can find them making masks, ringing bells, putting up signs, and making food. You can find them in the nurses, the doctors, and the first responders. You can find them in the people that go to work because we need them to, and you can find them in the people that stay home because we need them to.
Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to find helpers standing out in front of your local Aldi, having a little conversation, and figuring out how to help each other in this time of Covid.
-Andy Champ-Doran
KingstonBarn 