That In-Between Time

Leah
4 min readMay 13, 2021

Waiting it Out

computer screen downloading future please wait

A couple of weeks ago, I got my first vaccine. I’ll get the second in a short while. My husband is a week behind me. We figured that it would be better that way — so he could take care of me if I got sick with the first vaccine (and I did) then I could take care of him if he got sick (which he didn’t).

In the meantime, we’re in that in-between stage. So many of our friends have already received their full vaccine. Then again, these people either have issues (cancer, open-heart surgery, etc.) or are front-line workers (firemen, in the army, teachers, etc.).

As many people have said, there’s a new normal on the horizon. Don’t know what it is, or what all it will entail. Just the thought that things will be different.

So I wait on the sidelines while I watch other people entering more fully into the world. I will admit that I had an irrational fear before I got my first shot that when I arrived at the clinic, they would deny me or turn me away, that I would have gotten the paperwork wrong or something and so I wouldn’t be able to get a shot. It was an irrational fear, but it gripped me hard as I walked up to the hospital.

Luckily, it was easy. There was no line. (In part, I chose this location for getting my shot because it’s in the heart of a less-liberal area.) I didn’t burst into tears when…

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Leah
Leah

Written by Leah

Leah Cutter sold her first short story back in 1997, and continues to write and sell both her fiction and non-fiction. She supports herself with her writing.