ROLE REVERSAL

Every day my husband Facetimes with his 92 year-old father, who is alone in an apartment in New York City. My father-in-law grew up in the ghetto of Brooklyn during the Great Depression. He shared a bedroom with his grandmother. And he scraped, hustled and worked his way out of hunger and poverty.

I hear my husband tell his father not to go to the grocery store, not to let anyone into the apartment, not to touch the buttons in the elevator, to wear a mask, to stay inside.

Every day I hear my father-in-law say to his son, “I can’t do this anymore.” And every day I hear my husband say, “Yes you can, Dad. You can do this. I know you can.”

MAGIC 8 BALL

My smartphone is a Magic 8 Ball. It knows the answers to everything, especially now, with so much uncertainty. I just need to ask.

I shake and shake my Magic 8 Ball until the right answer appears. Don’t count on it. Shake again. My reply is no. Shake again. My sources say no. Shake again. Outlook not good. Shake again. Very doubtful. Shake again. Reply hazy. Shake again.

Then, behold – the right answer appears. Finally. It is certain. And curiously, mysteriously, I shake again. I want more right answers. It is decidedly so. Yes. Shake again.You may rely on it. Shake again. More. I need more right answers. I shake again. Until, heartbreakingly, inevitably, wrong answers return. Very doubtful. Shake again. Shake again. Shake again. Ask again later. No, not later. I shake again now.

LIKE WILDFIRE

Some things just catch on. They burn through grassy dales with a speed that is imperceptibly fast. Before we know it, the landscape has been altered. It is like this with gossip, with technology, with this virus.

We must now look at the smoldering meadows and hope for the propagation of seeds.