POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE
No onewants to know where I’ve been. No onewants to hear about the sunsets onMallory Square in KeyWest. Or the bucket-list seaplane ride to Fort Jefferson in the DryTortugas. Or the fresh Florida lobster in a little seafood gem I found off the Overseas Highway on theway back fromtheKeys.
Nobodywants to know where I’ve been or seen or done.
Just howI feel.
“I feel fine— really!” I say. “It felt good to get away, after six months in quarantine.”
“Butweren’t you afraid to travel now?”
“Not asmuchasIwould have been six months ago,” I say, “whenwe didn’t knowto avoid crowds, wash our hands, wear a mask…”
“But, were other people wearing their masks?” everybody asks.
“Honestly, inKeyWest, about half and half,” I say. “I tried to avoid anyonewho wasn’t.”
“Even in crowded places,” they say, “likeMallory Square
at sunset?”
“Even there,” I say. “The sunset street performers roped off their spaces, so people wouldn’t get close to the fire jugglers or theCOVID, if any; and therewas plenty of fresh air and coronavirus-killing sunshine— at least until the sunwent down, whenmost peoplewould leave anyway.”
“What about on the seaplane to Fort Jefferson (DryTortugasNational Park) — howcould you avoid getting close to other people then?”
“Well, everybody— even the pilot— wasmasked,” I say. “Everybodyhadto have their temperature taken before they got on, and the charter company (KeyWest Seaplane Adventures) limited the numberof passengers onboard, too. Plus, wewere flying inan unpressurized cabin— just500 feet above the FloridaStraits — so I could putmy nose right upto thewindowventand breathe fresh airflowing in fromthe sea.”
“OK, but what about restaurants?” they ask. “You had to eat.”
“I always ate outdoors— easy to do in theKeys— in restaurants at half capacity or less,” I say. “Thewait staffalwaysworemasks— I couldn’t see them smile, but they seemed happy Iwas there — and the next closest diner was often all theway across the patio.”
“But what about where you stayed?” they ask. “Didn’t youworry about whether the bed-sheets had been disinfected, or the towelswashed, or the ice in the machine sanitized for your protection?”
“I can’t speak for every place,” I say, “but theCOVID19 protocols where I stayed [TheMarkerKeyWestHarbor Resort] were posted online, in effect— and enforced.” “Howso?”
“The suitewas sanitized and sealed before I arrived,” I say. “No one came in exceptme— unless I asked for housekeeping— therewere more than enough towels to last formy stay, and the ice in the room