Sarah Jenkins knew this year had been hard for her. Normally a social butterfly, staying away from everyone for weeks at a time had taken a toll on her psyche. However, what she did not expect was how it would affect her physically. “Sometimes I just realize it’s been weeks since the last time I touched another human being!” she said, distress clearly written on her touch-starved face.
But, proving that intimacy can be found in the most unlikely of places, Sarah’s world changed at the COVID-19 testing center.
Josh B. (name altered) was the first person to touch Sarah in over two months, and the gentle ministrations of his swab clearly had an effect. “He was just so tender,” she whispers. “The way he held the testing swab up to my nose was so gentle. It made me feel like a princess being swept away.”
She attempted to keep her growing feelings in check. However, when they made eye contact, the flood gates opened irreversibly. The connection in their eyes ignited Sarah’s need for touch and she reached up to do the unthinkable, touch his skin with her own.
“I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to! It was so intimate, his eye contact intense like a thousand burning suns,” she exclaimed. “I could see us running away to make beautiful love somewhere private.”
All too soon, the swab was removed from her canal and they were forced apart in the name of communal health. Sarah claims she will never be the same, saying, “I will always cherish the memory, it's the most meaningful and intimate experience I will ever have.”
When asked to comment, Josh told reporters, “It was really weird. And it was really annoying that I had to use extra sanitizer later.”
Photo Credit: Emory Claire Mitchell
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