SOCIALLY DISTANCED

Both men lived in the same apartment building, one on the ground floor and the other two flights up. They would see each other in passing, nodding ‘hello’ or muttering the occasional “how ya doing?” They were approximately the same age and had seen each other often but a friendship never developed.

Then the corona virus hit and everything changed.

They happened upon each other in a nearby park, masked up, walking their dogs. One had a golden retriever, the other a chocolate lab. They struck up a socially distanced conversation, at first talking about their dogs then, of course, the craziness of COVID.

They were both unemployed computer engineers, laid off because of company closures. Each one contemplated moving back in with their parents but that was impossible; neither one had accepting or understanding parents.

They started jogging together, often running the six miles that made up the full loop around Central Park. As they talked they discovered they had much in common: their nonexistent love lives, their passion for chess, a fascination with micro-brewing and their dream of working from home as computer app designers. And how difficult it was coming out as gay.

The next step was so natural: moving in together. They could share one apartment and save rent money, work on an idea for an app design program, dabble in a little home-made beer and totally, passionately, fiercely fall in love.

A new year, a new start. Love in the time of corona.