ONE YEAR AGO: JIM SLADE ON THE VIRUS - "The House Is Shrinking"

(03/10/2021)
By Jim Slade

The house is shrinking.

Questions: Should I shave? Shower? Dress?

So far, it’s not so bad.

Everybody’s forced into isolation, so it’s kind of OK. But as it goes on, we will start to write on the walls.

There will be nose smudges on the windows and the dog will ignore us. Breakfast will become lunch, lunch will be dinner and the rest will be snacks.

Some of us will fatten, the rest will have to drink muddy water to cast a shadow.

One day It’ll be over and we will stumble out of our caves, squinting in natural light, hair down to our shoulders, pajamas at halfmast, afraid of other people.

Unaccustomed as we will be to the “old ways,” we will walk in 12-foot imaginary boxes and cast our eyes to the ground as other boxes go by. We will be hermits finding the world again.

They’ve got us right where they want us.

Where’s my coffee?

- Morgantown resident Jim Slade issues a humor blog called "Gadfly." He was a journalist who covered the American space program from its inception. He was a broadcast journalist who covered those historic events.