CORONA EXHIBITION
An alternate retelling of CORONA EXPOSURE by Sams_Island
Sams Note:
As always, I shared "Corona Exposure" with the councilors of the other islands in the chain and was a little surprised when Small_Island's chief councilor said, "Pretty good, but it would be better if it was more "forbidden", more "taboo".
I responded, "Mom and Dad home pornographers invite their son and his interracial girlfriend to join in their online sex business. That's not taboo and forbidden enough?"
In the end, more forbidden and taboo seemed to mean there should be more secrets.
I said I would carry on with "Exposure", to explore a more open version, but asked Small to go into the Islandverse and offer an alternate version (parallel dimension, if you will), where the naughtiness is raised by even more secrets.
I have to admit, I really like Small's Chapter 5 and may try to find a way to bring it back into "Exposure."
So, please enjoy "Corona Exhibition" as well as "Corona Exposure" and let us know which Island you prefer (this time ;-).
CHAPTER ONE
"So," asked Teri, "are your folks okay?"
"Yes," Roxy answered happily, as she hung up the phone and smiled at the older woman. "One week into their Corona self-isolation and no symptoms or anything. Some neighbors dropped off groceries for them, so they're set there too." She laughed, "They apparently even still have toilet paper on the shelves."
"Good to hear people in Kansas are showing more common sense than here," Teri's husband, Mike, said with a mix of disgust and humor. "Our local shelves were nearly empty again when I went shopping yesterday, and still people were bitching about being limited to one package per customer. I mean, I know it's a shitty situation, but really..."
"Oohh," groaned Teri and their son Rob, while Roxy laughed.
Then Roxy said, "I'm just glad they were able to get back from Europe before all the flights were shut down. Can you imagine being caught overseas and trapped in a foreign hotel? Somehow I think the romance would wear off pretty quick."
"Yeah," said Rob, "that would suck. We were sure lucky to be taking our spring break here with you guys instead of down in Cancun, like we'd thought about."
"And we're very happy about that too," said his mother as she gently stroked his cheek. Then she looked wistfully at Roxy. "Although I'm sure your parents would love to have you at home with them."
"Yes," the young woman agreed. "But since Rob was there over Christmas Break and they got to meet you two over Skype, I think they're okay with me being here."
"I know I am," Rob said, reaching an arm around Roxy's shoulders and pulling her in to him.
She smiled as she looked up into his handsome face. "Me too."
"Sooo..." Mike ventured, loathe to break in to the love birds' moment. "Have you heard any more from the university about what they're going to do for the rest of the term?"
"Yeah," answered Rob. "It looks like they're scrambling to get all the professors wired up so they can give lectures remotely."
"Most of the big lecture halls already have that capacity," Roxy picked up. "So disabled or remote-learning students can take part. Lectures from those rooms are supposed to pick up on schedule next week."
"And when they can get the instructors' laptops connected to the school network, then smaller classes will be able to start up again as well," said Rob. "I bet they'd love to have you on staff right now," he told his dad.
"Why's that?" asked Roxy.
"Well, I told you that my dad sets up video security systems around the area, right?"
"Yeah, that's right, I remember," his girlfriend said, looking over to Rob's father. Rob's good looks took more after his beautiful mother, but his dad was also quite handsome in his own right. It was in the builds of their bodies and in their eyes, where the two men looked most alike.
Rob continued, "Well, more and more that includes connecting them to remote monitoring and control systems over the Internet, which is what my dad does and sounds exactly like what our school is attempting to set up."
Roxy gave Mike an impressed look, then turned back to Rob and said, "Now I know where you learned those tricks you used to take over my laptop camera...um". Her voice dropped off awkwardly as she realized what she was saying and to whom.
"Really?" her boyfriend's father said suspiciously.
Rob jumped in. "She means I was able to upgrade her system so her camera looked better and our Skype sessions became more stable."
"Like father, like son," Teri laughed, shaking her head.
"And what about you two?" Asked Rob quickly, trying to steer the conversation away from him and Roxy's laptop camera. "How is all this social distancing going to affect your work? I mean, you've already been doing a lot remotely anyway, haven't you, Dad, even more than in the past?"
Mike said, "Yeah, that's true, I am able to monitor security systems mostly from my laptop. But what you just said about your school is also true around here; everyone's scrambling to set up work-from-home systems for their employees. So, our company is actually getting a lot of new business calls and when I'm off vacation next week I'll be out doing my old Cable Dog tricks."
"Cable dog?" said Roxy.
"That's what we called ourselves in our Comms unit in the Army, where I learned my trade many years ago. A communications team was always among the first at a new location; putting in all the cables to connect the phones and computers and everything so the rest of the unit could communicate and work. That's what people need now, so I'm sure I'll be spending plenty of time in crawlspaces and attics, pulling cables from one place to another. But with the corona virus, I expect I'll mostly go in after-hours, when the buildings are empty, so I won't have to deal with many people face-to-face."
"And what about you, Teri?" asked Roxy. "Is this Coronavirus mess hurting your job?"
Teri didn't answer right away and Roxy thought the older woman was coloring, almost blushing. Then finally, "No...no, I don't think it will."
"Really?" said Rob. "I thought bookings were way down at the motel?"
"Oh, yes, that's true," Teri replied in an unsure tone. "But the owner wants to stay prepared and be able to advertise that the rooms are extra sanitized, so I'll still be going in, even though we have very few guests. Actually," Teri continued, with an awkward glance at her husband, "You say you'll be working more evenings than days, going forward?"
Mike nodded yes.
"Well, to spread us out and reduce contact, we'll probably be splitting our shifts as well," Teri said. "I can probably get the afternoon shifts so we're not working opposite hours that keep us apart too much."
That brought a smile to Mike's face and he took his wife in his arms and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "That would be great," he said.
'It should be great, shouldn't it?' her conscience nagged.
But it was really another of those conflicting situations she'd had to deal with more and more. Things that were good for the family could interfere with her business. And things that were good for her business might ruin her family. Not to mention how hard it was to keep up with the lies and deceits. This situation, for example. She had actually set up her post-vacation work schedule to be in the afternoons and evenings because she thought Mike would still be on a dayshift. Her plan had been to have the house to herself in the day to handle some of her clients here, before going off to the motel later to meet with other clients there.
But now that Rob and Roxanne weren't returning to school because of the corona virus, they'd be around the house all day, so she was already going to have to scrap her plans on entertaining extra men here during the early hours. And in that case, she may as well have her husband around to spend time with. She did still love only him, after all. The rest were just business.
"It's great that you both still have your jobs, that's for sure," said Rob. "I'm sure all the bars and stores around the Uni that hire students are all closed down, and owners like Tony Bergomi sure aren't going to be bringing in student workers just to 'extra-sanitize' their places."
"No way," agreed Roxy. "I really feel bad for my suitemates Chrissy and Ahmed, who really rely on those paychecks from Tony's pizzeria to cover their school and living expenses. Can you imagine trying to carry on at school without our scholarships?"