My mom was doing much of the cooking now, since she was home most of the time. Sometimes I made dinner, but usually I just helped out. We always made up a serving for my father. We put his meal on a paper plate—with a second one covering it—and left it on the landing of the stairs. He used the microwave in the basement to heat it up.
“This looks, um, creative,” I said as I looked at the dish on the table.
“It’s my version of Mexican chicken delight. But I think I made it a little bit too spicy.”
“I’m just going to grab some water for us.” I got up and went to the fridge. I brought back a big pitcher and filled our glasses. “Did you do anything interesting today?”
“If you consider six hours of conference calls interesting, then I’m having a great time,” said Mom. “What about you? Did you do anything fun?”
“I went for a bike ride with Reese and Isaac to see Reese’s grandmother.”
“The one in the home?” my mother said.
“Yeah, but they wouldn’t let us in.”
“That’s not surprising. Your dad told me there’s going to be an announcement tomorrow morning about all long-term care residences going on lock-down. Guess they got a jump on it. The virus is especially dangerous for the elderly, and staff have to do everything they can to keep them safe.”
“Right,” I said. I tried not to think about Reese’s gran and how awful it would be if she got sick.
“The government is also going to require all nonessential services and businesses to close down temporarily,” Mom continued.
“Nonessential?” I repeated.
“Grocery stores, gas stations and pharmacies, as well as hospitals, obviously, are considered essential services. They will remain open. Everything else, like clothing stores, malls, barbershops, hair salons and gyms, will be closed as of the end of business day tomorrow.”
“Wow,” I said. “I didn’t think things would get this bad.”
“Yes. And now we all have to do what we can to ‘flatten the curve’—to slow down the spread.”
“This is really serious, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Yes, honey, it really is.”
I expected her to say more, but she didn’t.
“How many people have died?”
“There have been deaths around the world.”
“But here at dad’s hospital?”
“More than he expected. The steps I just mentioned are being taken to try to get in front of it. They’re doing all the right things.” She paused. “And there’s one other thing you should know about that will be announced tomorrow, Quinn. They’re going to delay the opening of schools for another two weeks.”
“Two more weeks!” I had been happy about the longer spring break at first. But I really missed my friends. I even missed being in class and doing assignments.
“Yes, but the email I got from your principal explained that your teachers have been working hard at setting up a system so that you can do your classes from home.”
So that’s what Reese was talking about. I was actually looking forward to hearing more about it. And it would be nice to be in class with my friends again, even if it was only on my computer.
“Let’s leave the rest of this talk for later,” said Mom. “Dig in! And tell me, do you think your dad will like my surprise Mexican chicken delight?”