When R___ removed her mask for lunch the former handsome, middle-aged woman suddenly appeared as a grotesque, deformed creature from the studio make-up department. The shock of it could not be hidden and must have been perfectly plain to her. Tiny, round mouth gaping wide; sharp incisors seemingly biting in her speech. Whatever she had spoken seemed not to have properly emerged from the cavern. It was a reminder that the lady had never appeared at the Buffalo Road outlet pre-Covid. The first cancer had been in the ‘90s; more recently she had exceeded all the expert opinion with the incidence in her pancreas. A number of weeks the name R___ had been difficult to recall for the regular greetings in the queues at the resto; finally it had been recorded on the phone. R___ was used for both genders in the Punjab, yes; that had been correctly recalled from news reports. In Punjabi it signified heroism. (R___’s own Paulo was let ride.) At some point earlier the cancer might perhaps have been in the jaw. Recalling the sight later for the stout and sturdy woman, it seemed the likeliest explanation.
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