‘Wait, what? They have a drive-through?’ ‘Yes, they have a drive-through’. She pondered this. ‘We’ve been here in this neighborhood five years and I never knew they had a drive-through. How did I miss that?’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know how you missed it. They have a drive-through. Believe me, it’s there. I don’t know what to tell you!’

‘Where is it exactly?’ He shrugged again. ‘I’m not sure. You’ll have to drive around, I guess’. She rolled her eyes. ‘So that means that I am picking up the food?’ He grinned, handing her the phone so she could place the order. She phoned, rattled off several menu numbers and hung up. ‘Thirty-five minutes’. He looked at her. ‘Wow, it usually takes fifteen minutes at the most’. She turned to look out the window at the neighbor trying to walk a large, unwieldy dog. ‘That dog walks the owner. Every day that huge dog walks that tiny owner. I could just never…’ ‘Really?’ He interrupted her. ‘Thirty-five minutes? That must mean they are doing a lot of business, which is really good’. He turned back to the television and she moved away from the window while setting the timer on her phone.

She arrived at the restaurant and pulled into the parking lot. ‘There’s no drive-through here…no way’. She drove cautiously to the right of the grey building. She pulled up to a window with an awning. The window was boarded up with grey lined board. ‘Do I beep?’ she wondered out loud. ‘Pandemic or no pandemic…board is board. There is no drive-through’. She edged forward, veering slightly to the left of the building, reaching the back lot which faced a gas station. Here was another window with an awning, boarded up with another plank of grey lined timber. She thought silently, looking first at the shuttered window, then at the gas station across the empty parking lot. As if sensing her indecision, a tall man pumping gas, looked up briefly from the pump and over in her general direction. For about ten seconds, he looked at the restaurant, her car and then bent back down over the pump hose.

She moved the car again, very slowly, veering more sharply to the left and as she came around the final corner, she saw a third window with another awning. ‘Ah’ she muttered, pulling the vehicle up tightly under the window lip. There were no grey boards here. Suddenly, the glass pane flew open. She rolled down her window while a masked man, one of the owners reached out and silently handed her a flat egg roll bag. She took it and opened it. Inside were two face masks. Confused, she turned to ask him if he wanted her to wear them while she placed her order. Without waiting, he slammed the window shut. She sat back in the car and looked ahead. ‘What now?’ she spoke out loud. The window shot up again, with a much younger masked man peering cautiously at her. ‘What’s your order, please?’ ‘Um, I had numbers 4, 6, 29 and two egg rolls’. He looked at her blankly. She started again, ‘I called about thirty-five minutes ago’. ‘Oh yes’ he answered. ‘Pull into the parking lot. It’s going to be about ten more minutes’. He slammed the window shut. She looked at the clock in the car, turned on the radio and pulled slowly forward into the parking space where she had first started circumnavigating the building. She set the timer on her phone.

She lay her head back on the seat and listened to the radio, hearing an update about the number of people testing positive for Covid in New York. The road in front of her, which ran the length of the parking lot was empty. A beam of tired spring evening sun stretched out on top of the tree line and disappeared behind a second gas station resting unoccupied at the intersection corner.

‘Beep, beep, beep’. The timer rang and she backed slowly into the lot, beginning once again to circle the grey building. She glanced at the car clock. She reached the third window, slowed and parked and waited. The window flew open with the younger masked man peering out once more. ‘What’s your order, please?’ She looked at him, at her windshield and then back at him. ‘I was just here’ she began stuttering slightly. ‘You told me to wait for another ten minutes…’ ‘Oh, yes!’ he said and the window slammed shut. She waited and shifted in her seat. Up shot the opening in the building wall. The masked man reached through the opening, stretching frantically in her direction. She grabbed the bag, handed over her card and waited again. In a minute, he returned the card and handed her an empty egg roll bag with two masks inside. ‘Do you need masks?’ She picked up her first egg roll bag and waved it at him. ‘No thanks, I’m good’. The window slammed down.