White Chocolate Lemon

I was kind of taking notes in my head today regarding things to write about later. Now later has arrived, my mood has changed, and my memory is dull.

The story I will tell you is the one about the Italian sandwich.

At least once a week I walk around the corner from the hospital, across the dirt lot, and I get myself a Rene's Famous Italian.

Today Rene himself made it for me.

I told him his sandwich was so good I never had the chance to try something else.

He told me his sandwich wasn't some bullshit Italian-American sandwich. It's a sandwich they're eating in Italy probably right now.

I talked with the owner. Her son worked at the hospital too. Until he had a breakdown due to Covid.

This city got hammered before they even saw it coming. City of champions sucker punched.

He was a transporter wheeling patients between wards. There were so many, so sick, so quickly - no one knew what to do, so no one told this young man how to protect himself or his patients. He was afraid, felt helpless.

He was in the elevator with an older patient who was coughing and sweating profusely. He saw the face of his mother when he looked at her. He felt guilty for worrying about his parents while taking care of a patient. Then something happened to him.

She recommended a white chocolate lemon cookie for desert, and I bought one. She gave me a four percent discount for paying with cash.

"We all got a little anxiety these days," she said.