Planes, Pains, & Automobiles

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

The woman at the check in desk at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Sacramento was wearing a mask. She wasn’t the only person I saw in Sacramento still wearing a mask; the woman at the Grocery Outlet who fingered no less than a dozen oranges before finally settling on one. The couple in the burger joint next door, who sat outside, fully masked, as they waited for their roasted edamame and kombucha beer. One of my Uber drivers, a bellhop, the girl sitting next to me on the flight, a lady on the treadmill in the hotel gym. I felt as if I’d stepped back time say, a year or three, when the whole world was masked and mad about it.

The woman at the check in desk at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Sacramento asked for my ID and a credit card for “incidentals,” in case I decided to drink the $18 water in the mini fridge that was so cold the bottles were frozen. “And,” she said, finishing her compulsory check-in spiel, “Wi-fi is free!” I’m pretty sure Wi-Fi is free at most truck stops, too, and at Super 8 motels, and Subway, and in any respectable establishment in the year of our lord 2023, but I hid my cynicism, smiled and said “thank you.” My cheeks felt like cooling plastic, like maybe, if I didn’t move them, they’d be stuck in my fake smile forever.