If you are looking for a quick stroke, this is probably not the right story for you.
This tale begins in the middle of March 2020, right around the time that the stay-at-home orders across the United States were first being issued. It involves a couple who were learning (like the rest of us) how to deal with the world of COVID-19.
This will probably be a three-part story, so check out the later chapters as they post.
I hope you and your families are safe and healthy.
***************
16 March 2020
"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Shannon threw his headset down on the desk for a moment, let out an exasperated sigh, and then put them back on. "Goddammit."
It was a good thing everyone except the director was muted in the Skype meeting. The handful of other people in the office were swearing, too.
"Effective close of business today, the building will be closed to the public as ordered by the governor. For those of you who are already in a telework arrangement, do not report to the office unless you have an IT issue or some other reason to come in, and if you need to, notify your supervisor in advance. We're moving everyone else into a work-at-home status beginning on Wednesday," the director continued. "You will need to report to the division chiefs any of the agency's equipment you need to work remotely . . ."
The meeting droned on for another twenty minutes as the staff was briefed on the office's emergency plan to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, the agency's purchasing system was one hundred percent electronic, so they could theoretically continue normal operations indefinitely.
Shannon logged out of the meeting, cursing some more under his breath. Of course, it wasn't anyone's fault. At least not anyone in his office. He paid attention to the news. The writing was on the wall, and nothing they told him was unexpected.
That didn't mean he had to like it.
Immediately, he began taking stock of everything in his cubicle: What did he
need
in order to work from home? What was he willing to leave in the office for weeks or months?
The first thing he did was head to the supply room. Riffling through the cabinets, he found several bottles of hand sanitizer, some Clorox wipes and Lysol spray. He didn't clean the place out, but he took more than one of each.
Then he stopped by the copier room and emptied out a couple of paper boxes to pack his things.
Most of the people in his department were already teleworking and scrambled for desks when they came in to the office. Shannon had the luxury of his own cubicle which he decorated liberally with collectibles and mementoes to discourage anyone else from sitting at his desk on the odd day when he wasn't there.
Nearly everyone left him alone. His supervisor knew he was more than competent, the new people were intimidated by him, the village idiots were scared of him, and aside from the other people in the office who were in fantasy sports leagues, most of the regulars steered clear of him unless there was something they needed.
He had been with the agency for almost fifteen years and had a reputation as being one of the "go-to" people if anyone had questions. But he'd make the asker earn the answer.
Shannon had a carefully-cultivated reputation for being salty and grumpy to new people, anyone who asked stupid questions, or people who came to him only because they were too lazy to do their job and treated him like the "easy" button. He also said "fuck" and "goddammit" a lot and he liked to tweak management at every opportunity.
He took a load of things back to his apartment that day.
On Tuesday, he went in for his telework orientation, checked out a laptop, two monitors, docking station, keyboard, mouse and all the necessary cables to set himself up at home. Just about everything he thought he would need fit into the copier paper boxes. He grudgingly signed all the necessary paperwork and specifically asked if he could cancel the work-at-home agreement once the coronavirus pandemic ended.
Everyone else in the office was doing the same. He even managed to get written permission to take his super-comfortable work-issued desk chair with him. Along with two of his co-workers, they divvied up the remaining stock of wipes, hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray in the supply room.
At the end of the day--and after much grumbling--Shannon was officially a work-at-home employee.
He unloaded his car in several trips up the steps to his third-floor apartment.
The complex where he lived sprawled around a small lake. Set back from the main road, it was nice and quiet. There was a pool, workout room and tennis courts behind the main office. His building was made up of twenty-four two-bedroom apartments.
He lived on the top floor at an outside corner. The big bedroom was his. The other was a repository for his books, guitars and was also going to be his home office.
On his last trip up, Shannon passed his pretty neighbour as she left for work. She was wearing blue scrubs and her hospital badge.
They smiled at each other and that was that.
Shannon set up his computer, hooked everything up to make sure it all worked and could get on the internet through the cable modem and router.
Then he settled in for an evening of TV until he went to bed.
****************
On Wednesday morning, Shannon couldn't log on to the VPN. Apparently, in the rush to get everyone approved for telework, his network permissions hadn't caught up with him.
That was okay; he was getting paid regardless.
It was lunch time before he was able to log in, but after that he didn't have any problems.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully.
By Friday, Shannon had settled into something of a routine. He even broke out a ratty bathrobe which he wore around his apartment and to all of his team's conference calls.
The director gave an update and told everyone to expect the office to remain closed for the next several weeks, if not months.
Normally on Friday night, he might go out with friends, to a movie or out for some live music, but virtually nothing was open.
So he celebrated his first weekend of coronavirus quarantine by ordering take-out from a local Mediterranean restaurant just up the road.
Sitting out on his balcony, he looked across the way and saw his neighbour staring back at him. She was dressed in a sweatshirt and had her hair pulled back into a sloppy bun.
"How's your lockdown going?" she called out.
"Ask me again in a month," Shannon shrugged. "What about you?"
"I'm 'essential'. I don't know that I'm getting a lockdown."
"Me, too, but at least I get to work from home."
"That's convenient. What's for dinner?"
"Gyros, beer, baklava."
"That sounds delicious."
"What about you?"
"I ordered pizza. The app says it's out for delivery."
Shannon stood and went to the railing. "I don't know that we've met formally. I'm Shannon Greer."
Even though they had been living across the landing in the same building for over a year, their schedules seem to be opposite and they only saw each other in passing. She and her roommate moved in while he was away at a special detail for two weeks. By the time he thought to introduce himself, she had been living there for two months, and he decided it would be awkward at that point.
"Harriett Rovnak, but everyone calls me 'Hank'."
"It's nice to meet you, Hank," he said. "The next time I get gyros, I'll let you know."
The pizza delivery driver pulled up just then. Hank left the balcony to answer the door but returned with her dinner after a moment.
She sat down at her Ikea porch table and they spent the rest of the evening talking from their balconies. Some of the other neighbours came out and it became a fairly social evening. Luckily, it was cool for March and the mosquitos weren't out in force.
Shannon went outside on Saturday night on the off chance that he might run into his brunette neighbour again, but she didn't come out to her balcony. The lights inside her apartment were on, though.
He did have a pleasant conversation with the older Asian woman who lived below Hank. Someone in a building across the parking lot was playing the guitar and leading an impromptu sing-along.
Sunday was slow. There were none of the usual sports on TV. Shannon ran out to pick up some groceries, but spent most of the afternoon working with some of his friends on a remote recording of some music for their YouTube channel.
Right around dinner time, he heard the doorbell ring. When he answered, there was no one there, but a Ziploc bag full of chocolate chip cookies hung by a string on the doorknob. He heard footsteps going down the stairs and then saw Hank walking out to her car.
