Exquisite story. I'm delighted by the details:
By the end of April, then May, then June, the new "normal" wore on. On a summer night when fireflies blinked over the growing corn, two big, dark, burly silhouettes lurched down the gravel road and into the driveway of the Hanson farm. As if they'd stepped from the cover of a dystopian sci-fi novel, they wore goggles, cloaks, gloves, and breathing apparatus, and they held some sort of medieval weaponry.
I have the goggles, gloves, and the masks at the ready, but I'm missing the cloaks and medieval weaponry...though I've been thinking of tying my camping knife to a bamboo pole from the garden. :)
Your camping knife on display, in the garden, dangling from a pole... are you trying to deter mammals or human invaders? LOL
As for the weaponry and breathing apparatus, I was picturing a Facebook meme for a steampunk-costumed warrior heading to the grocery store. "Medieval" is the wrong term,and "gas mask" would have made more sense. Good catches! I didn't edit this one much, but even if I had, I likely would have skimmed right past that. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!