The Pandemic Diaries [Books 1-3]
Page 3
To try to keep tensions among the family to a minimum, I kept the television – and most importantly, the news – off, and put the radio on instead. I tuned it to the smooth jazz channel in an effort to create a mellow mood. It seemed to work, although I don’t think the kids appreciated my efforts as much as Kate did.
3:15 p.m.
I had to sneak out of the bedroom to come write. Everyone is napping in our bed. We had a family backrub that seemed to put the rest of the group down for the count.
Never heard of a family backrub? Well, here’s how it works…in our family at least.
Everyone starts on dear old Dad. Kate works on my neck and head (my favorite areas) while the kids chop, pound, kick, scratch, rub, and even walk on my back. Once they’re finished with the old man, we form the family backrub chain. I massage Kate, Kate massages Dylan, and Dylan massages Violet. It actually works out pretty well, and by the time we’re all done, the rest of the family is typically so relaxed that they’re close to a massage coma and ready for a little shuteye. I on the other hand, well, I’m typically left wide awake and looking for something to do. Thankfully, I now have this journal that gives me an outlet even when everyone else is happily in the land of nod.
I don’t think this flu thing would scare me so much if it weren’t for the kids. If it was just me and Kate against the world like it used to be, this would just be another hurdle we’d have to clear. Back then, when we were just starting out, we had the ability to pull up roots quickly and relatively easily and do what we had to do to get by. But with the kids, it’s not so cut-and-dry anymore. We’re attached to this area. There’s Dylan’s school, his friends, his activities, and of course, my work. When I was in my early 20s, and still churning through jobs trying to find a role I could settle into, quitting one job and finding another wasn’t a big deal. We didn’t have many bills, we didn’t have extra mouths to feed, and I didn’t have to worry about finding a place with good schools and a safe neighborhood. Now it’s all so much more complicated. And frankly, back then, if I died (which seemed impossible), so be it. I mean, it’d suck for Kate, but she could fend for herself. Now however, with kids who are dependant upon us, such thoughts about uprooting (or dying) are much more frightening, especially in an environment where it seems the world is severely out of whack.
This whole flu thing was kind of interesting at first. It’s certainly not feeling that way now.
6:26 p.m.
Tonight on the news, they were telling people to stock up on bread, milk, bottled water, batteries…emergency supply type stuff. By the way things looked last night at Devries’, it’s a little too late for that now. I think that most stores are already out of a lot of those things, and the stores that aren’t are closed either because they don’t have the employees to staff them or they’re afraid of people doing damage to their stores.
There were lots of scenes – both from around Chicago and in other major cities – of people looting the leftovers. This is especially prevalent in Chicago’s south and near-west sides. There was even helicopter footage of several building fires that had been set and reports of widespread car-jackings and shootings all across the city. And of course there was the standard looped footage of people running out of broken store windows carrying flat-screen televisions, cell phones, laptops, small appliances, and other electronics – you know, all the necessities for surviving the apocalypse. People are so stupid. It’s amazing we haven’t met with some other major catastrophe much sooner. Then again, I guess we have if you look back through history at things like the Plague, Spanish Influenza, and Ebola. It’s just been so long since such diseases have touched us here in the US that we’ve forgotten how dangerous they can be and have grown complacent.
Looks like a lot of people are trying to get the hell out of Dodge in the Chicagoland area…unsuccessfully I might add. There are scenes of streets that are jammed because a lot of the traffic lights are out, and the highways are a mess, packed with cars that have overheated or out of gas and have been abandoned. Makes me glad we didn’t try to leave. I think it’s better to just sit tight and try to ride this thing out. In all reality, I don’t think we have much of a choice at this point.
The experts say that this flu strain is starting to spread like wildfire in just about every developed country. The only place I’ve heard where they’re doing okay for the moment is down in Australia. They stopped air travel into the country yesterday, but on tonight’s news they said that they’ve just had their first reported case. I guess stopping travelers was a measure that apparently came too late. If there’s a first case, with the way this flu spreads, there’s bound to be more.
I’m not really sure where all this is going. It seems like the numbers of sick and dying are growing exponentially each day. And with no cure or treatment, it’s looking like things (no matter how they play out) are going to be pretty bad. They’re saying that the death toll is already well into the thousands here in the US, and many hospitals are shutting down due to lack of staff. I don’t blame them. A lot of their employees are either sick or are too afraid to go to work.
On television, the business channel was talking about the economic impact of the flu potentially running into the hundreds of billions of dollars in the US alone – worldwide it could reach into the trillions if things don’t get better soon. The stock market is swooning and circuit breakers have halted trading today after a nearly 20 percent plunge in just a couple hours. I really don’t care. I’m mostly just concerned about my job (from which there’s still been no word on when we’re re-opening) and my family. I mean sure, I care about my 401k, but it’s not like I’m getting ready to retire anytime soon. If nothing else, this could be a great buying opportunity once things shake themselves out.
Still no word from the CDC on a treatment for the virus other than they’re still working on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’d better move their asses or there won’t be anyone left to treat.
P.S. – No mail today. Don’t know if we just didn’t get anything or if this is a precursor of things to come – “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…” but Su flu, well, maybe that will keep those couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
Friday, September 6 th
7:42 a.m.
I heard gunshots last night. At least I THINK it was gunshots, although I’m not entirely positive. I guess I can’t say with 100 percent certainty since I’m not used to hearing such things in my daily life. It was just after 1 a.m. At first I thought it was a car backfiring. But then I heard more, and then several in quick succession. By the time I got Kate to wake up, it was all over. When I asked them this morning, the kids said they didn’t hear anything, but they sleep like logs anyway. Just as well. I don’t want to worry Kate, and I definitely don’t want to scare the kids.
I couldn’t tell exactly where the shots/sounds were coming from. It seemed like they were to the east of us. There’s kind of a sketchy part of town about six blocks from us, down where the freight trains run. Six blocks doesn’t sound far, but it’s far enough to be on the other side of the tracks. There are always people sitting in lawn chairs on their front porches or hanging out on the street corners with apparently nothing better to do. A lot of them look like young street punks and thugs. It wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of them got together and decided to rob some of the houses up our way, especially if the occupants aren’t around. I’m sure that the massive Victorian homes around our neighborhood look pretty enticing to people who are down and out. Heck, they look pretty enticing to ME! They’re beautiful edifices, and a lot of them are filled with loads of lovely antiques and collectibles. If the doggone property taxes weren’t so damn high here, I’d like to buy one for our own family. But that’s living in Cook County. They’ll tax the crap out of you and then ask for more. Wonder how much they’ll have to raise taxes to make up for all the dead taxpayers and economic loss due to the flu? One day people are just going to give up and abandon this pl
ace. The city bureaucrats can only ask so much of us as they piss our hard-earned money away. But I guess that’s small potatoes in the scheme of things as they sit right now.
Anyway, the strange – or maybe “worrisome” is the better word – thing about it all is that I never heard any sirens responding to the gunfire. And living just three blocks from our local police and fire stations (which used to wake us almost nightly when they responded to a variety of calls), I’m sure I would have heard them. So maybe it WAS just a car backfiring. Sure didn’t sound like it though.
5:15 p.m.
We got a sort of a wakeup call tonight (as if we needed it after all the news coverage that’s been on). Posted on the various foyer entry doors of our condo building were notices from our local police department. They were requests for residents to stay indoors as well as notification that a village-wide curfew starting at 10 p.m. tonight will be in place until further notice.
Oh yeah, there was also a letter from the US Postal Service above our mailboxes. Mail delivery has been suspended until further notice. Guess I won’t have to worry about that big credit card bill from all my recent shopping arriving anytime soon. Will the utility and credit card companies charge us late fees if we don’t pay on time? It’s not our fault since we’re not getting mail. But I guess we could make our payments electronically. I don’t really like doing that though since I have to give them all our banking information; plus, they charge us a “convenience” fee to do it. How convenient! It’s not much, only a couple bucks, but it’s more about the principal of the thing. They badger the crap out of us to “go paperless” so that they can save on postage and paying envelope stuffers, then WE get charged a convenience fee for such transactions. Just don’t care for it, but now I’m kind of kicking myself for not doing it. Never saw something like the Su flu coming. I’ll bet they don’t charge people late fees. Customers would be in an uproar (those of them who are left after all this is said and done). I guess that right now, such minor inconveniences should be at the bottom of my list of concerns.
10:46 p.m.
I’m not sure what’s going on outside. It must be something big. I heard sirens about 15 minutes ago, and I can see red and blue lights reflected out on Main Street. I like being up on the third floor of our condo building at times like this. Makes me feel safer. Plus, it gives me a good vantage point to see what’s going on out on the streets. At least two cop cars are blocking the main intersection near the village hall, but I can’t see what’s causing all the commotion. Maybe it’s just local law enforcement out ensuring that people are abiding by the curfew. Dylan’s up with me trying to see too. He wants to go outside and look since it’s only a block away. He doesn’t get the whole curfew thing. I don’t really feel like getting hauled in to jail tonight, so I guess we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow and see if there’s anything about it on the local news. I doubt there will be. There are so many other big stories taking up local news coverage time that I’m sure whatever is happening in our tiny suburb won’t be of enough significance to break into the crazy coverage from downtown, the south side, and other big cities around the country. Still, my curiosity is getting the better of me.
11:13 p.m.
Jesus, what’s happening?
I did something completely stupid. After Dylan gave up and finally went to bed. I snuck down the back stairs and across the alley to see if I could get a peek at what was going on outside.
I kept my distance and tried to stay in the shadows. I used a short cut-through between several of the buildings across the alley from us to get a glimpse of all the cop cars. There were at least six local patrol units plus a paddy-wagon from the Chicago Police Department. They were using fire trucks to form roadblocks at the intersections leading into our downtown. The entire main thoroughfare was blocked off from the train tracks all the way down to the library. The authorities appeared to be stopping all traffic from entering or even passing through the business district. Traffic coming in from other suburbs had to turn around and go back the way they came, and anyone on foot was being arrested and put in the paddy-wagon. The police officers were all wearing hazmat-type suits with protective hoods, and they were taking the temperatures of each person they stopped before putting them in the wagon. The people they were rounding up looked mostly like teenagers. They’ve probably got nothing else to do with school having been cancelled.
I don’t feel good even just writing this for fear that it could get me into trouble down the road, but I actually saw them KILL a guy! Well, maybe he’s not dead, but they sure as hell shot him. They had pulled him aside with a couple other dudes who they had already put in the paddy wagon ahead of him. They took this guy’s temperature as they prepared to load him inside, just like they did his buddies. It looked like they were telling him something after they took his temperature and he started to panic. The conversation got heated, and he made a break for it, tearing away from the cops and starting to run down the street. Before he got more than ten yards, an officer shot him several times in the back. He fell right there on the street. I’m pretty sure he was dead. He wasn’t moving at least.
That was enough for me. I turned around right and hustled home after that. I’m just glad we loaded up on food when we did. There’s no way I’m chancing going back outside after seeing what I saw tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to take inventory of what food we have on hand as well as other supplies. I don’t know how long this situation is going to last, and if we have to start rationing things, I want to get a jump on it. I’m amazed at how much food a family of four can go through. It makes you appreciate just how easy it is to get food at the store…or at least how easy it WAS…at least until now.
Saturday, September 7 th
7:57 a.m.
Well, it’s official. The governor of Illinois has declared a state of emergency and enacted a state-wide curfew starting each evening at 7 p.m. and continuing until 7 a.m. the next morning until further notice, not that any person in their right mind wants to be out of their home right now anyway. It’s only those looking to loot, steal, or otherwise conduct the evil debauchery that the Su flu has apparently opened the door to that seem to be venturing out into the open. Honestly, I’m amazed it took the governor this long to call out the National Guard. I’m not sure how much good they’re going to do. I think it’s a little too late. Frankly, if I was in the National Guard, I’d certainly be having second thoughts about heading to the local armory or wherever they go to meet up. Heck, most of them probably can’t even GET to wherever they’re supposed to be the way the traffic lights are out and the roads are jammed with abandoned vehicles. Add to that, most public transportation isn’t operating, and it’s a real cluster.
Okay, enough writing for now. I’m off to do inventory. It’s going to be a family affair. I want everyone to see what we have and know that this is it for the time being. They need to understand that we have no idea how long this thing is going to last, and what food we have needs to last us until things get back to normal.
8:11 a.m.
I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use my new journal to record this morning’s inventory report. I’ll start with what’s in our cabinets and then move on to what’s in the fridge. Here goes:
FOOD
(3) Boxes Ramen noodles (12 individual servings per box)
(4) Bags assorted chips/pretzels (some already open)
(5) Boxes assorted cereal (two already open)
(22) Cans assorted vegetables (corn, peas, green beans, carrots, refried beans, stewed tomatoes)
(3) Cans black olives
(3) Jars green olives
(2) Jars jam
(2) Cans corned beef hash
(2) Cans corned beef
(6) Assorted salad dressings/BBQ sauce
(2) Boxes crackers
(5) Jars pasta sauce/Alfredo sauce
(5) Boxes pasta (1 lb. each)
(2) Boxes shells and cheese
(3) Boxes mac n’ cheese
(5) Assorted variety pasta sides
(4) Cans baked beans/black beans
(5) Cans mandarin oranges (Violet’s favorite)
(5) Cans peaches and fruit cocktail
(3) 16 oz. jars peanut butter (one open, half full)
5-lb bag white rice
(1) Box microwave popcorn bags (6 bags)
(1) Box 10 granola bars
(1) Container chocolate chip cookies
(1) Box fruit chews
(1) 32 oz. container oatmeal (almost full)
(1) 18 oz. container grits
5-lb. bag potatoes
(6) Bananas
Assorted powdered milk, condensed milk, salt, pepper, spices, seasonings, bacon bits, biscuit mix, pancake mix, Italian seasoned bread crumbs, honey, ketchup, mustard, whipped salad dressing, olive oil, vegetable oil.
LIQUIDS
(4) 24-packs of 16.9 oz. bottled waters
(2) Gallons distilled water
(3) Bottles 64 oz. fruit juice
(1) Box juice boxes (10 in total)
(½) Case light beer
(3) Bottles wine (2 red/1 white)
(1) Pint bottle whiskey
(½) Bottle vodka
(½) Bottle gin
(1) 12-pack soda
IN FRIDGE/FREEZER
(2) Gallons milk
(21) Eggs
(1 ¾) Lbs Butter
(2) Loafs white bread
(1) 3 lb. pork roast
(4) Lbs. ground beef
(1) 3 lb. beef roast
(2) Lbs. boneless chicken breasts
(6) Pre-formed hamburgers
(2) 16 oz. packages of frozen mixed vegetables