The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 74

DAY 74: Go bake some bread, I'd

prefer not to, paint another master-

piece, I'd prefer not, do your

prescribed exercises, I don't think

so, is depression setting in, I

don't care, I read good advice

on the internet -- coping strategies

and such -- I'm tired, leave

me alone.

They're calling the baseball game

on account of rain on a beautiful

clear day -- yeah, whatever -- but

millions risk their lives if we don't

all act responsibly -- that I'm

really sorry about -- let me get

my act together then I'll

take care of my business

again -- don't ask me

to shower though, there are

limits.

I saw a hecka lotta stupid people

out in front of the Capital

screaming, waving automatic

weapons, swastikas -- deplor-

ables, someone called them,

and, you know, they are

infecting one another without

protection, MAGA'TS dying

horrible deaths after all that brain-

washing -- at this point, at this point

the way I feel, hunkered down

to help the nurses, watching that guy

watching that guy with a rocket

launcher in a sandwich shop

undisturbed, on television -- 

oh, hell, if mutual contagion

is what they want --

just let them die.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 73

DAY 73: It started, oh Lord, when?

probably back when Barack Obama

ran for president -- the hate, the vile 
hatred, I don't remember 
hate that strong since the 1960s, 
after King's murder and the Kennedys, 
like the good ol' boys had sobered up,

the cities burned anew for Rodney King

the thing returned, then went away
but the whole country not drowned

in bloody red hatred -- race hatred --

like back then, 68 (unless you

count anti-Muslim post 9/11);

so Black Obama dared to be

our leader our face our voice

and the KKK was reborn! They

resisted him for 8 successful

years with every dirty trick

more moonshine, white lightning
they got their Fuhrer elected

-- Russian debts to payoff --
finally someone to turn on
with their one arm salutes.

Where does all this race hatred

come from, what happened

to love one another, decades of
integration, the faux-right

has crafted an identity from

trash talk radio and Fox cons-

piracies, ordinary people buy in,

souls are sold -- they're pissed poor
and vocally letting out -- they're half lushes

and psychos -- they're in your face

with hate of race -- they're

armed and dangerous -- Amer-

ican Nazis, American Republican
Nazis? and that's okay? 

Not in my New Normal.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 72

DAY 72: In 72 days our doorbell

has rung 4 times

I jumped every time

not recognizing

the sound.

I heard the beep-beep

garbage truck backing up

in the night -- that's new too.

yesterday I spun my arms

over my head and they cracked

like kindling twigs going into

a campfire,

a hypnotizing campfire dying

down after all the stories are told

stories of truth stranger than

fiction -- of the 2020 plague

when everything changed.

dirty kids in the mountains

cutting up, teasing, keeping

it light -- if you need to cry

walk away into the blackness

but come back to hear the

punchline about the gone

old man using a Depends

for a face mask walking

down the beach screaming

at spring breakers, screaming

a warning into the breakers

drowned out by the crash

drowned, later, in another

way -- silly chump. 

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 71

DAY 71: -- There's a pandemic.

-- Doctor, how can I help?

-- Stay at home.

-- Okay, but can't I do something else?

-- Stay at home.

-- Yeah, but I'm bored and unhappy.

-- Stay at home.

-- The government said I could go out.

-- Stay at home.

-- But the economy.

-- Stay at home.

-- I hate you doctors, I don't believe you, I'm going out.

-- See you soon.

My fellow citizens, survivors, we are gathered here today to honor the parents, children, friends and neighbors we lost to COVID-19 by reading all the names of the victims of this terrible pandemic. Several famous actors, survivors, have agreed to participate in the reading. Ready? Begin.

After COVID-19

we went back to

business as usual

but after the awful

COVID-20 everything

changed: the environment,

the economy. Then came

COVID-21 with almost

nobody left.

COVID-22

did the rest.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 70

DAY 70: I stand on the beach alone

looking at the sea, I am alone

and always will be, with the waves

that rise and break one after

another, I stand there forever

and I see waves come and go

quickly, tides come in and out

slowly, waves and tides and me.

Walking from the bathroom to the

kitchen I'll be fine then sigh

because I'm not fine I'm suppressing

I'll have another moment at

my desk furious with the

incompetent government killing

so many good souls, I'll be

sad all day at what I know.

Thank you nurses, I love you.

I'm hopeful, hopeless, hopeless-

ness full. I'm watching dogs on TV

and I start to shake, I get

up at night and sit in the

dark living room wide awake.

I'm okay, I'm okay

I'm not okay

how can I be okay --

270,000 corpses piled so high

they block the sun

I'll never be okay.

I hope.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 69

DAY 69: Noble Knights and Honorable

Miladys, you are called to a mission

of great personal sacrifice for the good

of the kingdom, your families, your

fellow subjects. That mission is to march

into combat, to fight perhaps to die,

to beat the enemy and restore

order and peace. You are our

champions, you can save us all

if you will, you can be heroes

-- do you accept the challenge?!

CHEERS, swords lifted

Yes, My Lord! We will do whatever

you command, whatever it takes!

Very well, look at this map I'm rolling

out on the table. Faithful John,

you are positioned here -- but that's

my house -- yes, and Maid Marion

you here -- that's my house -- and

Big Ben you here keep careful guard --

my house, I knew it -- and the

rest of you, the same # hash tag

(what?) # hashtag Stayathome.

Oh, wait a second, no way, I need a hair-

cut. I want some donuts. I gotta

see my friends. I'm going to the

beach. I don't care about any

saving humanity mission -- SIRE, I

WILL NOT BE INCONVENIENCED!!!

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 68

DAY 68: Hey kid, why are you crying?

Why why do you cry?

60,000 dead and rising.

That's a big number, but they

were mostly old and weak, weren't 

they? Did you know any of them?

I knew them all, all 250,000 --

nationality don't count --

I knew them, so I cry, but I

got a question for you, mister.

Shoot, girly.

Why are you not crying? What

are you waiting for? A pandemic's

not big enough, bad enough, sad 

enough? How can you talk about 

numbers, about reopening -- the show 

must go on, is that it? You know

you need to stop, sit in silence, remember

cry for the dead and sick in pain

cry for each one, observe 

a moment of silence for 

each sweet worthy person,

as you say, per head (head count), 

equals how long, smart guy?

by the way, where is your heart?

where are the flags at half-mast?
where is the black crepe, the black armbands?

where are our leaders on their knees?

when does the whole human race

start to grieve, mourn, tear our

clothes and not let go? --

refuse to let go of even

one of us, carried away in

the flash flood,

the flash flood of tears.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 67

DAY 67: Or, let's play another game

it's a math game too, I know you

like math, who doesn't? The percentage

game: 50% 10% 95% and so on

like if there were a 50% chance of dying

would you do it? what? doesn't

matter, I'm explaining the game.

Go back to your job but there's

a 10% chance of getting the virus

would you? with a 5% chance

of dying? would you send your

kids to school with a 75% chance

they'd be infected, hospitalized

possibly cremated before you could

even say goodbye, no last "I love you, kid"?

-- that seems a bit high

-- oh, it's wrong, it's 7.5%, is that okay now?

-- better

-- would you change your answer?

where's the cut off, the cap

where's the curve go down, up

round the bend, loop-the-loop, what 
about that little number 1%?

1% infected, sick, some dead

is that acceptable?

that's 3.4 million Americans

you know, you will know a lot

of them, if you're not one --

Hey, TV Doctor Strange, is that 

a tolerable percentage?

I know some other doctors, real ones

who are giving 110%

and they'd be in that number

when the saints go ...

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 66

DAY 66: I said to someone yesterday

just because the authorities say you

can go out doesn't mean

you have to and they looked at me

like I had lost my f-ing mind

they said, "have you lost your f-ing

mind?" As soon as the ribbon drops

the marathon begins and we all,

free for all, run in all directions

free finally to play on the fourth day

of May or the seventh or eleventh

-- read the authorization ordinance

for more details -- we're opening the bars

under the stars

everyone rush out to reinfect

redirect your germ effect

on a curve, a slope, a spike

your life, on a graph, look at that,

more death, or less, I guess, it's safe

to leave the home place, run
run to meet your fate
run your fate to meet

through fields of wildflowers

even with bad allergies
and bad feet.

Worth it. Deny the truth --

we stayed in, it worked

stay in more, work more

go out, bad idea, could bring in

the hearse -- in any case,

I say this, mate -- you go first.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 65

DAY 65: Let's play a game

lots of game-playing these days

this is a math game

X is to Y, it's called

what would you give up for what

question mark

like in Lent or New Year's or Ramadan

or fasting or any self-deprivation

give up something to get something

okay, ready?

Would you give up chewing gum

to save your teeth? Don't answer

sugarless gum, you don't get to

wriggle out, A for B, yes or no?

Would you give up smoking

to live ten years longer guaranteed?

Yes or no, would you give up air travel

to save the Earth from climate-change?

Get it? It gets progressively

harder to say 'yes'. Another --

would you wear mask and gloves

whenever you go out to save your

kids' lives? Too much to ask?

Would you stay indoors for a

solid year to save the lives of every

doctor and nurse in your country?

Will they really die if I say 'no'? You know

my business will fail ...

I will not have funds to bet

on horse-races anymore, and

I might live in the tent-city I've

only driven by in my Lexus ...

What would you sacrifice? to

save your own skin, naked and afraid

alone and hurt, shame without end

alive or dead -- no game.

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 64

DAY 64: Oh man, you're morbid,

Get out of the graveyard!

No. I need to dwell, to dwell

in the graveyard for now

I need to be where the trucks full

of coffins are, be there

so you remember, here's the scene:

you're Christopher Walken

and I'm Robert De Niro

or vice versa, I don't care,

and you spin the pistol on

the table, there's money there

you smell blood and sweat

so strong you're not thinking

straight, then it's your turn

you chances are okay: 5 to 1

I don't think you can walk away

maybe you could have earlier

but now you're in it, committed

-- they've opened 8 states

opened the schools and bowling

alleys, fast food and tattoos

the holiness churches and

polling stations, meat-packing

plants and video-game parlors

not to mention brothels and

crack-houses, and the filthy

warehouse where men gather

to bet on death and laugh --

and this, it's okay, your chances

are 5 to 1, or so -- CUT!

change casting, send in the 

stunt doubles, put 2 Republican

governors at the table, or the

President and his favorite daughter

-- rolling, annnnd ACTION!

Is there no other way out?

I think there is.

Nobody's forcing us to leave
"the safety of our homes."