When R___ removed her mask for her own lunch the former firm, handsome, middle-aged woman in her resplendent saris suddenly showed grotesque. It came as a complete shock. All at once here was a deformed creature from the studio make-up department, or some carnival sideshow. An utter fright, where the recoil must have been perfectly plain. It had been impossible to hide. Tiny mouth gaping wide, sharp, biting incisors. Whatever the woman now spoke seemed not to properly emerge from that cavern. The lady had never appeared at the Buffalo Road outlet pre-Covid; never revealed herself properly. The first cancer had been back in the ‘90s; more recently she had exceeded all the expert opinion with her pancreas. A number of weeks the name had been difficult to recall. Finally an entry was made on the phone. R___ was used for both genders in the Punjab, signifying heroism. In fact it was actually far from clear whether the illnesses had anything at all to do with the matter here. At some point earlier the cancer might have been in the jaw, but there seemed nothing malformed there. Some of the physiognomies from the sub-Continent, Mainland China and the wider Malay world continued to startle, even 8 - 9 years later. The prognathous jaw was one case; the oft remarked single eyelid another. (In fact the latter continued to defy a practised observer). This was a particular kind of Covid story, twelve months almost into recovery.
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