Desert Tale
Number 3, Volume 8
Quarantine Etiquette
I am wearing latex gloves, and masks, as I would on Halloween, and staying six feet away in an anti-social manner from a fellow human, and rudely not shaking hands or giving hugs. I cannot even give away a free smile.
I find myself in a neurotic way wiping my car's leather steering wheel, cell phone and desktop computer keys. I keep a small bottle of Purell in my handbag next to my Mace and hope I don't get them mixed up.
I am buying emergency dehydrated food and water filters and Band-Aids, and other meds I might need, and toilet paper when I can find it.
I am not touching $20 dollar bills with my bare hands.
I am pulling weeds out by the root in this fabulous Arizona weather, and planting a victory garden but the garlic bulbs are on strike.
I have rearranged my closet four times to fill bags of old clothes for charity because some no longer fit because I gained weight.
I am sending out lots and lots of emails on Facebook to strangers.
After one month of this self-imposed house arrest I have finished writing my next romantic thriller: STEAMING ODYSSEY, about my real life adventure in Central America as a Spanish translator during the Iran-Contra scandal.
My husband came back from the store excited because he was able to buy one egg and one roll of toilet paper. I had asked for one dozen eggs and several rolls, and he showed me Hawaiian sweet rolls. He said shopping lists were not popular any more. You buy what is available whether you like it or not. As the Polish saying goes: "If you don't have what you like - you have to like what you have." During WW2 they were not spoiled like us Americans. Take that Meghan Markle!
I wish this virus was over so that I could get back to my normal routine, because I AM GOING CRAZY!!!
What are you doing to keep your sanity? But the good news is it can't last forever, and we optimists will inherit this earth.
I wish you all good health.
—Alinka