This Time of Year in 2020: The Plague! The Plague!

 

3/12/2020: So did all the usual things today (all my prayers in the morning), as well as a trip to FD at 9:30 AM … Watched the first episodes of DS9 on Netflix, and in the evening wrote four pages of K[ing] K[orm] in script form, which broke my blockage. A warm, sunny day, with oak leaves pattering down all the time. Now at 9:30 PM, when everything is settled for the night, Vader is barking, just to mess things up. Or is something going on? [No, it wasn’t.]

 

3/13/2020: Friday the 13^th. Decided NOT to ride the bus to HEB today. Instead, after morning prayers went to Dollar General … Left at 8 AM and back at 9 AM … THIS IS A RARE SITUATION, only possible because of my $20 writing payment from John and the $20 Susan gave me for emergencies. And since the week is just about up and supplies are low, I feel justified in a bit of indulgence. I certainly paid for it with weary legs, which are already smarting from the extra miles the dogs and the leaves and the pool are putting on. Got almost 2 pages script written this morning, introducing 'the Watchman.'

Breakfast at 11 AM (but what?), then at 2 PM lunch (ramen), then at 6:30 PM fish sticks (it is Friday). Listening to LTW ("Like Trees Walking," a podcast) much of the time today. Sheesh. I swept all the porches and ‘dusted’ the leaves off Susan’s vehicles, and 2 hours later they were covered again. E-mailed John:

Yesterday I managed four pages and today (so far) almost two, so my block is at least broken. I did it by using the old trick of scripting, where I set the scenes, then focus on the characters and what they are doing, reveal by dialogue, give stage descriptions of tone and emotion. This shows me all the notes that have to be struck, which can later be elaborated (but not too much) into prose. It kind of cuts the Gordian Knot of "How do I tell this?" by simply showing. And it's fun. 

Still, what I have done has not reached the end of the scene yet; when it does, I shall probably send it on to you and then begin the next scene (probably writing again in prose, but who can say for sure), even before I work this scene into prose.

I'm still not sure if the Shanafelt's are going to take that one more day before the parks shut down or just head home. I wonder if they'd call ahead to tell me. … It's sort of a dubious question, isn't it? On the one hand they're already there, on the other it might be better if they left now. And one has to wonder about Yen's livelihood and his situation.

I've been kind of poking my own lungs and wondering. I did NOT go anywhere by mass transit today. And I may not go to church on Sunday which, believe it or nay, I really enjoy. But it may be my duty.

About 5 minutes after I sent that I saw an announcement that Amy has passed along on FB that gathering at church was suspended with a dispensation from the Bishop.

I think you might be confusing the meanings of two different words, “dispense” and “dispensation”. One means to manage without or get rid of. “Dispensation” means exemption from a rule or usual requirement; or permission to be exempted from the laws or observances of the Church. In this case it is the promise to gather and “do this in remembrance of Me, until I come again.” This has been suspended for a short period in time, in charity and reason, and Catholics are being dispensed (another meaning of the word!) forgiveness for being temporarily unable to fulfill this promise.

 

3/14/2020: Up at 6 AM, did all my prayers and Bible, including Novena and Rosary. Went through the day as usual; temperatures in the high 60’s. … Sent off KK 'Mog' section to John at 1 PM, but here it is 9:30 PM and I hain’t heard a word out o’ him. Well, it is Saturday, and Joseph Loth’s birthday to boot. When will the Shanafelts reappear? I know not for sure but guess in the middle of the night. Did enjoy the writing I got done. My right leg feels pretty bad. And that’s all I got to say about today in this Journal of the Plague Year.

And they just rolled in at 9:35 PM, not 5 minutes after I wrote that and was ready to lay down!

 

3/15/2020: The Ides of March. Up about 6 AM, and at 7 AM started watching the Mass on EWTN. Andy came over and we talked a little about what we might need for groceries during ‘the shutdown weeks’ (yes, there’s kind of a social shutdown going on to slow the coronavirus now). Prayers and Bible … Kind of cool with a little rain once, but not much. … Started watching “Monsignor Quixote” on YouTube: it's available to me at last after about 30 years.

 

3/16/2020: Up at about 4:30 AM. Prayers, Bible. … Wrote a quick poem ‘Back in Ortha’ by 7 AM. Kenny called me early discussing the possibility of reading AGODP aloud on FB Live … Much of the evening spent listening to Kenny read “The Monk” by Matthew Lewis. Rosary.

 

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So. The early phases of Covid-19, with 'two weeks to slow the spread.' It is disconcerting to see that it's already been four years since I quit writing on the Bob sequel; I never did get back to it. Shall I ever, I wonder? Susan and Andy had gone to Disney, and I was taking care of Kameron and the house, which is always kind of a fraught time for me.