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Thursday, January 29, 2015

Pandemic 5462

Pandemic 5462

“What time?” The nurse’s questions seemed to quicken the drum roll between my ears.  The pounding behind my eyes was making it difficult to comprehend.  My hair seemed to ache and my skin felt as though it were puckering.  “What time?  What time did you say your first sneeze was?”  That whining voice was beginning to penetrate the fog.

“Actually, I looked directly at the clock, knowing this would be on the test and it was precisely 8:10 am.”  Or at least that’s what I thought I said.  What actually came slurring out of my mouth, along with copious amounts of saliva and phlegm, “eighthtin.”  Nodding as she noted her file, she turned and began to leave.

My mind was racing in a thousand directions simultaneously, and then when I blinked the thoughts were wading through quick sand.  I couldn’t concentrate for the rattle under my scalp. Mostly I was relieved ‘Nurse Cratchet’ was away from my bedside.

My wonderfully caring husband had rushed me to the hospital.  Having met us at the Emergency Room door, the personnel on hand had taken one look at me, tightened their protective clothing just a little more closely and hustled me into a room.  A room!  Not the corridor filled with rows and gurneys filled with aching and injured people.  I got a room.  Silly, stupid girl.  It finally began to dawn on me, I was in quarantine. I could see Bob’s worried expression through the small window in the door. 

Bob had found me that morning.  I had awakened early.  I was meeting friends for lunch and wanted to have the a few chores done and out of the way.  I had been in the lower level laundry when I realized I was in trouble.  I couldn’t catch my breath.  He found me unconscious and sprawled across the stairs.  At least I was headed up instead of down!

My back and feet began to ache.  My skin felt “puckery” all over.  I could breathe again.  Taking in huge gulps of the oxygen hose they had under my nose I could feel the fog in my head begin to clear.  In hindsight I am still struck by my thoughts. 

It was as though my mind was performing a check on my body.  It was as though I was of two minds.  I could nearly see the secondary, new mind checking.  Extremities – check four limbs.  Gender – check female.  Head – check proportioned appropriately with ample room for all.  Unusual to say the least!

Then I got a look at my reflection in that little window.  The last thing I remember before the drugs took hold….screaming….screaming….screaming…..my altered state was nothing that my mind was ready for.

A year has passed since then.  Me, along with the few other survivors of this invasion.  That’s what we call it, the medical field  has a different name.  They call it Pandemic 5462.  It wiped out nearly two-thirds of the Earth’s population of humans.  All off the great apes have been wiped out.  Any primate in Africa was afflicted and perished. 


We survivors are separated from the remaining population, fear of more outbreaks is the “official” reasoning behind the move.  Fear is what I hear.  Those of us who live with the infection?  We are OF two minds.  We can USE two minds.  We WILL begin our move out of these confines……soon. 

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Are The Auld Stories True?

Are the Auld Stories True?


We were off to “who knows where”.  I was in the passenger seat idly looking out the window at my flowers.  That’s when I saw.  I was so stunned!  I sat back in the seat.  Not comprehending the conversation Bob was apparently in the middle of.  Today, changed my life.  I know what I saw.   I know that I saw!

It was a lovely morning in mid May.  The sun, while warm, was still crisp with Spring time.  Some mornings there was still a bit of a nip in the air.   The air was so clean still that distance was nearly inconceivable. 

Gazing at my hydrangea bush, he flew into my line of sight.  We locked eyes.  He knew that I saw him, and I knew I had seen him.  He was at least four feet in the air.  Flying at, what seemed to me, break neck speed straight at our car! His auburn hair was close cropped or pulled backing into some sort of tail. The wings, my brain said, are those of a dragon fly! What left an indelible mark on my memory were the startling blue eyes. He was no more than ten feet from us. In the blink of an eye, he reverse direction.  

It didn't seem to me that he had legs. Or perhaps they were tucked up under him, not unlike some birds. I did see something on his arm, a band of some sort.  I can only guess the meaning of it.  Perhaps it signified his detail at patrolling the yard. 

That very instant my life changed.  While I haven’t been so fortunate as to be a part of their confidence, I now treat my garden in a much different fashion.  I am concerned, how many in their clan?  Where is their location? How many of them are there?  What is their territory?  Are all the auld stories true?

I quit picking the strawberries from my garden, and yet they disappear.  I set out small bits of leftovers, they disappear overnight. Bob and I make certain there is daily fresh water in the bird bath and the bee bath.  Scraps of thread, yarn and material also vanish from the back yard.  The carpenter bees are gone from our yard and still I hear movement in the wood they used to inhabit.

Wondering where they spend the winter, I have peeked into nooks and crannies around the neighborhood.  It is now firmly cemented in everyone's mind, I am the crazy lady on the corner!  

We, Bob and I, are very pleased at this point.  And, yet, I am concerned. Are all the auld stories of Faeries and Elves and Trolls, and their wars true? We are a little fearful for what may come in the Spring. 




leigh