“Beginnings”

Dear Friend,

Despite the brilliant sunshine pouring in through the windows, the day is dark. The approaching spring mocks us with every budding flower and chirping bird. Nature celebrates rebirth while mankind withers and wastes away with Frozen 2 looping in the background.

Social distancing, once the mantra of self-proclaimed introverts, is appropriated as the rallying cry of the panicked masses. Quarantine. Isolation. Telework and homeschooling. The virus manifests differently among victims, whether infected or not. In either case, the physical symptoms pale in comparison to the psychosomatic.

Mary’s brief excitement for a vacation was dashed on the jagged mountain of school work sent home. The interruptions to Baby James’ music and gym classes have turned him feral and he bites with little provocation. Christina gazed into the abyss that is a month locked inside and now just laughs in the closet while flicking matches onto Mary’s math homework. I’ve taken to the typewriter to document the descending chaos.

I’ll keep it up for posterity until the virus takes me. Or until I get bored.

– J.S. Alvin