MINNEAPOLIS—There isn’t much you can do when you’re stuck inside during a quarantine except sit. Sometimes, you catch yourself thinking about what daily life was like before the quarantine, but you try not to think too long about this because you’re stuck indoors and this really stinks.
So you watch the news to stay informed, but this only stresses you out, because each few minutes the reports get worse. And worse.
And worse.
You turn 84 today. What a crummy birthday. It’s a shame because your life is a good one. You live alone because you are in perfect health, except for your hip. Your family all gets along. You have an obedient cat named Harry. In fact, you have all you need.
But a quarantine is a quarantine. No matter how you look at it, it’s the pits.
To be perfectly honest, you’re not sure which is worse, the isolation, or the actual virus. Either way, it’s miserable being in this stuffy house all day where you’re about to die from boredom—not literally, of course.
This morning,
you had the ceremonial video calls from your grandkids who wished you happy birthday. That was nice. There were a few people who sent birthday emails. Big whoop. Emails are great, but they only go so far.
Of course you’re not complaining. After all, you’re no stranger to hardship. You have seen tough times. It's not that. It’s that you miss your family.
So you sit on your easy chair. It’s suppertime. You’re eating your microwaved frozen dinner. Thank God for the grocery delivery service or else you and Harry would have starved.
You turn on the TV. This is your life now. Television. You flip past the news channels because you don’t want to watch more frightening headlines.
You flip past the home-improvement channels where the hosts get deathly excited about things like shiplap. You scroll past the home shopping networks…