"We'll See" - A Coronavirus Short Story

It was February 15th the day after Valentines and Ray found himself out on the cul-de-sac talking with his neighbors. They were trading stories of their date nights, or meals they had made the night before and Ray was being unusually quiet. After a few minutes the neighbors caught on and asked ray what was going on. He responded that he had been laid off from his job at the magazine. Apparently, they were going full digital and did not need his services anymore. The neighbors were shocked and couldn’t believe it after all the years Ray had given to the company. They said, “We are so sorry, that is awful news!” Ray looked at them and said, “We’ll see.”

The next day Ray began his job hunt, he had such a love for working with people and being in a fast paced environment, he even romanticized about his college years when he used to work in a local supermarket. He knew everyone and everything and loved the fast pace and constant energy of the people. On a whim he decided to look up his old manager of the grocery store on LinkedIn and couldn’t believe that he was actually still there working at the same place. He sent him a message and they were talking later that afternoon. Turns out that his old manager now ran all of the grocery stores in his county and that he was actually looking for someone to come aboard to run his weekly ad program. Ray explained what he had been doing for the magazine and it was a perfect fit. Within a couple days Ray had landed a new job!

It had been a week since Valentines Day, the sun was setting as Ray was once again out on the Cul-de-sac watching his kids ride their bikes and skateboards. All the neighbors were once again gathered around, having a beer talking about their weeks and giving their opinions on the Coronavirus situation that seemed to be getting serious in New York. Once again Ray was a little more quiet than usual and his friends inquired about his week and how his job hunt was going. They were shocked when he told them that he had already landed a job. He broke down the story and his neighbors reached out for high fives and half hugs and explained, “That is amazing! What luck that your old boss was still there and that you were the perfect fit!” Ray took in the compliments and whatnot but wasn’t overly excited or matching their enthusiasm. When the group silenced a bit he said, “We’ll see.”

Ray started his job at the grocery store chain the following week and went off! He was a natural fit for the pace and got along with everyone on the team. His work ethic was so far and above the previous person who had the job he was running circles around the store ad sales records in his first two weeks. Simultaneously as Ray was crushing his new job the Covid-19 situation was getting more and more serious. However, Ray was sort of in his own world because he was focusing his energy on his new role, so he had blinders on to the updates going on around him. It was Friday afternoon and on his drive home he stopped off to get some flowers for his wife. She had seemed a little distracted earlier when they talked on the phone and he couldn’t quite tell what was going on but she said they would talk about it later. As he was walking into the entryway of his house he immediately knew something was wrong. He could hear sobs of crying from his daughter in the back living room so he dropped everything but the flowers and ran back. Everyone in the family was crowded around his wife and her computer.

Everyone looked up at him, both kids with tears on their cheeks and puffy eyes, and he asked, “What happened???” His daughter bolted up from the couch and clung to his leg and said that they have closed down school starting Monday and that we can’t see our friends anymore. He gave his wife the stare where both parties knew what the other one was thinking. Oh S*&^!

That Sunday morning Ray was walking outside to pick up a random scooter that one of his kids had left on the lawn. Two of his neighbors were out on the cul-de-sac staying about 20 feet away to safely “social Distance” while they drank their coffee and caught up on the madness. They saw Ray and asked him how his kids were doing since finding out about school closing. Both of the neighbor families had toddlers, so for them life was kind of the same. Ray explained the state of the kids and their sadness to not be able to see their friends or teachers and explained that his wife was going to have to work from home and home to school the kids. The neighbors weighed in again, “Oh man, that sucks! We feel so bad for you guys and the kids, this is going to be rough!” Ray, looked at them standing in their old sweat pants and holding their “Dad’s Rock” coffee mugs and just replied, “We’ll see.”

Monday morning was a bull rush of information, the supermarket was changing at a pace that was almost impossible to keep up with and so was the demand for Ray’s work. He was changing his ads daily, while also helping his boss manage the influx of workers they needed to stock the supply and demand his store was facing. The coronavirus pandemic was officially setting everyone into a panic zone, toilet paper and hand sanitizer was causing fights in the isles and the once very ordinary supermarket felt like Walmart on Black Friday. Only this time, people were looking like zombies who were about to rob a bank wearing bandanas, gloves, face masks and old ragged clothes! After a week of being busier than he had ever been Ray tried to catch the sunset with his wife out on the porch. Their neighbor was strolling by walking his dog and Ray asked him how he was doing? He went into a long silique about how his company had furloughed almost the entire staff and that he now had to file for unemployment. Afterwards it was Ray’s turn to share as the neighbor asked him about his week. Ray gave him the very quick version of the week’s events and the neighbor says, “What luck! Of all the jobs to take, you went to the one place that is booming during the pandemic!” Ray looked at him and said, “We’ll see.”

That Monday morning as Ray was getting ready for work, he could hear the familiar sound of his kids fighting in the distance. Quarantine and home school with zero breaks from one another was a recipe for quick fights and lots of yelling. As he came around the corner ready to play diffuser, his phone rang, it was his boss. He answered chipper, and ready to tackle whatever the would be problem was assuming it was just another in a long line of fires he would put out that day. Only this problem was much more serious. His boss didn’t sound well, his voice was strained almost like he was having trouble catching his breath between words. Ray listened and his heart sank. He said, “Absolutely I will be right there.” Ray didn’t even have time to break up the argument going on in the kitchen, his mind was rushing with so many different thoughts. He grabbed his bagged and half jogged out to his car. As he was scrambling to get his keys out of his pocket in his rush he dropped them and as he bent down to pick them up one of his neighbors was outside picking up their paper. “Why the rush? Out of toilet paper on aisle five!” Ray’s glare insinuated that it wasn’t the time. “Just joking buddy.” He yelled out. “No worries man, just gotta run, my boss thinks he may have gotten the coronavirus.” As ray was getting into the car he could hear his neighbor asking questions at breakneck speed. Ray pulled out and as he was pulling by the neighbor said, “Man, sorry to hear that, that’s awful!” Ray put the car in gear and as he peeled off he said, “I don’t know the details, we’ll see.”

As Ray pulled into the grocery store parking lot, he could see that there was no car parked in the “manager” spot that was reserved for his boss. He walked in to find quite a few people all gathered around, trying to stay close enough to listen while also 6 feet a part. Ray couldn’t see until the last minute that the person in front of the crew was actually the founder and owner of the entire grocery chain. Ray had heard about her from his boss but had not actually met her. She had been a really successful real estate agent in the 80’s and had gone on to invest in many different projects including buying the grocery chain a few years back. As she was talking to everyone, she caught eyes with Ray and stopped for a brief second before starting back up again. She proceeded to tell the group that in fact Ray’s boss had tested positive for covid-19 and that he was now at the hospital. For the next few hours there was a frenzy of temperature checks, new safety protocols and an entire store deep clean. Ray was in his office feverishly drafting up new ads and promos to drive people to their super market. He heard a soft knock on the door and the owner was standing there asking if he had a minute to talk. Ray offered her his chair but she politely declined, probably because she didn’t want his germs, but either way she decided to stand and deliver the news. She said, “I just got off the phone with your boss, he’s in the hospital resting. We were talking about your job performance.” Ray’s stomach instantly took on the feeling of a free falling roller coaster, all in knots, he could feel his palms instantly starting to sweat. She proceeded, “The real reason I came here today is because we need someone to manage the entire store while your boss is out. After talking it through we feel you are the perfect person to take on the responsibility. We have another opportunity coming up soon in the market and feel this could be a good chance to see if you are ready to run an entire store.”

Later that night, Ray got out a bottle of wine and poured a couple glasses for him and his wife. She sat next to him and asked how his day was, not even knowing about his boss, or the huge news about the temporary promotion. He looked at her and said, “First, I want to hear about your day, I know homeschooling has been really hard, with you juggling zoom calls for work, and then having to manage the kids homeschool, I don’t know how you are doing it all!” She talked about her day and the kids tipsy turvy homeschool schedule filled with all kinds of highs and lows. At some point the kids rushed downstairs and jumped on the two of them begging for a pillow fight…so a massive one ensued. Later that night, right before bed, Ray’s wife looked at him and asked, “Oh yeah did anything interesting happen today at work?” He proceeded to tell her about his boss, which he had been checking in on and was doing okay, and then his new promotion. She immediately hit him across the arm. “Hey, what was that for?” Ray joked, even though he knew that she couldn’t believe he waited till now to tell her the news. 

After talking for an hour they both turned out their bedside lights. Right before Ray fell asleep he heard his wife say, “I can’t believe there’s another store opening, that could be pretty good luck.”

Ray’s last thought before he fell asleep was voiced in a soft tone to his wife, “We’ll see.”

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Covid-19 might set our economy back, it might temporarily put a lot of people in horrific financial instability, it has certainly increased our anxiety and fears. The question is, how will we react???

As a single dad, I have the blessing and curse of free nights during the week. I say it that way because, I would choose to be with my kids in every situation, times a million.  However, that’s not the case. I have 3-4 nights a week where I am alone, and my thoughts can easily spiral. A few nights ago I was solo and scrolling through LinkedIn. There were so many different view points and takes on the pandemic. There were optimists, motivators, political views, fears and A LOT of inspirational quotes.

It reminded of one of my favorite stories that I read in one of my daughter’s bedtime books years ago. It’s about a farmer who had some good luck and some bad luck (look up farmer loses horse). It really got me thinking deeply about how I have struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. One of the aspects I have been working on this year is the conscious thought that I tend to overreact internally to news. I swing the pendulum way too far. Something good happens and I write it off as life is now perfect and all is good (which of course lasts a day) Something bad (or perceived that way) happens and I immediately go into an internal dialogue with all the bad things that may now come and dwell on it. Throughout this pandemic I have tried to focus on what is within my control, be present and ride the ups and down with passion and conviction to succeed. I have struggled, I haven’t always caught if I am sliding into a worrisome pace, but that is my journey.

Life is too short to live our moments internally debating whether something is good or bad. Life should be lived in the present, soaking up each moment for what it is, knowing that it will always be a roller coaster. If we give in to the fact that we cannot control the tides, we can be present and tackle every moment for what it is…a blessing. I am going to attempt to be more like Ray, but I guess we’ll see.