2020-11-15 - Mandates

 2020-11-15 - Mandates

Adum Brate read articles on his phone all weekend.  He felt a little surreal about the goings on in Canada with Covid 19.  The island was cut off again, but it was not even remotely cut off.  And, even with its being Sunday, he wanted to talk to the Islands Chief medical personnel about the state of the country and, possibly, Alexandra.  So he had invited Drs Jasper Rogers and Susan McKinney to his home for coffee and conversation … and possible decision making.

Megan knew how preoccupied Adum was. She was too. They enjoyed a level of safety in their isolation on Alexandra but she was aware it was a fragile balance. The spring and return to the world had brought the pandemic to the island early on and they were determined to keep it at bay. But supplies were still needed even if they didn’t welcome the tourists. There would still be contact. She had made a second pot of coffee while Adum prepared for the meeting and let their daughter Izzy watch her little trolls cartoon on Netflix as she happily lounged and played with her dolls in her pajamas in her parents bedroom with the laptop. Megan walked around watering their house plants as the coffee dripped and percolated. She paused by her husband as he waited and took his hand to her belly as there was a little circus performance going on inside. “Cartwheels….I swear….” She laughed. Megan had on a maternity tunic t-shirt style top in green with navy stripes and a pair of black maternity yoga pants. Her feet were bare and her pink toenail polish was chipping because she just couldn’t reach her feet comfortably.

Jasper Rogers walked up the steps of the Brate house flanked by three cats, like they were escorting him. He leaned down to pet the orange ones but had been warned about the black cat and just gave it a nod. He was wearing an open light winter black quilted vest over a warm grey turtleneck sweater and a pair of dark blue jeans that ended in his usual hiking boots. He also had on a black three layer cotton face mask. His brown grey hair snuck out under a mutlicoloured knit toque and he had one black knit gloves. He had a sporty khaki green nylon satchel slung over his shoulder that contained a tablet and a little notebook and a few pens as this was a meeting. He rang the doorbell and the orange cats cut him in line to be let in, meowing and pawing.

Susan McKinney was a few steps behind Jasper and grinned as he simply nodded at Voldemort.  For her part, she petted Fred .. or maybe it was George as she stepped up.  “These two are a hoot.”  she tells Jasper.  “The other .. well I am waiting to hear that Father O’keeffe has been hired to exorcise her.”  she moves up onto the porch and takes in a deep breath.  “Alright … you ready for this?”  she asks Jasper and rings the door … ready or not.  She is dressed in a long light brown denim dress with deep pockets and a turtleneck underneath it.  It is far from her usual surgical scrubs and lab coat.  Even her face mask is non plain, decorated in a pretty fall leaf pattern.

Adum inhales deeply of the coffee and when Megan takes his hand, he physically relaxes.  Izzy was happy upstairs and his father was on call in case that changed.  Megan was looking beautiful and the coffee smelled wonderful.  Gone were the days he could not trust his wife with the coffee maker.  He grins as she places her hand on her belly and he can feel their child moving.  “Moving more than Izzy, too.  Maybe we should switch to a dog who can fetch the baby when they wander off.”  he hears the doorbell and turns towards it, opening it.  “Doctors…”  he pulls the door open for them to enter.  “The coffee is almost ready.”

Jasper steps back to let Susan walk in first and then of course waits and times his own entrance so he’s socially distanced from his fellow doctor, their chief medical officer and their hosts, the mayor and his wife “I’ve heard many stories of these cats….most about the one they call Voldemort.” He chuckles as she walks in at the right time “Hello and thank you Mayor Brate. Mrs. Brate.”

Megan pulls her t-shirt up over her face when she sees the masks on the docs “Oh shit hi…..sorry...masks! I’ll be right back with ours. Love yours Susan.” She runs to the kitchen island where there are an assortment of masks and comes back with two polka dotted ones, green with blue dots for Adum and pink white white dots for herself. She handed Adum his and put her own on. “And it’s just Megan. So nice to see you both.”  This was Adum’s meeting of course so that might be the most talking she planned on doing. But she was curious to listen in if parenting would allow.

Susan walks in behind Jasper and looks around, her eyes settling on Megan with a hidden half a grin and raised eyebrows.  As soon as Megan remembers the masks, her half-grin becomes a smile that reaches her eyes.  “Thank you and I love ours too.  Is that from the seamstress?  Oh .. I can’t remember the name of the place.  Dr Page’s daughter makes them.”  she looks a little closer at Megan.  “Coming along nicely.”  she teases.  There is a couch and two comfy arm chairs in the Brate living room.  Husband and wife live together, so she takes one of the armchairs and gives them their couch.  Then she looks at Adum.  “You’re worried about something, Adum.”  she tells him.

Adum puts his mask on and motions to the armchairs, even as Susan sits.  “Thanks for coming, both of you.”  he sighs and moves to the couch, sitting down.  “Yes.  I’m worried, Susan.  I feel I was born worrying and I hate it.”  he scoffs.  “Mainland Canada isn’t doing so well and I am a little worried about the island.  We aren’t as isolated as we used to be.  Supplies come in nearly every day.  Meat, dairy, groceries, mail being only a few.  One of those delivery people could have covid and give it to a dock worker, who could take it home to his wife or girlfriend or just a beer buddy, who could give it to someone else …”  he sighs.  “Masks are still a strong suggestion, as is social distancing.  Sanitizing is recommended.  But I haven’t put my food down and out and out mandated any of this.  I want to think I am just afraid .. with a wife and child and baby on the way.  But I’m not sure … and so I wanted to bounce this off of someone who knows more than I do.”  he is a young mayor and more than willing to take advice.

Jasper takes the other chair, following Susan’s lead. He looks between Susan and Adum when Susan suggests he’s worried about something. He didn’t know the mayor and his wife well at all although they’d both been very kind and welcoming to he and his family. He nods along with Adum’s concerns “Lots of Canadian cities and provinces are locking down. It would be wise to stay ahead of it. I can't imagine the second wave will spare us entirely but if we can keep it minimal we can contain it and contact trace more easily.”

Megan sits on the couch with her husband and nods knowingly at his words. She knew his concerns and shared them. She looks between the doctor and Jasper speaks up first and she nods with him and then looks at Susan “Yes I’m pretty sure these masks are made by Paige. Dahlia’s…..she had a shop in Cedar Point and she set up here after the quake and migration.” She looks at Adum “I don’t think anyone would object to following the rules more vigilantly….well maybe a few but screw them.”

Susan bites her lip as they talk.  “I’ve always hesitated to mandate.  Our people have been through quite enough for this century, I think.  We don’t have millions sick and dying.  I want people to be careful, but even being careful doesn’t seem to stop this thing.”  she sighs and looks at the other three.  “When is it right to take away people's personal freedoms?”  she asks.  “At what point is it a steep fine to be caught on the street without your mask on?  When do we arrest them and hold them for 14 days while forcing contact tracing information out of them?”

Adum listens and considers.  “Well, the police safehouse can be turned into a sort of ….isolation hub for anyone who may have been exposed.  And I agree with Susan.  I feel like this is a Catch 22 for me and the City.  I’ll take precautions, and so will my family.  But at the same time, if I pulled Izzy out of school … what message does that send?  I don’t trust Alexandra Academy to be safe?”  He stands to get coffee and stops.  “And of course, do I serve the people in my home coffee and then force them to wash their own cups in water hot enough to kill Covid?”  He is both joking and deadly serious.

Jasper listens intently to Susan’s perspective. He hadn’t lived here during the fog but he’d heard enough stories now to imagine putting more on the townspeople would not be ideal for mental health. He has one point to make about the mask thing “I disagree with policing masks outside…..i mean ideally we’d like them to socially distance everywhere. But if we mandate then stores won’t have to be the bad guys when trying to enforce mask wearing in indoor spaces. They can fall back on what Adum and the council set out. Maybe it will reduce someone at Thrifty’s taking attitude for instance. And our school population and classroom sizes are small…...they should be able to distance easily. But maybe we should go back to the kids and staff wearing masks. If Covid gets in, the chances of kids being asymptomatic are higher than adults.” He shrugs and laughs “I would happily wash my own mug Adum...happily.”

Megan nods with Susan “It’s a hard call and I don’t like it either. The safehouse is a good idea but it only works if we don’t need the safehouse at the same time?” She shakes her head “I don’t want to pull Izzy from daycare. She loves it. And I can’t bring her to where I work…..I mean soon enough I’ll be off work but still.” She laughs about the cups “We appreciate that Jasper but we won’t make you..today.”

Susan nods slowly at Jasper's words.  “We don’t have enough beds to handle an outbreak at this point, but we also have no Covid patients … and I hope it stays that way.  But yes … an indoor mandate, for businesses and public spaces might work.”  she sighs deeply.  “Buni has been very good about limiting her place to ten, including employees.  But she doesn’t have a sit-down establishment.  I don’t know about anyone else, but … worse comes to worse, they can call the police?”  she cringes a little bit at this last bit.  Then she grins.  “We will leave as few germs as possible on your coffee cups.”  she tells the Brates.  “Or wash them ourselves, as Jasper says.”

Adum goes and sets up a small tray with coffee cups, individual packets of sugar and stevia as well as individual packets of cream containers as well as the whole pot of coffee.  He sets it down on the coffee table and sits beside his wife.  “I can do that, pretty easily.  The movie theatre has voluntarily been asking people to leave plenty of space, but … yes I suppose a mandate would make things better.  I don’t think Josh will have a problem with it, as since we closed off the ferry all of the crime has been local and there's never all that much of it.”  he thinks back to Molly’s murder and sighs softly.  “Especially now that October has passed us by again.”  he sits back, waiting on the guests.  “Now I have to consider attaching a fine for non-compliance.”  he doesn’t look terribly happy about that.

Jasper takes a coffee. He had been looking at Susan as she spoke and giving a  few nods here and there. “We could get overwhelmed way too easily if it suddenly hit us. I hope so too. I know the mainland is 5 but ten work here. I’m sure some people have events…..they could apply for permits and indicate they’ll distance and mask and be careful. Also, maybe we should be really encouraging communication. If you….” He gestures in the air as he leans back with the coffee “Really want a family dinner then talk to the people and plan. OK we’ve all been in these bubbles…...then decide if it’s safe. I know my own family is connected to the Samuels now….and the Negrons….so the bubbles grow fast. We’ll have to make some choices.” He unmasks to sip his coffee but let’s it dangle from one ear so it can go back on easily. He looks at Adum as he speaks and then agrees “A mandate. The fine thing is tricky. I would say have local businesses set the example and make fines for them, employees unmasked, too many customers et cetera….but with the example of Buni I’d say most businesses are already in compliance with a lot of it. There’s sanitizer still available. They could….step up their mask game again.”

Megan chimes in now after fixing herself a coffee “Sorry we don’t have any cookies unless you like gluten free animal crackers..” She laughs “Izzy’s stash..” Then she goes on “As a local business owner that’s easy. I send one email to Kitty and Seamus saying mask up again. We still have the sanitizers out. And we put a sign on the door for limits. I might say 5 for us since it’s a small store. Although honestly we rarely get that many at once. We also deliver. So does Thriftys and all the restaurants. This shouldn’t be hard.”

Susan waits for Jasper to get his coffee before getting one of her own, setting her mask to dangle from one ear and sipping.  “The hospital expansion should be done by February, unless the weather makes it impossible .. then we’re talking spring.”  she glances across at Jasper.  “As well as everyone who has been in contact with any Rogers, Negron and or Samuels.  However, unless someone needs put on a respirator, I will be ordering them to recover at home, isolating themselves.  It works even in large families such as the Reinhardts, so it should work for everyone else in town.”  she sips and sighs.  “Sometimes it feels like we are on our way back in time.”  she sounds almost angry.  “Red crosses on the door, isolating the sick with the well and hoping for the best.”  she sighs and sips her coffee again.  “I’m sorry, but it’s very frustrating.  I should not be waiting to be overwhelmed by this. We've had less than 50 confirmed cases and only one death since coming out of the fog and into this.  The one person who should have been on a respirator didn’t even come in to get tested.  He just knew it was Covid and stayed home.  But out there.”  she sweeps her arm to indicate Canada and the world beyond.  “Few are taking it seriously.  Hopefully a mandate will make people remember that we aren’t stuck in the fog anymore.  The few people I see outside of the clinic seem to get it.  But as long as they remain clueless on the mainland, the longer we are self isolated as a community.”

Adum waits and finally gets himself some coffee and listens to everyone speak.   “I know we’ve been lucky, and I want to stay that way.”  he sips and blows on the coffee in his cup.  “My family wears masks.  My father has made mask wearing mandatory on the construction site and so Mateo Negron makes sure his family wears masks.  And it spreads out from there.  The police wear  masks ... and thanks to our beloved seamstress, who kept us in clothes through three years of the fog … they match the uniforms.  The Fire Department as well.  Our businesses have been doing well as it is … the one thing I worry about is now I will be putting it in writing.  Instead of suggesting and holding myself and my family up as examples, I am making it mandatory.  A law, even.  The threat of fines and possible jail time when we appear to be doing just fine.”  he glances at Megan.  “It’s harder than it looks.  People … they don’t like being told what to do no matter how common sense that thing they’re being told to do is for them.”  he shakes his head.  “Maybe it's the cop in me.  I expect resistance … it’s all over Canada .. why should we be any different?  The good news so far is we haven’t gotten any requests for permits for anti-mask protests ... probably because we haven’t tried to make it a mandate.”  he sips his coffee again.  “But Alexandra is it’s own bubble.  I just don’t want that to burst.”

Jasper sighs at the extent of his family’s own bubble. He was glad their lives were so full of love but for contact tracing it spun off quickly. “The hospital expansion will be a good thing for so many reasons. Having been out there more recently in my life and not having lived through the fog I can tell you this community is unique and resilient. If you all pulled together to do whatever it took for those three years, people won’t hesitate to be careful for this. I can’t imagine you’re not all thankful for the community spirit already. I know I am and I have less context. I know there may be some rebels but I can’t imagine a hoard of anti maskers on Water Street as soon as this is announced. I would suspect the odd objection over that and those folks we can deal with on an individual basis as needed.”

Megan looks between Susan, Jasper and Adum “Those clueless odd objectors are pretty loud. Mrs. Norris? I’ve never seen her wear a mask. The Martins….and they run the laundromat. I’ve seen them with masks half off their faces but never worn properly. It needs to be strongly enforced for the dock workers as they’re the first contact point…” She slides her own mask back on after a few sips.

Susan sips more coffee and sighs again.  “Well, we have seven doctors on the island.  The only one not licensed to write prescriptions is Dr. Singh.  But that in itself is made up by our having three nurse practitioners.  Given the size of the island, we have more than enough medical coverage.”  she chuckles a bit and glances at Jasper.  “At the worst time of our Covid crisis thus far, we had Drs Alvin administering tests.  Both Simon and Theo.”  she realizes she’s gotten a bit off track.  “But yes.  The Martins and Mrs Norris.  Ursula might protest the masks … she protested The Love Shack when it opened, so she is against all things health related.”  she sips her coffee again and considers.  “I saw a video that Dave Chappelle did after George Floyd was murdered.  He had a great social distancing seating arrangement.  We could do something similar.”  she looks at Adum with twinkling eyes.  “Which would allow the Winter Festival to go on more or less as normal.  Kagiso could turn his roof into a stage and play for passersby.  He, India and Quentin did similar in the beginning of the Covid crisis … I’m sure they wouldn’t mind doing it for the Winter Festival.”  she looks at Jasper.  “The Winter Festival here lasts Through all of December.  It calms down a little in January, but the decorations at least stay up until near February.”  she looks at Adum and winks.  “The island has a history of winter loving mayors.”

Adum listens, realizing that indeed Alexandra was a large family and protests would likely be minimal.  In his mind, he expected the male half of the Newcastle family to protest, even if it were silent.  Spencer Newcastle had been part of the Covid party over the summer that had resulted in a few cases.  He looks at Susan fondly.  “So overall it is better than the flu epidemic of 2019, now that I think of it.”  he looks at Jasper and head juts at Susan.  “This woman single handedly took care of all of us, even before the fog.  But especially during it.”  he looks back at Susan and then around the room.  “Yes … the Winter Festival is crucial to Alexandra’s economy … and morale.  Mine, anyway.  I’ll talk to all of our musicals about that, starting with Kagiso and India.”  he sips his coffee, but bounces a little bit, like an excited boy.  “Winter is an incredible season and that has to be understood by any mayor of this island.  Hot chocolate and peppermint .. sometimes snow, too…”

Megan jumped in after Susan’s words “Yes we can do it safely. We can’t deny people their winter fun! Especially Adum…” she grins at him and reaches to give his hand a squeeze. “There are a few places that could be stages. Kagiso’s for sure. But the new community centre has a rooftop balcony at the front and a whole sort of patio balcony above the library side. We have options. And yes we love winter here Jasper… a lot.”

Jasper smiles “Oh I like winter too and I’m looking forward to this festival, however it unfolds.” He chuckles at Adum’s childlike excitement about the season. It was refreshing to live in this place with this mayor and this community. “And I’ve heard the tales of Susan’s heroics as a solo doctor. I strive to meet the challenge of being on her team every day. The people revere and admire you Susan, and with good reason.”

Adum took Megan's hand and squeezed back, and tried to look mayoral.  He nods at her, because it’s true.  He loves winter.  “Yes … it’s so new I nearly forgot it.  Does it face the street or the inlet?  And does it have space for social distance seating?”  he considers.  “And now that I’m thinking of it, it has an indoor hockey rink … of course we can’t have hockey games, but we could figure something out for the winter sports lovers.”  then he looks at Susan.  “She handled everyone on the island alone for nearly twenty years.”

Susan listens and turns a little bit darker in her blush.  “I love this island.  I don’t regret any of it for a minute.  But it is good to have helpers and specialists and not have to refer patients to the mainland.”  she looks at Adum and then the others.  “If we can find a way to keep social things happening, it won’t feel so much like … like … this new normal is such a bad thing, if that makes sense.”

Megan thinks as she’s walked by the community center and around it recently “There’s a smaller part facing the street and the large part faces the inlet. A band would fit on either although it may be kinder to musicians to have them in the small part so they can go in and warm up easily. Close off the street?” Then she points her finger in the air “Chicken bowling on the rink! Because we gotta have the chicken bowling again.” She grins at Susan and Adum and then looks at Jasper “I heard a rumour you like bowling….”

Jasper smiles at Susan’s modesty and then laughs “I do love bowling but generally the traditional way. What kind of chickens are we talking about exactly?”

Megan beams “Frozen ones of course….unless they start to thaw.”

Adum nods.  “On the street side is probably best.”  he agrees.  And then he beams like a 10 year old again.  “Chicken bowling!  Now that we have access to the chickens, we can do it again or the first time!”  he looks at Jasper.  “You have to chicken bowl.”  he encourages.  “They'll stay frozen .. we can also do it when the inlet freezes over.  Normally we’d beve a chicken fry afterwards, but with the whole social distancing thing … maybe not.  We can keep them small .. reservations for all, of course.”

Susan shakes her head.  “Chicken bowling … never change, Canada.  Never heard of it before I came to this country.”  she almost giggles.

Jasper laughs about the chicken bowling “That’s some good silly fun. They could fry it up and send it home in take out boxes with curbside pickup?” He shrugs “I know we’re not a car culture here but you know what I mean.”

Megan nods “Chicken bowling. I mean we’ll all be wearing masks and gloves or mitts anyways and it’s a pretty distanced activity. Can we get enough hay for the maze? I know Izzy is old enough to love it this year. Some good learning about patience and turn taking with distancing….wait for people to get ahead of you. No face painting this time though.” She moves her mask to sip coffee and then puts it back on. 

Jasper looks skeptical “Does the inlet really freeze?” He’s heard people say this.

Adum nods, slowly.  “I’ll talk to Hank about it.  Maybe only two or three alleys for the bowling and I put in the order for hay the week we came out of the fog.  We can do online and telephone reservations this year.”  he grins and sips his coffee again, then looks at Jasper.  “Yes … it’s pretty shallow so it always freezes up.”

Susan looks hopeful.  The concerts had been a lifesaver, but giving the people something more normal would be a morale booster for sure.  “Just no reusing the chickens for bowling between parties and it shouldn’t be a problem.”  she grins at Jasper.  “It freezes solid … up until around the mouth, but Hank always puts up barricades.  The skaters sometimes wind up in the ocean, but for the most part it’s safe.”

Jasper cringes and it’s hard to tell if it’s chicken related or about who falls in the ocean “Alexandra is a very different town.” He laughs “Mostly in good ways I’d say. What do you use for pins in chicken bowling? I must confess the idea fascinates me. I’ve been in a community league...an LGBTQ2 league...because yes Vancouver had that...but chicken bowling will be new.”

Megan laughs “We’ll instruct the volunteers to rotate the chickens in the freezers. Could you imagine a chicken bowling league? I feel like we’d need to pair with one of the restaurants. It’ll be great fun regardless. And we’ll watch the kids on the inlet. We always do.”

Adum beams at the comment, which he takes as a compliment.  Then he looks a little wary.  “I // we don’t have a LB .. LGBT .. league.”  he shrugs.  “Sorry.  I can’t keep up with the acronym changing so often.  When did the 2 get added?  That had to have been during the fog.  My sister in law is gay and she tends to get on us ‘breeders’ .. especially me for not knowing the up to the minute stuff.”  he shrugs.  “I just figured that I came out of the fog and into a pandemic.  The gay community wasnt my top priority.”  he sighs.  “You will love chicken bowling … I hope anyway.”

Susan grins as she listens.  “I can’t answer what we’d use for pins.  I have never chicken bowled and I never will.”  she chuckles.  “I am one of those old fogey people like the Chief and occasionally Mayor Sewid.  But you guys go ahead and start that league.”  he chuckles at Adum a bit and then pours herself a little more coffee.

Megan swats at Adum but not hard “The 2 is not new and I’m sure Tams has mentioned it to us breeders. It’s for Two Spirited people, a term for LCGTQ folks in Indigenous culture. But I won’t tell her.” She winks at Jasper “We’ll just throw some chickens.” She thinks “I think the pins were pop bottles. Probably two litres..”

Jasper nods “Two spirited. I confess it wasn’t on my radar until I was in love with a man from the Blackfoot Cree Nation years ago. He kindly explained it and it gave me a better cultural context for Indigenous patients where that was a factor of who there were or are. We’re never done learning. About gender and sexuality or chicken bowling. It’s all good. I’m not sure I’ve met your sister, Megan. Although I’ve seen her. You two have a strong resemblance. And I know she’s a cop married to the teacher cop…..Sharp is it?”

Megan smiles “Lieutenant Frank Sharp. I think they actually hyphenated their names but there was some deliberation about the order so I won’t tell you and get it wrong. And yes Frank teaches music at the school. I do look like Tams but she's shorter, and I never let her forget it.”

Adum looks surprised, betrayed and annoyed.  “She didn’t tell me.”  he insists.  “I would have remembered.  Probably.”  he sighs.  “I understand why Fred gets so frustrated.  Even I remember when people were gay or they werent.”  he chuckles.  “Oh well.  We do use pop bottles .. or did when we could get them.  Most of them wound up being planters after the fog..”  he chuckles.  “Tams is shorter than you and Frank is shorter than … well everyone on the island under ten ….  Well … most of them….”  he teases even when they are not there.

Susan sits back and enjoys the conversation.  She places her mask back on and looks around at them.

Megan laughs as Adum joins in the mockery of her sister’s and Frank’s heights “The wee folk. Even Great Aunt Shirley is taller, and she shrunk with age. Regardless...chicken bowling will be great. And pop bottles are easy to come by now. Now I’m craving chicken. Maybe I’ll thaw one out for tonight…..” Megan gets up and waddles to the freezer and then holds up a chicken “Smaller than this would be ideal….like a 5 pounder?”

Jasper laughs about the whole thing “Yet a standard bowling ball would be about 10-15 pounds..” He moves his mask to sip his coffee again.

Megan points “Hence why I like chicken bowling better. Who the hell made a sport with a twelve pound ball? Is this like the golf thing where some drunk Scotsman just made up a game? You’ve all seen the Robin Williams skit on golf right?”

Adum watches as Megan heads for the kitchen and pulls out a chicken.  She is not the family cook, but she has improved enough that Adum doesn’t worry about her being in the room.  He doesn't call her out on it, but makes the note that it will be chicken tonight.  Anything he can do to make her happy in pregnancy, he’ll do.  

Susan grins, knowing full well the kind of cook Megan is … or isn't … and she asks.  “So … do we cook the chickens afterwards?”

Jasper can’t resist a joke “It would be messy to cook them before. But they must get a little bruised...the meat I mean. Any angry vegans? I mean they are already dead….” He laughs.

Megan is just prepping and planning. She still happily leaves the hard core cooking to Adum. She can make simple things though since she’s been a mom, she’s had to. So she moves a chicken to the sink and runs some water over it and then lets it soak in it’s bag in the sink before chiming back in. “Angry vegans? Yeah a few but mostly they accept the tradition. I suppose we could use rubber chickens but that would be a really long game. And then no fried chicken. I love chicken, even bruised chicken. It’s going to be a great festival, even in Covid times. We had great ones during the fog. Now we can still order stuff in and celebrate safely.” She looks between the two doctors and her husband “Do you think the world will ever be normal again?”

Adum nods.  “We do eat the chickens after ….  How do you not know this, Susan?”  he chuckles.  “Because you’re one of the biggest homebodies on the island, next to Josh Green .. well … not literally, of course.”  he watches Megan prep the chicken for thawing with a smile.  “That’s another thing we’ll have to tweak for Covid.”  he bites his upper lip.  “Maybe instead of just always having freshly fried chicken we can give the individual bowling teams …. Their chicken ball cooked and ready to take home?”

Susan shrugs.  “Hey Josh Green is a good man who knows the value of never going out … well he did before Maddy came to live with him, but I don’t blame her.”  then she laughs.  “Take home chicken bowling …  not a bad idea.”  she grins, clearly feeling better about things.

The chatter went from formal and mandates to informal and food and sport. Alexandra would survive Covid, just as it had the migration of Cedar Point refugees, the quake and the fog and even the bizarre curse of every October. Compared to the breadth of experience this island already had, Covid couldn’t take them down. And they would do what was necessary to survive this too. Chickens and masks and the prevailing love of all things winter would sustain the island.