stay away from us!”
She turned to me accusingly.
“So that was your first reaction? To quarantine your infant son?”
“—CDC in Atlanta cannot confirm or deny the outbreak, saying that they don’t know where the warning originated but that local emergency workers—”
“That’s not what I was doing. I was worried about you,” I tried to explain, waving the blanket around in the air. “I don’t know, what’s the proper reaction when a deadly virus is announced?”
Lauren was about to unload a return salvo when Susie appeared behind Chuck. She was cradling Ellarose in one arm and holding out the other one, waving it back and forth to get our attention.
“Keep calm, y’all. This ain’t no time for fighting with each other. I know it’s been tough between you two lately, but that’s gotta stop.”
Susie walked into the middle of the room, holding her hand up high, palm outwards.
“Susie, I think you should take Ellarose back into—”
“No, no,” she objected, waving her hand around. “If it’s done it’s done, and we’re all in this together.”
Ellarose saw Luke and squeaked and smiled. Luke, puffy and congested, looked over at her and attempted a grin in return.
“Let’s not go making mountains out of molehills,” continued Susie. “Luke’s got a little cold is all. This is a strange day, so let’s all calm down.”
With her steady words, the tension began to evaporate.
“How about I just take Luke down to emergency to make sure,” I said after a pause. “He is sick, and I don’t mind going.” I smiled at Lauren. “Just to be sure.”
“Wait a minute, that could be about the worst thing to do,” objected Chuck. “Hospitals are the worst place to be if there’s really an outbreak.”
“But what if he is infected?” I replied, my voice on edge. “I need to know, no matter what, get him taken care of.”
“We’ll go together,” said Lauren quietly, returning the smallest of smiles.
“I’ll go and get some masks from downstairs,” said Chuck. “You should at least wear masks.”
Susie gave him an evil look.
“I’m being practical. Bird flu is twice as deadly as bubonic plague.”
“What’s wrong with you?” said Susie, exasperated.
“It’s a good idea,” agreed Lauren, gripping Luke tightly. “Go get the masks.”
7 :00 p . m .
CHUCK WENT DOWNSTAIRS to raid his storage locker while we moved back into their place and watched CNN. He came back up loaded down with hockey bags stuffed with equipment and supplies.
After setting it all down in the middle of the room, he fished around, pulling out bags of freeze-dried food and camping equipment before finding the medical masks. They looked like the ones you’d wear if you were spray-painting something. He handed them out to us and then went out to distribute some to all the neighbors.
Chuck tried to get us to wear latex gloves, but Lauren refused, and I refused as well. The idea of holding our infant son in them, protecting ourselves by wearing rubber gloves like he was some kind of pariah, was too much to seriously consider. If he was sick from whatever they were talking about on the news, we were already infected, so there was no sense in it. Wearing the masks was more to protect other people around us.
But in the outside world, who knew? Luke probably just had a cold, and we might be walking into a mass of infected people in a hospital. It was impossible to say, but we had to be sure Luke was safe. I put some of the latex gloves into the pockets of my jeans.
Susie went down the hall to see if Pam, the nurse, was home yet. I was hoping she might take a look at Luke, or sneak us into the back entrance of a hospital somewhere, but no luck. She and Rory weren’t home. We tried their phone numbers, but the cell networks were completely jammed.
While Chuck talked about how to recognize infectious diseases, dispensing advice about not touching or wiping our faces, I combed through a White
She turned to me accusingly.
“So that was your first reaction? To quarantine your infant son?”
“—CDC in Atlanta cannot confirm or deny the outbreak, saying that they don’t know where the warning originated but that local emergency workers—”
“That’s not what I was doing. I was worried about you,” I tried to explain, waving the blanket around in the air. “I don’t know, what’s the proper reaction when a deadly virus is announced?”
Lauren was about to unload a return salvo when Susie appeared behind Chuck. She was cradling Ellarose in one arm and holding out the other one, waving it back and forth to get our attention.
“Keep calm, y’all. This ain’t no time for fighting with each other. I know it’s been tough between you two lately, but that’s gotta stop.”
Susie walked into the middle of the room, holding her hand up high, palm outwards.
“Susie, I think you should take Ellarose back into—”
“No, no,” she objected, waving her hand around. “If it’s done it’s done, and we’re all in this together.”
Ellarose saw Luke and squeaked and smiled. Luke, puffy and congested, looked over at her and attempted a grin in return.
“Let’s not go making mountains out of molehills,” continued Susie. “Luke’s got a little cold is all. This is a strange day, so let’s all calm down.”
With her steady words, the tension began to evaporate.
“How about I just take Luke down to emergency to make sure,” I said after a pause. “He is sick, and I don’t mind going.” I smiled at Lauren. “Just to be sure.”
“Wait a minute, that could be about the worst thing to do,” objected Chuck. “Hospitals are the worst place to be if there’s really an outbreak.”
“But what if he is infected?” I replied, my voice on edge. “I need to know, no matter what, get him taken care of.”
“We’ll go together,” said Lauren quietly, returning the smallest of smiles.
“I’ll go and get some masks from downstairs,” said Chuck. “You should at least wear masks.”
Susie gave him an evil look.
“I’m being practical. Bird flu is twice as deadly as bubonic plague.”
“What’s wrong with you?” said Susie, exasperated.
“It’s a good idea,” agreed Lauren, gripping Luke tightly. “Go get the masks.”
7 :00 p . m .
CHUCK WENT DOWNSTAIRS to raid his storage locker while we moved back into their place and watched CNN. He came back up loaded down with hockey bags stuffed with equipment and supplies.
After setting it all down in the middle of the room, he fished around, pulling out bags of freeze-dried food and camping equipment before finding the medical masks. They looked like the ones you’d wear if you were spray-painting something. He handed them out to us and then went out to distribute some to all the neighbors.
Chuck tried to get us to wear latex gloves, but Lauren refused, and I refused as well. The idea of holding our infant son in them, protecting ourselves by wearing rubber gloves like he was some kind of pariah, was too much to seriously consider. If he was sick from whatever they were talking about on the news, we were already infected, so there was no sense in it. Wearing the masks was more to protect other people around us.
But in the outside world, who knew? Luke probably just had a cold, and we might be walking into a mass of infected people in a hospital. It was impossible to say, but we had to be sure Luke was safe. I put some of the latex gloves into the pockets of my jeans.
Susie went down the hall to see if Pam, the nurse, was home yet. I was hoping she might take a look at Luke, or sneak us into the back entrance of a hospital somewhere, but no luck. She and Rory weren’t home. We tried their phone numbers, but the cell networks were completely jammed.
While Chuck talked about how to recognize infectious diseases, dispensing advice about not touching or wiping our faces, I combed through a White
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