Our President bungled
And fumbled
His response to the pandemic
Because his brain is so muddled
(16 words)
Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “muddle” in exactly 16 words.
Day: March 21, 2020
#writephoto — Alien Giants
“Do you remember this, Viggo?” Antonio asked, pointing to the upright rocks on the green plateau.
Antonio shrugged. “It looks familiar, Viggo, but it was so long ago, I can’t be sure.”
“Ah, Antonio, you old bastard, your brain is all muddled,” Viggo said. “Where else do the rocks stand at attention like that, my old friend? We used to ride our bikes along this path and play among the rocks.”
“Oh right,” Antonio said and smiled. “When we were boys we used to pretend that those large stones were alien invaders and you and I would save humanity by battling and defeating them. But that was back when the world was normal, before the virus took its toll on our country and the world.”
“Yes, you do remember,” Viggo said, his eyes glazing over as he recalled life as it used to be. “Maybe we were right, Antonio. Maybe those giant rocks are aliens and they unleashed an alien virus that wiped out half of humanity.”
Antonio shook his head. “Viggo, my mind may sometimes be muddled, but this horror didn’t come from outer space. We humans pillaged and poisoned our planet. We concocted this virus by using genetic modification to alter the molecular structures of natural elements until one such concoction turned around and attacked us and we had no defenses to combat it.”
“Are you saying, Antonio, that we did this to ourselves?” Viggo asked.
“Not intentionally, Viggo,” Antonio said. “But I think humanity’s cavalier attitude toward our planet and negligence to take action to preserve our air and water led to the need for the forces of nature to clean house, so to speak, sort of like the biblical Great Flood.”
“So this was God’s work?”
“God, Mother Nature, science, alien giants, or simple human stupidity,” Antonio said. “I don’t know. But I hope that those of us who somehow survived will learn from this.”
“Don’t count on it, old friend.”
Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt. Sue has asked us not use her challenge as a platform from which to share our partisan political opinions. I think my (hopefully) fictional tale transcends partisan politics.
SoCS — I Need Some Welcome News
I don’t know about you, but I’d welcome some welcome news. All I read, all I hear, and all I see is bad news. And just when I think it can’t get any worse, it does.
Last month my wife and I moved from San Francisco to a suburb about 35 miles east of the city so that we could be geographically closer to our son and his wife who are welcoming a baby boy into the world in late May. But we’ve only seen them once since we moved here. With this whole COVID-19 situation, we are having to resort to video chats to see them.
We have a lovely welcome mat, much like the one pictured at the top of this post, outside of our front door. But I’ll be damned if anyone is welcome to step into my house these days. I won’t even open my door for someone who knocks or rings the doorbell. It’s just too risky. So I talk to them through the door or use my video doorbell to tell them to go away.
I used to welcome going to the mailbox and retrieving the mail, but I just read an article with some very unwelcome news. The article stated that experts are saying coronavirus could be transferred through mail delivery by sick employees. Postal workers, the article continued, are complaining that the USPS isn’t doing much to keep them or their customers safe.
A number of mail carriers said they have been pressured to stay on their routes despite showing symptoms of COVID-19. Others said that they’ve been given little or no hand sanitizer even though they have limited opportunities to wash their hands on their routes.
Medical providers are running short of personal protective equipment (PPE), hospitals are running short of respirators, and many experts are predicting that the demand for acute care hospital beds will far exceed the supply. The death toll due to this virus is increasing exponentially in many cities and states and the response from Donald Trump and the federal government has been woefully inadequate.
And I still haven’t found any goddam toilet paper in any of the local grocery stores or pharmacies. I did see this little quip that I thought was kind of funny, but in an unwelcome way.
I need some welcome news. Do any of you have any welcome news you can share with me? Please!
Written for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. Linda has asked us to use the word “welcome” any way we’d like. I’m sorry to have used the word in a way I don’t particularly like and in a very unwelcome way.
FOWC with Fandango — Pass
Welcome to March 21, 2020 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).
Today’s word is “pass.”
Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.
Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.
The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.
- And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.
This, That, and the Other 