ONE
It was here.
It was happening.
The one thing we’d all dreaded, but knew was coming was finally amongst us. The Mayor of Channing stood at the podium, in all of his handsome glory, ordering us to our respective homes. At midnight, the shelter-in-place order would go into full effect and the entire city would be shutting down. Only essential businesses were authorized to keep operating.
In addition to the order, we were also forbidden to leave our homes after three o’clock. If curfew was broken, a misdemeanor would be the consequence. My heart ached for the city ofChanning and the rest of the world. Everything was bad…really bad.
“Hey, I’m going to have to call you back.” I sighed into the receiver of my phone, feeling the gush of air bounce from the plastic and rest on my face.
“I need to get to my desktop and send my clients the email that I had saved in my drafts for the last week.”
“Yes, of course,” my sister responded, immediately. She, too, was in a state of disbelief. Her usually airy tone was flat and nearly unrecognizable.
“I’ll call you tomorrow, maybe?”
“Yeah. Sure,” she agreed. A pleasant visual of her nodding appeared in my head, bringing a smile to my face.
“Listen, babe, everything is going to be fine. We’re loners, anyway.” I chucked to make light of the seriousness of the situation. “Homebodies. This is what we do.”
“You’re right,” she tittered.
Her instant relief removed a boulder that sat on the tip of my shoulder, knowing that my little sister was worried. An empath by nature, I selflessly acquired the weight of everyone’s world around me – even when I wasn’t trying. As often as it was a curse, it was a gift. The balance was something I couldn’t complain about.
“Okay. Talk to you later. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Kit.”
The line died shortly after, freeing me to move about the kitchen after I’d placed the corded phone on the receiver that clung to the wall closest to the exit. Technology had long ago advanced, but the simplicity and convenience of landlines had always been alluring.
I’d personally prohibited my cellphone when I was home. I didn’t feel the need to have it glued to my face as the worldpassed me by. Instead, I preferred enjoying time with myself, learning the newer version of me that appeared on a daily basis.
As I cut the corner to exit my kitchen, I grabbed a juice from the counter that had been refrigerated for the last eighteen hours. With the pandemic at the forefront of my thoughts, sleep was hard to come by. To alleviate the stress that it was accompanied by, I dragged my weary bones down the stairs and to my juicer.
When sleep finally hit me like a ton of bricks, I’d curated a shelf full of glassed juices of all flavors with an astounding amount of benefits. Satisfaction lulled me to sleep as nursery rhymes would a young, tired baby. I was on my second eight-ounce jar of the day.
As I perched my behind on the fluffy chair that I’d rolled from my desk, sadness penetrated my flesh. The lengthy email I’d drawn up in case of an emergency briefly touched on my leave of absence, change of schedule, and links to reschedule appointments once everything settled.
The remainder of the email was an in-depth explanation of the current pandemic we were forced to deal with, how they could stay safe, and organizations they could donate to if they felt inclined.
Of course, I encouraged, being that my clientele wasn’t worried about depleting funds during the economy’s dip. Of course, their pockets would suffer a beating with everything coming to a screeching halt, but they could stand to take the hit. Each one of them was swimming in millions – ranging from CEOs to celebrities.
I screwed the gold lid from the jar, rereading the email for the fifth time since I’d written it. Agreeing with the verbiage and amount of information I’d given, I chose my list of clients from the dropdown menu with my free hand.This feels so surreal. As I sipped my plum-colored juice, I couldn’t help but think.
Send.
I tapped the left side of my mouse, sending the email to the sixteen clients that I currently service. My shoulders slumped and limbs loosened immediately after hearing the loudswoosh, signaling that my email had been sent. I leaned forward and rested my glass beside the keyboard of my iMac, pulling my legs up toward my chest and bowing my head between their folds shortly after.
Blunder.
A highly contagious viral infection that affects both the digestive system and bloodstream, causing the smaller intestines to deteriorate at a rapid rate as well as septic shock in some cases. Healthy blood cells didn’t stand a chance against this incredibly powerful virus.
Side effects wereas mild as debilitating stomach pains and as serious as death. The origin of Blunder had yet to be identified, which was one reason the fears of the world’s people had heightened as the days have continued without solutions or answers.
Uncertainty was my biggest enemy, next to clutter and disfunction. They were the catalysts behind the success of my business, as well as the reasons for its birth. I cleaned homes for a living.
Not because I had to, but because I preferred it. Cleaning gave me more joy than any vacation I’d taken to the many countries I’d been fortunate enough to visit. The invigorating feeling it afforded me with was inexplicable.
