After Corona by Candace Arthuria Williams (short fiction)

Emily didn’t survive.  Like so many others she had succumbed to the invasion.  Statistically, they had been doomed at the outset.  The families were told what to expect, but that didn’t mean they were prepared.  Little Debbie was seven now.  She skipped happily amidst the blades of the vibrant and verdant park.  “Over the river and through the woods to…..”  The events of a year-and-a-half interrupted her gleeful tune.  Grandpa without Grandma was a dereliction of the norm, a distortion of everything she recalled about the first five years of her life.

The happy gatherings with too much food, a gazillion birthday parties, dressing up for church, and sleeping over at Aunt Ruth’s and Uncle Joe’s.  Much of it had come back—but not all.  Grandma Emily’s absence was permanently etched in the creases of Grandpa’s face.  He tried to hide it, but Debbie’s perception exceeded her years.  Mom and Dad seemed surprisingly okay.  That she couldn’t understand.  There was no way to know that the loss of friends, families, co-workers, and six percent of the world’s population was forcing them to hide what would surely kill them too, if they let down their guard and gave in.  So they donned their happy masks, unlike the real ones they had worn for so long.  Those masks had kept the bad stuff out.  The new imaginary ones were keeping it in.  But they did what they had to do—for Dad’s sake and Debbie’s.

She spotted Billie Jackson with his mother and ran as fast as she could to greet them.  They hugged and squealed with the laughter of angels, a physical expression they had not been allowed only a few months before.  Billie’s mom gyrated nervously, still traumatized by the reality that a simple touch had meant death not so very long ago.  Since then, she had lost her husband to the prohibition of intimacy that couldn’t be unlearned.  But children will be children.

The flowers smelled so sweet, as they rubbed the therapeutic fragrance into one another’s hair.  They ran some more.  The attendant picking up the trash grinned and waved from a distance.  The joy was contagious.  He had lost most of his family, but his kids were okay.  A Golden Retriever was lapping at the edge of the lake.  The owner had no fear of the authorities, as his best friend mingled unleashed with old neighbors who were just as happy to see him.  All the rules had been lifted and life was going on.

At the end of two blissful hours, it was time for Debbie to go home.  Unwilling to let go, Billie seized the day, pushed her onto the grass and laughed at their mothers’ admonitions.  Debbie got up and giggled, just as happy for a push as she had been for a hug.  It was all about the touching.

Back in front of her laptop, Debbie studied the countries of the world, discovering what they are now and what they used to be.  She was not overwhelmingly impressed.  She missed the classroom, the teachers, the maps stretched across the bulletin board and challenge to find Japan.  But all the schools were closed, never to open again.  Her parents steered her towards science, hoping that the next time, she would be one of the experts on whom all nations depended.  But that was too big an ambition for a seven-year-old girl whose only aspiration was to see the world—not save it.

10 Comments

  1. Very good story and imaginative, I enjoyed it. I hope in real life a vaccine is found though so we can just breathe again without a mask.

  2. A beautifully written story. Its vivid imagery made me feel I had been transported into the future to see real events. Good job!

  3. As we all begin to “see the world” the way we want to experience it, the world will gradually change. Let’s all be the seven year old girl.

  4. An interesting perspective of the lasting effects that this devastating pandemic had on some survivors. Picked up from reading that the pandemic lasted longer than originally expected and that loss of life was significant. Also, though restrictions were lifted, there were doubts that this “virus” had run its course. It was harder for the adults to accept going back to the old norms. The children, on the other hand, were ready and willing to return to life as they once knew. Also, from reading, I gathered that children were not as impacted (loss of life) by the pandemic as were adults and the elderly. In summary, some of us may not be comfortable going back to the way of life that we once knew.

  5. I enjoyed this depiction of a world on the brink of recovery into an altered culture. Debbie’s understanding of the differences in her parents’ attitudes is especially sharp and relatable. How sad but entirely possible that the schools will never reopen! I’m left wondering how Debbie will ever “see” her world as she learns alone in her room. Thanks for sharing this thought-provoking story.

  6. What a wonderful story depicting the world we currently live in. It also speaks to the possible future of the world we live in. Will we ever be able to go back to life as we knew it pre COVID-19? Even if we do, the devastating effects and loss of life will forever remain

  7. A great story, beautifully written, which speaks to the dangers that we have yet to face. I suspect that, as with so many cataclysmic events, most people will simply return to normal, perhaps even a “supernormal”, rejoicing in the return to the lives we once knew. But there will be casualties. Just as with COVID itself, depression and survivor guilt will seek out the most vulnerable.

  8. Thanks for stimulating our minds as we attempt to pivot in our new world, since the ‘world into which we were born no longer exists’.
    Luckily for Debbie, she is evolving with our ‘new world.’

  9. Candace, what a skillful juxtaposition of joy and pain, happiness and sorrow, and past and present experiences you present. Reading your story filled me with emotions. Debbie’s experiences evoked memories of losing my beloved grandfather when I was a child and then my father over 40 years ago when I was a young adult. This story is beautiful, poignant, and expresses well what tens of millions of people feel worldwide.

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