The Witness

The Public Outing

My heart is beating so fast. This is it, this is the day I finally get on with my life. She's letting me go with her. Outside, back to the real world. I dress nothing like myself, just to be extra careful. I put on some jeans and a flannel shirt, almost looking like I'm going trans. The baggy shirt makes me look flat-chested, my short hair, the sneakers. I could pass as a guy with my mask on.

"Okay, I'm ready," I say.

She runs her fingers through my hair, brushing it to the side before pecking me on the forehead and grabbing my hand. We walk outside together to her car. It's kind of cold, a cold front just blew in overnight.

I shiver and rub my arms.

"Here, you can borrow my jacket." She grabs her jacket from the back seat.

"Thanks, babe," I put it on.

She cranks up the heater in the car and turns up the radio and just like that we are off. I'm so excited. I watched the world go by, seeing how much everything has changed due to the pandemic. It's almost like a whole new planet.

So many closed signs everywhere.

She pulls into the local Walmart and parks the car. We both hesitate for a moment.

"Remember the rules?" she asks me.

"Yes, I'm ready. I can do this. Trust me." I say.

She takes a steady breath before putting her mask on, then we both exit the car.

We go to the clothing side first, looking around.

"Oh, this is cute!" I hold up a pair of feety pajamas. It's thanksgiving themed, so it looks like a turkey.

She giggles.

"Can we get some, please, please, please? We can, like, wear them while we prepare everything for our thanksgiving dinner." I say.

"Okay," she rolls her eyes.

"Yes!" I add them to the cart.

I see some fuzzy socks and run over to the rack.

"Babe look!" I grab some.

She giggles.

I'm like a kid in a candy store, it's been so long since I was out and about. We go aisle by aisle looking at everything and buying stuff we don't need just because.

"We came here for food, remember?" she says as I add a coffee maker to the cart.

"But you don't have one and I love coffee," I whine.

"You never told me you liked coffee."

"I do!"

"Do you really?" she raises an eyebrow.

"I can."

"Mel!"

I giggle.

She puts it back.

"Babe look!"

"No! Food!" she pushes me away from the kitchen appliances section.

"But a stand mixer would come in handy!" I point out.

"We have two arms." She pushes me away.

I sigh.

We pass by the book section and I add like five books to the cart and several movies and video games as well. Then we pass by the arts and crafts section where I get things to learn how to knit. As we pass the pet section I say,