List

Just inside the entrance, there is a soldier with a list. He is sitting behind a collapsable picnic table. He holds out his hand and I pass him the letter from my inside pocket. 

The soldier examines it, searches his list and strikes off my name with a pink highlighter. He drops my letter into a cardboard box.

“Join the line sir.”

I join the line, feet squarely on the red tape X on the floor.

     vaccination
     the nurses’ mask
     slips