Day #328 Writing Through COVID-19: Who's on First?

Good news! My 91-year-old accordion-playing mother-in-law Janet is scheduled for her COVID vaccine alongside mine on Friday morning. This is one more perk of small-town living: Amy and Beth have the mind-boggling task of scheduling 12,000 people for vaccines over the next months, yet they played phone-tag and jostled schedules to sequence Dan's mom's shot at the same time as mine. 

Because we live nine miles from town, on Friday morning I'll pick up Janet and proceed to the clinic. Dan will follow in his truck. After our shots, I'll head to school and Dan will take his mom back home.

As far as farm-vehicle-shuffling goes, this is a straightforward two-step*.
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Tonight:

"Have you had contact with Brandon?" Dan asked.

I thought he was asking about his sister's son who lives near Seattle. "No," I said, returning to my book.

As he left the room, I remembered we'd talked earlier about my co-worker Brandon who had attended a salary negotiations meeting last week with several unmasked people in a quasi-distanced room. Two days later one of the people had tested positive for COVID. Two days after that, a second participant in the meeting tested positive.

"Wait!" I stopped Dan short. "Did you mean Brandon I teach with?" 

"Yes."

"I thought you meant Brandon Lynette's son."

"No. Brandon at school."

"Oh, yeah. I have contact with him," I said, meaning I could text him and depend on a quick response.

"Then I don't think you should drive Mom in on Friday. You might be contagious."

"NO!" I shrieked. "I have only phone contact, email contact, text contact! I have no CONTACT with anyone!"

I was now on a roll:

"I'm always masked! I wear a 6-ft diameter invisible petticoat and dare anyone to encroach on my very wide space! I turn my face toward the lockers when I pass people in the hall. I. Have. No. Contact." 
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Dan and I looked at each other and released tiny, accepting laughs. 
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A friend recently said that when she's asked how long she's been married, she answers "We've been working on communication for 39 years." 

Enough.
Be well.
Write.

Allison

FaceTiming with Max and Wolf

* We've also mastered more complicated dances, such as "Leave the Stratus at the silos and take the pickup to the west side of Noon's. Wait in the second lane. I'll need a shuffle to the east side, then take Harvey back to the Quonset where he'll get the grain cart. Follow him to the field across from the old house. Leave my lunch in the straight truck. Then shuffle Larry back to the Stratus." Somehow we're still married.