A Quandary in Quarantine

Afterward

April dawned with another brilliant blue sky and even more hints of spring. The last time I had met Luce over the fence in the backyard, we had seen warblers, sparrows and even a finch or two floating on the breeze. The lone maple tree in my backyard has also started to bud. I could feel Mother Earth wakening, stretching, and starting to renew herself. She and I were both looking forward to whatever was going to come next.

It felt good to be getting into some kind of rhythm with this ‘new normal’ as people had started calling it.

The staff of the Elsewhere Public Library had suffered greater loss than perhaps even we could have anticipated; not only was the Coronavirus still ravaging the country, but we had senselessly lost one of our own. No one knew how long the Coronavirus outbreak would last, but it wasn’t likely to be over any time soon - we knew that.

We had so much to look forward to, though. Luce had figured out a way to bring all the programs she had planned to life in a virtual setting. Carson and I had done the same with all the programming we had planned for the adults.

Thinking of my coworkers made a genuine smile come to my lips. The library staff had become like a family to me in the few short months since I had moved to Wisconsin, and the fierce love we had for each other was clearly apparent.

It was very sad that we had bonded over such tragedy, but I had found true friends in Luce and in her mother, Annie Bea; and support from Maggie and the remaining board members. Carson and I worked so well together, figuring out and balancing the adult programming - life was good.

I had even found love.

Or, I had found what felt like something that might eventually become love, with Drew. Our socially-distanced movie date, utilizing the library’s movie database subscription, was scheduled for the following weekend. I planned to make a care package of movie theater butter popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, and a 20-oz Coke Zero (which was Drew’s favorite). I would leave it on his front porch, ring the bell and step back, and wait for him to open the door. I learned a lot from those quarantine delivery people.

It was an odd start to a relationship maybe. I mean, how many people find their soul mates by considering the possibility that one is a murderer?

But, I thought to myself, I may have to wait to figure that out in the next chapter.

THE END.