Closing

FOR MORE THAN HALF A MILLION AMERICANS to have died from Covid19 is shocking. Equally shocking is the apparent rapidity with which the next hundred thousand are dying, despite the apparent end of the pandemic looming. And yet, dirt dumb red republican states are relaxing mask mandates and social distancing protocols, as if to give the virus one final chance to do damage before departing. In defiance of common sense and good government, in defense of imaginary liberty, in deference to the almighty dollar and defiance of science, conservative America is ensuring us of still more disease and death. I have generally enjoyed my year of voluntary isolation, retired, reading, writing, working out, but now find myself caught in the middle, so to speak. An attractive lady friend invited me to breakfast on march 14, the birthday of my hero, Albert Einstein, coincidentally. I've known her a long time, haven't seen her in a while, and this seems like a great opportunity to get out under pleasant circumstances. The fact that neither of uf has ever married attests, my mother would assert, to our intelligence. When she invited me out, I jumped at the chanced, excited, but since have begun to have grave (no pun intended) misgivings. going out in public without wearing a mask can still be deadly, particularly in a restaurant where the demands of the profit motive place people too close together for pandemic comfort.Each day I sit by the phone, waiting for the wonderful call from the pharmacy which tells me that it is my turn to be vaccinated. But until that call comes, shouldn't I stay home? I'm nearly sixty six, isn't it about my turn? I don't even know whether she's been vaccinated; she's a teacher, so perhaps so. Still, I'd hate to lose my life, what's left of it, or become deathly ill over an optional breakfast. My plan is to suggest to her that we wait until late April, and use breakfast to celebrate my birthday, rather than Einstein's. either that, or suggest that she and I have breakfast alone, at her house or mine, perhaps at the end of a date, rather than the beginning, a suggestion which seems likely to go over like a proverbial lead balloon, considering that she has for nearly forty years shown an evident propensity for being nervous about being with me alone, out of the public eye. well, we'll have to wait. I live in one of those dirt dumb republican red states, and that makes life more dangerous. I hate to delay a hot date, but its better than inviting suffering or death.