Grime moldy counters

Waited for clean paper towels

 To cover their space.

This soothes his germ-free

Compulsive disorder

As he plants bags of take-out food

On the white kitchen Formica

These heavy-duty

White towels from Costco

 Disappeared within a week

From this daily ritual.

The anti-bacterial soap

Is consumed

During the next seventy-two hours.

Each time his digits

Come in contact with

A potential bacteria crisis,

The soap came to his rescue.

The major culprit

was the trash chute.

The crawling germs

Were smothering him

The fear flag was sounding an alarm.

And this was before Covid