Drama

drama

the days of plague:

Soundscape

Low hum of silent streets. Sirens approach before then becoming distant

As they chuck their limp bodies onto blank cold slabs the sun shines on merry bees dodging from blossom to blossom. They appear oblivious to official announcements - the collective of human disarray. Pollen is gathered as bees do and off they fly to their blue cloudlessness. A hive and mates await. They, however, are offered no such joy. The incarcerated and self-isolated may open windows. After all, it is spring and there is a freshness only spring can offer. Masks, of which there are none, could protect the health worker. A delivery is imminent said someone very high up. It wasn t God. And soon they too shall be incarcerated and more limp bodies counted.

I m glad it s all under control.

Idiots and such decanting of logic would make sense were it one of those delightful farces of Wycherley, Vanbrugh or Sheridan. Mrs Malaprop their Virus Tsar.

Queues form. Bumper to bumper fumes and temperature rise. School s out and Holiday commences. Throw down a tartan rug in a park. A picnic seems such a good idea. I ve made a salad a man cheerily announces. It is spring, after all, and there s no work tomorrow. Nor life for others less fortunate. Beaches too provide a magnet. The afternoon is blissful so let the children run and shriek. They know no better.

1

This year the vacation has come early.

An heir gets a test and the PM is in good shape. Coffins remain under construction. A JCB attends to their future home.

The sun, the sky and nature still play tricks. Oh, such fun. Was this payback time? Bees appear content and birds decide to build for the future. There was a time when they did too. From wooden gutters Magpies noisily message to one another and, within earshot, on an embankment still heavy from flood a heron finds solace. Clustered Daffodils would frequently bring grins to tired faces and inquisitive children, yet today silence.

A woman coughs at a policeman.

Another woman from another town decides to purchase a kilo and a half of garlic. A learned gentleman, one with a website and impressive credentials, advises that to do so would immunise her system, protecting the body from any imminent attack. The Lady Takes The Advice and is now on a trolley in a corridor on a drip. Her breath was unpleasant but she feared no threat from vampires. As for a Silver Bullet? A world waits.

end