Paintings and Haikus
My best friend and I have been in home isolation for the last 14 days, ever since we got the NEWS.
The news, in this case, was our COVID-19 status. Our test results had come back that day and, we were positive.
The news was delivered to us over the phone and that was a good thing. At least the caller didn’t get to see our facial expressions. We were shocked and had to sit down a while to digest the news. We had been cautious since the onset of the second COVID-19 wave.
We avoided crowded places, established our little ‘social bubble’, wore our masks, did bulk grocery shopping, spent most of our time indoors, hand sanitized frequently and most importantly, got our full vaccination. We thought we had a good plan. Alas, there was a glitch.
Whilst we sat in that moment of distress, we ruminated on how the virus infiltrated our household. It didn’t take us long to figure that out.
Our social safety bubble was compromised. One of our mutual friends had, during one of his work runs as a medical front liner, accidentally came into contact with a COVID-19 positive person.
He unknowingly transferred the virus to us, before he was tested positive. The day we got our results, our friend was taken to a quarantine facility in the west for isolation. We called him later that evening to check on him and share our news with him.
He was quite apologetic because he realised, he was the source of our infection. We told him not to worry because we had come to accept our predicament and the most important thing now, was recovery. We knew we would be stuck indoors for 14 days.
THE ‘WAITING PERIOD’
Alfred contacted the landlord and advised him of our situation. We also contacted a few people to give them the heads up. We knew we would need their help during the isolation, especially with the provision of food.
On the last week of the isolation, we revealed our status to our loved ones. We had agreed on Day One that I would do a chronicle of our COVID-19 experience.
By Day Three, I had lost interest. I must confess I had many things on my mind and so did Alfred. The first week of isolation was the hardest. We called it the ‘Waiting Period’. We heard from some people that around Day three to Day Five, the COVID-19 symptoms usually kicked in and intensified. So, we waited for this to happen.
I remember asking Alfred every morning how he felt, and I got the same answer every morning, “Nothing has happened, I’m fine”.
Come Day Six, we still remained asymptomatic. Nothing happened but we didn’t count our chickens yet. We still had a few more days to go.
The past five days were spent trying to do some official work, staring into space and sleeping. We tried watching movies, but our minds were preoccupied.
On Day Seven, Alfred said he had enough of waiting. I felt the same. We realised we had given a little too much power to the COVID-19 virus. It was frustrating us in the comfort of our own home. It seemed like we were always waiting for something bad and that was pathetic. This mentality had to be stopped.
So, Alfred walked into his room, pulled out his painting brushes and drawing boards and headed back to the sitting room. In matter-of-fact kind of voice, he said: “I’m going to do something I love and that’s painting.”
Then he painted away. I watched him paint awhile before I got my inspiration. I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to write my ‘Haikus’. Armed with my writing book and pencil, I found myself a
snug little nook in our home and wrote away.
FROM DAY EIGHT
Day Eight went by quickly. Day Nine the same. Day Ten was no different. Day Eleven had better food and we were still on our projects. Day Twelve, we were still asymptomatic, but we really didn’t care. We were engrossed in our creations.
Day Thirteen, I published a few of my Haikus on Facebook on a special page for Haiku writers. I got a few wonderful reviews.
Alfred by now was on his third painting. The other two that he did were amazing. I shared some photographs of them on Facebook. He received an offer for a commission. Things were going alright for the two of us.
Day Fourteen. The last day. No symptoms. We’ve been indoors for two whole weeks. And we were looking a little rotund. We were very happy. We had no serious medical drama. I had completed 45 Haikus and Alfred had completed five paintings.
We contacted the Ministry of Health’s COVID team, and they advised us to collect our ‘RELEASE LETTERS’ the next day from the nearest Health Centre.
We did. I share Alfred and I’s story because COVID-19 is in our communities now. We were fortunate that the virus didn’t do us harm and we attribute this to the fact that we are fully vaccinated. After fourteen days of isolation, we know the vaccine works.
Our story is one story. There are many COVID-19 stories out there and not all of them sound like ours. People have suffered greatly from this virus. Some have recovered and some have died.
COVID-19 is a societal threat, just like Climate Change. As the number of positive cases increases, the chances of your ‘safety bubble’ getting compromised, increases too. Therefore, you, me, Alfred and everyone, we have to work together.
That’s how we beat this virus. Stay safe!