A small story:

During the following story, if you feel a second of pity for me, if some part of your brain thinks, "Quinn wants a hug," let me assure you...I do not. Your pity or sympathy fills me with disgust.

I'm fine.

"A virtual h-" No.

Consort grumbles when I say that we're living in ahistoric times because he says, "That's not really a word," and I've just been reminded that Spellcheck agrees with him.

Consort? Spellcheck? You're wrong.

Amoral is without moral.

Aseptic is without contamination.

Ahistoric is lacking in history context.

Historically, this is improv; we're making this up.

The "Yes, AND" being murder hornets.

The closest comparison would be the Pandemic of 1918 WHICH IS THE RIGHT YEAR CHAUNCEY GOLFER JESUS IS THAT SO FUCKING HARD.

(dabs brow, composes self)

But even 1918 isn't too close because back then terrible people hadn't weaponized ignorance. I have read a fair amount about that pandemic -

WHICH TOOK PLACE IN 1918 CHRIST ON A PITA STOP FUCKING IT UP

and no one was loudly declaring their right to be stupid.

Again, this is uncharted.

Here be dragons.

And murder hornets.

Weirdly enough, though, I have some intimate understanding of what might be coming for a fair amount of families, which is both tragic and completely avoidable, which is, I suppose, the tragic bit.

There was a story in the past...week? Hour? Millennia? This Eternal Now is so confounding. Anyway, teenage boy contracted COVID. Then, both of his parents died of COVID. Did they contract it from him? Odds are likely, but maybe not. Probably impossible to say.

I promise you this; that boy will hold that responsibility in his heart for the rest of his life.

I know this because when I was nine, my mother and I were in New York and my father was in Los Angeles.

Early one morning he had a massive heart attack and died.

Because my mother and I were in New York for my work, my father died alone.

My father died alone, because of me.

This is an awkward but inarguable statement.

"Maybe he would have died anyway!"

"He wouldn't have wanted you to see that!"

Whatever ameliorating statement just sprung to your head, I have heard or thought and yes, would I have wanted Kid to see me die when she was nine? No. But the fact still sits there, unappealing and undeniable; I inadvertently made that decision for him and must live with that.

(I swear to god, if you're thinking anything resembling sympathy or pity right now, I will shank you)

When this malignant criminals in power start the drumbeats of sending children back into schools, they go with two narratives:

1. Children never die from COVID!
2. Corporations are people and people are cannon fodder. LOL!

So, children do die of COVID and it's peak 2020 that I even have to say that.

Children who don't die of COVID can bring it home, putting relatives at risk. For reasons we don't understand, certain minority groups are at far greater risk. Many cities are now minority majority.

The public schools in majority minority communities - underfunded to begin with - will not be able to keep adequate cleaning protocols in place because that costs money. These families frequently work jobs which do not allow them to work from home.

The children of the people making these blithe statements are not going back to school for the foreseeable future. The children of the people who work for the people who work for the people who work for these people will go back to school.

Some will bring death home.

They will carry that with them for the rest of their lives.

Trust me.