Life in a COVID-19 Hot Spot – Week 8- the Shadow Comes Closer
Week 8 of Sheltering in Place.
I have developed a routine:
Monday morning is my Aerobics Class on Zoom.
Monday evening I go to a neighbor’s house and we maintain social distancing while tuning into a Continuing Education class focusing on the Roman historian Tacitus. It’s not a pulse-pounding subject, but Donna is the only adult besides my husband that I see in person these days.
Tuesday morning I jog around the neighborhood, and then I do a Story Time on Skype with my 3-year-old Granddaughter.
Tuesday afternoon I Zoom with my oldest friend, the one I was supposed to visit in Texas when all this started.
Wednesday morning Aerobics again. In the evening we often call and chat with my sister in Sacramento.
Thursday morning jogging and Story Time again. In the evening we often call and chat with my cousin in Ojai, California.
Friday morning Aerobics again.
Friday afternoon we Skype with my older son and his family in Sacramento. In the evening we often call and chat with my brother and his wife in Longview, Washington.
Saturday morning jogging again
Sunday morning I do yoga. In the evening we often call and chat with my brother in Texas. In Texas they take the threat of COVID-19 a lot less seriously than us Hot-Spotters do. My brother always asks me, “Do you actually know anyone who has had the virus?”
This week, I can answer, “Yes.”
One of my favorite professors at college died of COVID-19 last week. He was in his 80’s, had had a stroke some years back, and was being cared for in one of the most well-equipped and competently-staffed elder care centers in the country. Somehow, the virus, no respecter of money and privilege, made its way to him and had its way with him.
The world is a little bit darker.
We found a little oasis not too far from our home – the
classy trade paperbacks which look like they were originally purchased for a book club. Another features a variety of interesting non-fiction.
Of course, anything you put out for the public is liable to malicious abuse. A neighbor had worked with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop to set up a Little Free Library in front of her house. The girls decided it would be good to make it into a food pantry during the Lockdown, and stocked it with canned goods and dried pasta. The next morning the door had been ripped off and the canned goods had been scattered around, dented, wrappers ripped off. The debate began – was it vicious mean-spirited teens, or was it racoons attracted by the food? A neighbor’s security camera settled the question several days later: it was a person, not an animal. Maybe he was crazy-mad because he was hoping to find a book? New hinges were bought, and the Little Free Pantry is open again, fingers crossed.
Allyson Johnson 