Sometimes people are so surprised to see someone wearing a mask that they react in strange ways. One day we drove by a friend of Keith’s. It was obvious he recognized us, noticed Jeff’s yellow medical mask and he laughed. We wondered what he thought. Did he later come up with a plausible reason for someone to be wearing a medical mask while driving through the neighborhood? Fear of SARS, perhaps?
Another time Keith went to a public restroom to check on Jeff. He asked people waiting in line whether they had seen a man in a mask. The strange looks people gave him seemed to indicate “no.” However, when Jeff came out of the bathroom, a man in line looked at him with a sudden realization that this was “the masked man,” pointed firmly at Jeff and said, “Someone was just looking for you!”
Yet another time Jeff and Keith went to check on Keith’s car at the auto body shop and one of the workers laughed at Jeff in his mask. He thought Jeff had forgotten to remove his mask after doing some painting. That would be strange, wouldn’t it? The man pressed Jeff for an explanation. When he heard the real reason for the mask, he was, of course, very apologetic.
Whenever we go to HUP’s Perelman Center, we joke that we need to keep some masks after Jeff is done with them because they serve a very useful purpose. The security officer at the parking garage waves us right on through without our having to answer the question, “Do you have an appointment?”
Jeff says he feels as though he should use his eyes more expressively when he is wearing a mask because he knows people can’t see his mouth to read his expressions. I like to kiss him through the mask and ask, “Who is that masked man?” This masked man is no Lone Ranger, though. He is a man of many friends, many supporters.
Jeff should be done with the masks in a month. Counting down the days…
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