Here is a short Covid Story in which you might enjoy the ending. I did not break it into parts and it is 2500 words, so it will a quick read non-the-less.
After three months of singular confinement, a very lonely Max awakened from another dreamless night. The sun was peeking through the curtains, predicting another hot August day in Santa Fe. He yawned and stretched his limbs. His right hand came to rest on the warm, soft, smooth flesh of another body.
*******
It was the third year of the Covid – 19 pandemic. Medical science had been working overtime to find a solution to the ongoing pandemic. Most new vaccines proved to be ineffective. Most countries had the virus under control by strict directives to wear masks, practice social distancing, keep to small gatherings and, when needed, complete lockdowns. It was a delicate juggling act of keeping down cases and maintaining economies.
However, since the debacle of the 2020 election in the U. S., the re-elected Administration had continued its refusal to issue any directives for taking necessary precautions, as if things were completely pre-pandemic normal. If you were unlucky enough to get the disease, then, it was just too bad. Even if you did recover, you would still not be immune. The other option, of course, was dying.
The economy was suffering. The Federal Government had no more borrowing capacity to meet its obligations. There was no more aid to the unemployed. Insurance companies had discontinued all health care coverage. Overloaded hospitals were going broke. Many parts of the country, especially large eastern cities, were in chaos.
Some state governments were doing their best, but safety measures were not taken seriously by a certain portion of the populace that thought their own freedoms trumped social responsibility, that the seriousness of the virus was a hoax and it would someday simply disappear.
Ever increasing case loads were causing hospitals to set up satellites in high schools or colleges, anywhere with large usable space. Health care workers were at a premium with many either having gotten the disease, or had died. Proper safety equipment was almost nonexistent. There was also the attrition of many health care personnel who were burned out and had quit.
The death toll in the U.S. was now almost two million. All foreign borders, including Mexico and Canada, had been closed to U.S. citizens
*******
New Mexico, where Max lived, had another sudden rise in cases three months ago and a complete lockdown had been quickly issued by the governor. Thus, he was confined to his one bedroom adobe in old town, only able to go out a certain time once a week to shop for groceries and other necessities. He was also allowed time once a day for being outdoors for exercise, sun, and fresh air.
Fortunately he was still employed as a software developer and was able to work from home. He had not been out socially or on a date for a long time. For a thirty year old guy, things were tough.
Craving any sort of female social interaction, he had put his profile on a dating app, and had several responses. One in particular stood out, Heidi Carlson, a massage therapist from Taos. Max found her attractive with curly red hair and freckles that he loved. She was smart, interesting, and fun to talk with. All that and a beautiful smile which lit up her big green eyes.
She found Max, with his deep brown eyes and poorly self-trimmed shock of wavy brown hair, dreamy, as she told her best friend, Suzanne.
Max and Heidi now spent hours together on Zoom, talking and getting to know each other. Although, they had never physically met, they were beginning to fall in love. As time went on, their conversations started to become more and more intimate. They talked of how much they longed for each other, would like to share a night together, the possibilities of what might happen. It was driving them both crazy with desire. They were both frustrated with not knowing if and when that might ever happen, given the present state of the world.
One night, Max, in a particularly romantic mood, said, “I just want to jump into my computer and have Zoom transfer me into your bed so we could make love. I want you so much.”
“That’d be wonderful,” replied Heidi, “we could Zoom back and forth every night and spend all our nights being together. Maybe if we wish really, really hard?” she said with a giggle. “I bet I can wish harder.”
“Okay, bet’s on. Let’s wish really hard,” both laughing at the idea.
But never-the-less, they did wish, wished with all their hearts.
******
The warm flesh stirred and a soft purr came from a pile of curly red hair with a long slender neck on the pillow next to him. The head of red hair rolled towards him opening, eyes beginning to focus, “What the hell? Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my bed?”
Max’s eyes widened, “Your bed? This is my bed. Who’re you?” Then he saw, “Heidi? What? What are you doing here?”
She stared at him, “Max?” Then she looked around. “Where am I? How’d I get here? What’s going on?”
“How DID you get here? In my bed?”
“I don’t know. I went to bed last night right after we were on line.” She looked over and saw his open laptop. “I really, really wished I could be here with you, but … no, no, not possible. Ridiculous.”
“What’s ridiculous?”
“That I came through your open laptop,” she started to laugh.
He looked at the open laptop, “Oh, I don’t think I ever disconnected from the Zoom link. No matter. Come here.” She slid across the bed into his embrace.
After an hour of insatiable love making, they finally came up for air. Heidi excused herself to go to the bathroom. Max went to the kitchen to put on some coffee and get them some toast and juice. On his way out, he closed his open laptop sitting on the desk by the kiva fireplace in his bedroom. When he returned he called out to her and got no response. He went to the bathroom door and knocked, “Are you okay in there?” No answer. He peeked in, the room was empty. He knew she had been there. Her nightgown still lay in a heap on the floor where it was tossed, but she was nowhere to be found.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling vertiginous and nauseous, his head spinning, nothing making sense, like the world had become some sort of time warp or open to some unknown portal through which she had traveled. She had disappeared, but she had been there. They had physically made love. He could still feel her, smell her, hear her. He tried to focus, but his vision was blurred, and he became aware of the pressure in his brain and his rapid heart rate. He took some deep breaths and got himself calmed down.
He got his phone and called her. She answered in an instant, “Max! What’s going on? I thought I had this erotic dream. I dreamt I was with you and we made love. It was so real. Then I realized it was real, I was naked and didn’t have my nightgown. And then, well then my body confirmed what happened was real. It wasn’t a dream. What the hell’s happening?”
“I don’t know, but your nightgown is right here. You were here. I know you were. God, Heidi, I went to the kitchen to make us some toast when you went into the bathroom. I came back and you’d disappeared.”
Then he glanced at his closed laptop and a thought crossed his mind, “Did you have your laptop in your bedroom last night? Did you close it?”
She hesitated a minute, “No, I just closed it now. Come to think of it, I don’t think I disconnected from the Zoom link either.”
They both went quiet for a long minute. Then simultaneously said, “No. That can’t be possible.”
Heidi said, “Open your laptop and I’ll open mine. Then let’s wish to be together really hard again and see what happens.”
“You’re kidding me. I know you somehow sneaked over here and then snuck out. Why?”
“Like yeah, right, I came all the way down from Taos in my nightgown and went home naked. I don’t think so. My car was repossessed a month ago so maybe I stole a car, or maybe a bike, and rode those seventy miles to your place and back. Really?! Come on. Let’s at least give it a try.”
“Okay, okay. Zoom is a neat program, but I don’t think it has the capacity to transport bodies like in Star Trek, like ‘Beam me over to Max’s house, Zoom.”
“Then you just fucking explain it, smart ass.”
“I’m sorry I was sarcastic. I can’t explain it.”
“Then humor me. Let’s try my suggestion. What can go wrong? So it doesn’t work. You said you meditate. Then let’s meditate together with focus on this. Okay? Let’s at least try.”
“Okay, but let me get dressed first. I don’t want to travel through some weird continuum in my skivvies. Give me a moment.”
“Good idea, I better get dressed too.”
Five minutes later, each sat in front of their respective laptops. Max had sent her a link. They were connected. They both closed their eyes and began to meditate. Time passed. Max was in a state between awake and dozing. He opened his eyes and saw he was sitting next to Heidi who was still quietly meditating.
Holy crap. This seriously cannot be happening, he thought.
He could barely whisper, “Heidi? Heidi. I think I’m here at your place this time.”
She blinked awake, “Oh my god! It worked! It really worked!” She got up and gave him a big hug. “It has to be something to do with the theory of Quantum Mechanics.”
“Mechanics? What are you talking about? Mechanics? Like with cars?”
“No, silly, physics, particle physics, about how we observe the subatomic world which can be particles or light depending on the observer, how particles can be known to react across space and time. Basically it comes down to the fact that everything, us included, is made up of atoms which are made up of subatomic particles. We are all simply energy. What we observe as being solid, like what we are led to believe, is really all light waves or particles. So, theoretically, there’s no reason our bodies, made up of light energy, couldn’t simply transfer across time or space, or maybe the internet, as energy. It’s all very hard to explain and I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of it.”
Max just stared at her for a long time while she was searching for more and a better explanation. He said, “What the hell are you talking about? How do you know this shit?”
“I’m sorry, I’m embarrassed I never told you. I was working on my PhD in Physics up until two years ago.”
“But you said you were a massage therapist.”
“I know, I know. I went to massage school right out of high school, then put myself through college. Okay, I’m smart, really smart. I graduated college in three years then began graduate studies. I was working on my PhD dissertation when I crashed, both mentally and emotionally. I needed a break, so I quit and moved to Taos and set up my massage practice which is now closed because of the pandemic. I’m flat broke and living in this old motel room by the week and about to be evicted.”
Max looked around, stunned at the shabby room she was living in.
“Okay, if what you say is true, and I have no idea what you’re talking about, there’s no reason you couldn’t come to my place and live with me. I have enough income for both of us. Pack what you need and I’ll hang on to it when you close your computer and maybe, if all this works like you think, I’ll end up back at my place with your stuff. Then we can do this again with you coming to my place. Put your computer on your lap and maybe everything will transmit. What do you think?”
She thought for a moment, “It’s worth a try. So far, this has worked. Let’s.”
She retrieved a tattered suitcase and threw her few belongings in. “This is all I have now after selling what I could to pay rent and buy food.”
He sat and put the suitcase on his lap. She closed the laptop and, right before her eyes, he seemed to fade into a gaseous state of light and then … he was gone.
Fucking amazing. It’s all true, she thought. Schrödinger was right.
A half an hour later, she appeared in Max’s living room holding tightly to her laptop.
She said, “Now let’s carefully close the link absolutely simultaneously. Let’s not take any chances.”
The link was broken. They jumped into each other’s arms and hugged for a long time. He noticed she was crying, “Are you okay?”
“More than okay. These are tears of pure joy. Kiss me.”
******
A year later, the epidemic was beginning to be under control with people realizing at long last that protective measures truly did work. Most everyone had now become more socially responsible. A new vaccine had been developed and was, at last, proving to be effective.
Heidi and Max were happily settled into a life together in their apartment close to Stanford University where Heidi had resumed her doctoral pursuit.
Max was still working remotely with software development. He had Zoom meetings at least twice a week, making doubly sure to cut the link after any such meeting. Couldn’t be too safe.
Heidi was following up their experience with new research and dissertation, entitled, “Transference of Matter Through Time, Space, and the Internet”. She was basing it on the fact that she, Max, and her possessions had traveled through time and space and had replicated it four times. Scientists at CERN in Switzerland had heard of her research and were greatly interested with her discovery and all the possibilities her research might bring. They had invited her to come and discuss her findings along with wanting her to participate in the next experiment with the Hadron Collider in two months. She jokingly considered which mode of travel she would use, air travel or with a Zoom meeting.
Like this:
Like Loading...
