The Jaws Conundrum

This post might ramble a little bit, but that’s how weekend posts work. My parents visited during the week, and they brought my brother with them. I haven’t seen him for a while and it was nice to spend some time together.

They’re having car troubles and their tiny hometown doesn’t offer the options that Boise does. They got the stupid thing diagnosed, but have to come back next week to get the work done. Unfortunately, all of this happened, and will happen, on days I have to work.

I can’t take any credit for this one, but my brother had a cool analogy and I wanted to share it with all of you. Basically, the Covid Crisis is Jaws.

Chief Brody wanted to close the beaches and keep everyone safe until he could sort out the shark and restore the natural order.

Mayor Larry was worried about the economy. He was willing to sacrifice a tourist or two to preserve the summer economy and keep the locals fed all winter.

Obviously, the shark played the role of the virus in this analogy. Basically, we have to choose whether we are team Brody or team Larry.

It’s probably late in the game for this analogy, but I thought it was clever and wanted to share it with you guys.

In other news, I had the house to myself today. I never kept count, but I added a couple thousand words to Lunar Boogie. It was mostly fun stuff between Lizzie and the hat and kind of became a slice of life. The banter came out good, it has some decent humorous bits, and I’m pleased with it.

The next section will involve another brutal murder and I intend to ramp up the personal tension for Lizzie. This one has a side character and it’s about time for him to meet up with Lizzie, too.

About all I could manage during the week was to send off a section of Lanternfish to my group. I have their critiques back and will probably address them tomorrow. I also have to write and schedule my next post for Story Empire. I have an idea, but it’s going to be challenging.

Hope all of you are having a good weekend, and stay out of the “water.”

Lamb’s blood on the lintel

Looks like I neglected one of my autumnal chores. To be honest, Home Depot was out of lamb’s blood.

We kind of hoped that by staying home and being hermits all year this virus would pass us by, but that wasn’t to be the case. We both have to work and be around others to a degree.

My wife tested positive for Covid on Monday. As a health care worker, she got a rapid turn around. In fact they told her not to drive off and delivered her results in 20 minutes.

I went for my test on Tuesday. You start off with an online survey to get a case number that you need to write down. They they tell you when and where. It looks something like this.

You aren’t allowed out of your car, you have to be able to follow directions.

After you find a spot, you have to text them with your case number and date of birth. They come out with the kit and you have to swab your own nostrils. The tech bundles everything up and you drive away.

I never got my personal results until about two hours ago. My results were negative. I have no idea how this could happen, because we share a bed, a bathroom, and everything else. Still, there are the results.

I have to quarantine with her, but have to work from home at the same time. Given all the garbage that 2020 threw at us, I’m a veteran of working from home.

Honestly, I’d almost rather have had a positive result at this point. Then I’d have a known date to return to the office. This way, I could be out for two weeks, then earn two weeks of my own at home.

There is no way I’m going to go get the camper after we just winterized it. I’m not moving to another bedroom or any of the garbage people seem to dream up. We live together and we’ll get through this together… or we won’t as the case may be.

Even with a negative test, it messes with your mind. This stuff is on the couch about twelve feet away. It’s more realistic than it was this weekend. I also compulsively checked my email every ten minutes expecting a different answer.

It may not sound like I’m worried, but I am. I know most people don’t have the severe symptoms that make the nightly news, but enough do to be concerned.

This is an author’s blog, so I’ll chock this post up to “slice of life.” I probably won’t update unless there’s something interesting to say. Maybe I can report on word metrics or story gyrations this weekend. That’s why you come here.

Not looking for sympathy or anything. If you take anything away from this, it’s to stay vigilant and even that might not be enough.