#only our beloved nepo baby is safe

[sevennone]

240310 VGK | a golden knight gala 📸

[ryanbitchbard]

Nepo Flu

    Coffee is brewing, sun is shinning, and mod is dying.  This is the fourth morning in a row where mod has been silent.  I miss the screaming.  At least i knew she was alive.  She’s still alive but I sense that thread breaking.  

     My name is Francis Malcolm.  My wife has been sick for a few years and been in critical condition for the last two months.  Its been a week since she went silent.  I have been checking on her every morning.  Nothing.  I’m afraid I said my last words already.  “Calm down!”  Her screams elicited such a response.  I’d give anything to here the cringe wale of her voice.  This has affected my work.

      I work as a senator for the state of Kansas.  My job is a difficult one.  With an outbreak of this new flu and the sickness of Mod I am caught in a peculiar place.

      I here a knock at the door.  Its Jacob.  My good friend Jacob visiting me at this time.  It is surely for pity.  He walks in with a sour look on his face.  Grim news is easy to spot before breakfast.  We sit in the parlor with untouched cups of coffee.  

“Jacob!  Its nice to see you but something tells me your not here for a biscuit.”

“It’s freedman.  The owner of the wax shop.  The flu took him.”  

“I saw him yesterday on my way to work!  Damn!  Seemed like a healthy bastard!”

“Yes!  Its taking more people, Francis.  Freedman was sixth in town.  First was Beth Sampson, the flower shop owner.  Followed by Frank.  Frank sold us cloths if you remember.  Barlow was next.  His bake shop falls to his wife.  Kathy hurt me the most.  I didn’t expect to feel this strongly for a secretary.  Perhaps its the feeling of the walls closing in.  William died just a few days ago.  Yup and with Your wife being the condition she’s in, the whole town is in a depressive frenzy.  Has she made progress?”

“I’m afraid not.  She’s lasted longer than most people but she has remains in a cold sleep.  She hasn’t said a word in four days.”

“Hmm.  Not a good state of affairs.  Other towns have had more taken from them.”

Just as Jacob was about to speak more, a shrill was heard from upstairs.  

     Jacob and I ran out of the parlor towards Mod’s room.  Mod was shaking and weezing.  you’d expect to hear those sounds from a wounded cat.  A nurse ran in behind us.  She put a wet towel on Mod’s head.  I held my beloved’s hand as she shook.  It was more a tremble than a shake.  I screamed at the nurse to do something, knowing very well that there was nothing she could do.  I was hoping I could call fourth some mysterious power.  The nurse just slowly shook her head.  At this point my expectations dropped considerably.  I put my head down.  Jacob placed his hand on my shoulder, signaling it was time to leave.  We both trudged out of that room.  Jacob appeared to have a little more pep than I.  Who could blame him?  He wasn’t in the wretched process of loosing a soul mate.  We made our way back to the parlor.

     Me and Jacob sat in confusing silence for the next thirty seconds.  He took a sip of his coffee and I took a sip of mine.  I believe the confusion was really just two gentlemen not wanting to show how afraid we were.

“Ya know, Wichita has had ten deaths this week.  That city is in a state panic but no one is willing to act out.  Such is life; business as usual.  Even when we are getting killed by something we cant see.”

“My brother lives in Topeka.  He tells me that people are leaving for the country.  No one wants to take a chance in the city.  Some people have even lost babies.  Babies!”

“I try to help the citizens of this state but I’m afraid we don’t know what this is.  People thought they’d be safe in the towns but it caught up with them.  The people of Lindsborg panicked when the first death came.  They didn’t think it could reach them in a small town.  They thought they’d escaped.  The town has had fifteen casualties thus far.  Not much but it is a small town.  Many are planning to move again.  As if distance can save them from what we’re dealing with.  It doesn’t matter.  I’m sending troops to help with the problem.  We need those places quarantined.  I’d, even, be willing to shoot a few to save the many.”

“Hays is fairing better.  Higher population and the flu has only taken ten people.  Sad but I’m happy some people are finding refuge.”

“Doesn’t matter.  We still need to contain this anyway we can.”

“Treating a population like cattle is a sure way to become society villain.”

“We are doing what we can for the good of the population.  I don’t see any other way.”

“You could try looking at this plague as if its ravaging your family as apposed to faceless sheep!”

Just when I was about to interject, I heard another shrill from upstairs.  

     The shrill was weaker than the last.  Like someone waking from a nightmare.  The comforting coos of the nurse were what followed.  I squeezed my fists as tears forced their way out of me.  It never felt right to cry in front of another man so I choked the tears down and stared at my coffee.  Jacob stared at his shoes in despair as both him and I griped our emotions.  Jacob’s gaze slowely met mine.

“I, too, lost a loved one.  Ten years ago.  My sister was hit by a buggy.  Now, it didn’t kill her right away.  She lived for another day.  You wouldn’t call it “living”.  She was bed-ridden.  On her death bed, surrounded by family, she told me i was a son of bitch.”  Jacob and I shared a much needed laugh.  

“What does that make her?”

“The bitches daughter.”

We stopped laughing and had a moment of silence.  We thought about how this flu was affecting the country.

     “The flu finally reached Vermont.”

Jacob seemed perplexed.

“Where hasn’t the flu reached?”

“The flu has reached most of the country.  It just hasn’t been vast areas.  There have been cases in parts of Louisiana but not a lot.  It surly isn’t an epidemic and it would be laughable to call it an outbreak.  The farthest it has gone is Illinois.  It hasn’t been as tragic.  The top has been low.  Laughable really.”

“I heard Utah had, at least, one case.  Man was found sprawled in an alley in his own vomit.”

“There’s a nice mystery for the town.  Those are unusual symptoms.”

“I know.  They didn’t know it was the flu.  They thought the man was possessed.”

“Such a spectacle for a boring state such as Utah.”

“You should see how it affected Missouri!  The state was quit dull before the flu.  At least there’s something to talk about.  i really think we need a military intervention on those states before its to late.”

Jacob and I share another laugh.  The tension appeared to have eased.  Jacob pulled out a bottle.

“Care for some scotch?”

“A little early isn’t it?”

“Put some in your coffee.”

I hold out my cup for some of that delicious scotch.  The nurse walked in mid-pour.  

     The nurse shook her head slowly.  I nodded back at her.  I excused myself from the parlor and cried in the hallway.