Facing the future with many, many beans
Leap Day is almost over. Nothing to report here. I mean, the press carries a whole spectrum of messages, but I live far from the “madding crowd”. You see, this might be the big one. A disease that can stop humanity going onward. I know, it seems like a hoax. In fact, that’s exactly what the president called it, during his most recent rally.
It’s hard to balance all of the truths versus the untruths. We live in a time of fake news (again, according to the president, who lies almost as easily as he breathes). Our local federal government has warned us to be prepared, in case things shut down. Travel, retail, whatever. After this morning’s trip for groceries, I now have a larger stock of canned baked beans than at any other time in my life. That includes summer school camping trips, so you know this is serious.
I didn’t think it would end quite like this. With a cough, rather than a flash of light in the southern sky. We had survived pandemic before; in the time of my grandparents, the FLU had killed “many, many people”. I don’t really know the numbers, because fake new has always been with us. But a lot. And those “world wars” that weren’t really world-wide, but seemed to be. Again, millions.
I’ve been checking the numbers. We have nine cases, nationally. The neighbour has thirty-five, confirmed. Russia has two, but their math is primitive, except when it comes to academic math. China admits to seventy-seven thousand. Again, suspect.
And so I’m going to stay inside, reassured by my stocks of canned and frozen foods. Probably should get some more dog food, though. And if we make it past Leap Day, we’ll carry on.
(note to the reader: this is mainly fictional, except for the surfeit of canned beans).
