Character Journal: July 15

(Note: modern era game, using D&D fourth-ed rules, GMed jointly by Patrick and Kendra. In-game, I don't know Piet's character yet; last night was a set-up session and I'll be writing several consecutive journals to develop my character.)

Why did I think coming back to Smallsville Saskatchewan for the summer was a good idea? I mean, really - what was I thinking? I could be in Vancouver right now, taking a couple of courses to get ready for med school. I could be in Africa or Indonesia on volunteer work, doing something useful with my life. Instead I listened to my parents.

"You've worked so hard since you went away to school - you need a rest," said my mother. Because it's so incredibly restful to sneak out in advance of the passive-aggressive bickering when the other parent enters the room already occupied by one. "Your sister has really missed you; you should spend some time with her," said my dad. Because we all know Katarina gets exactly what she wants from our parents, in thanks for saving their doomed marriage with her birth. "Your sensei would give you a job for the summer." Mom again, and the only thing she was right about. What Mom doesn't know is that I'm his equal in Aikido now, and his teacher in Kali, the new Art I picked up at UBC. It hasn't even occurred to her to ask what those two black wooden sticks are that I keep in my bag. Then again, she may not have noticed them; after all, no good Canadian girl goes around armed, and if they did, I'm sure Mom would think of "armed" in terms of rounds per minute.

I tried to get together with my high school friends last night. We got there at eight - "Oh, the twins took forever to go to sleep, I couldn't slip away until now" - and they all had to go by ten - "You know, you're so lucky not to have a toddler who will have you up at five-thirty no matter how late you were out the night before!" Three of them, all laughing in unison. Since they graduated high school, their collective trips to Regina or Saskatoon can be counted on one hand. I don't think Mandy has been at all. The farm and the twins keep her too busy.

Ugh. Anyway, the private dorm room I got comes open on August 15th. I'll be there on the 16th. It's only a month away. I survived a refugee camp in Rwanda last summer with Doctors without Borders. I can survive a few more weeks in a sleepy one-horse town where the biggest social justice issue is littering.

EDIT: Guys, I keep a livejournal so people can commiserate with me when I'm whining. Where is everyone? Surely that Guatemalan flu thing hasn't got you all shutting off your computers? It's just a few old folks in hospitals in Toronto, right? It'll blow over like all the others.

Character journal: July 17

Okay, that Guatemalan Flu thing is looking scarier every day. We all know Toronto overreacts to everything - remember when they called in the army to deal with a bit of snow? - but they may actually have cause now. I can't believe they actually shut down Pearson, though. Nothing shuts down Pearson. 9/11 didn't shut down Pearson. So, Toronto friends, check in, please. For that matter, big city friends around the world, check in, please.

It looks like it's here, too. My sister was at day camp today at the Y. She goes every few days, whenever she's not following me to join the beginner class at the dojo. She's pretty good, actually - I was surprised that the spoiled brat would actually work at anything as hard as she's worked at Aikido with me teaching her. Anyway, when a kid started puking in class and complaining of earache, they sent everyone home. Those are the two big symptoms of the Guatemalan flu, or so CBC has reported. Mom got the same information from the local reporter who's been headlining that the hospital isn't ready for a crisis. Of course it's not. It's got thirty beds, three doctors, and its supply of antivirals wouldn't be enough to keep the doctors themselves alive in a pandemic. Nobody expects a small town to be ready for a pandemic, though everyone's OMGsoSCARED by that word. I've tried to explain what it means to Mom three times now, and each time she's brushed me off. It's simple, really: three countries with confirmed cases = worldwide pandemic. That's it. Still, if this turns out to be the pandemic the medical community has been expecting for ten years, we may yet be in trouble.

I was just about to head out to my afternoon class when Katarina came home, all worried and upset about not getting her newly-fired pottery back. I told her she had nothing to worry about - the worst that would happen would be getting the flu for a few days before getting better. But I called the sensei and cancelled my classes for the afternoon, then went out to stock up on gatorade and soda crackers. Kat has been sharing a bench with the puking kid for several days running, and if it's like most flus, her most contagious day was yesterday. Probably half the class will come down sick. But they're healthy kids - they'll get better.

That reporter managed to get the town to shut down the local businesses catering to truckers. It would appear they've succeeded admirably at shutting the barn door after the horse has escaped.

Character Journal: July 20

Sorry it's been a couple of days, guys. A lot's been going on here.

Katie's sick. She started throwing up yesterday, and this morning my parents wanted to take her to the hospital. I'd been reading a few things online earlier in the day about the pandemic in the cities, and I wasn't about to share that stuff with my parents. They were worried enough already. Anyhow, I convinced them to wait until I'd at least called the hospital to see how the situation was there.

I got a busy signal. A busy signal. Who still gets busy signals? How twentieth century is this place, anyway? But I figured it meant everyone and their brother was trying to call the hospital, so I convinced my parents to keep Katie at home and try to get more Gatorade into her. She's keeping some down, and she got enough tylenol that her fever is down into a more normal range. The gravol's doing nothing, though.

Main Street looks like a ghost town. I went over to the pharmacy because we were almost out of tylenol, and it was locked at two o'clock in the afternoon. Even more worrisome, when I peaked in the window, I realized they'd cleared the locked cabinets behind the counter, rather than just locking them. That is, any medication that absolutely must not be stolen isn't in the store anymore. Pharmacists only do that when they think they won't be back for a while to open up. Meanwhile, the insulin and diabetic supplies were piled on the counter. It's almost as though they're expecting people to break in, and not for shits and giggles - they put out the most obviously necessary supplies in plain sight. I can't think of a single scenario where that would be a good thing.

EDIT: Oh, shit. I seem to have lost connectivity. Stupid one-horse town. I guess I'll save this to my LJ client and try again later.

EDIT II: It's not just LJ or my connectivity that's down. I've called or been called by half a dozen people, and nobody has any connection to the world outside this town, at all. The Army has blocked off the roads into town (does that make us as whiny as Toronto? I hope not) and everyone's being told to stay put. And there is no internet connection. That scares me more than anything.

I think I'll print this entry and start keeping a paper journal.

Character Journal: July 22

Everybody's sick except me.

Great-Aunt Olena (yes, I'm named for her) stopped answering her phone yesterday. That was the day Mom and Dad both came down with whatever-this-is, so nobody's gone to check on her yet. We're getting no outside news at all. The internet is down, long-distance calls get busy signals or, "We're sorry, the number you are trying to reach is not in service" messages - even if the number was in service until the day before yesterday, even the number for the local MP a few townships away. The army guys at the roadsides tell people to go home, and avoid answering questions about food or water. The local phone lines still work, so we can call anyone we know here to find out how they're doing. Answer: everyone's sick except me.

The pharmacy was broken into last night. The vandals appear to have stolen some pain meds and anti-convulsants, and the diabetic supplies - at least some of them. It looks like the Home Hardware has been broken into, as well. Nothing is open. Even the reporter guy has stopped posting his updates in the window of the newspaper office.

When people have been calling here, I've been giving them the recipe for homemade electrolyte solution. Thank God I printed that for the kitchen before the internet went down! I've been telling them to boil water, too. I don't know if there's anyone at the water treatment facility, but I suspect there's not, so if we're not on a boil-water advisory, we need to be.

I got out Grandma's canner and one-litre spaghetti jars, and sterilized everything as best I could in a hot-water bath, like I used to do when I helped her turn her tomato patch into sauce every August. Then I started making batches of electrolyte solution. If I'm the only healthy person around, and the only one with medical knowledge who's not running themselves to exhaustion at the hospital, then I might as well do what I can to help. Once Katie and Mom and Dad got over their latest bout of puking up their toenails, I took the car and went on a little mission of mercy to drop off a one-litre jar at the homes of friends and neighbours who I knew really needed it. I told them to leave the jars on the porch and I'd collect them and make more. But if I couldn't get a hold of them on the phone and they didn't answer the door, I didn't leave one for them. I suspect they're not going to get much use out of it anymore.

Katie's badly dehydrated, in spite of all the gatorade and electrolytes I've been trying to get into her. She's raving, she's occasionally convulsing, and she's lost more weight than she could afford to lose. Her eyes look so big in her face now, but sunken, and I don't think she's seeing me when she looks at me. She's got an icon the priest gave her a while ago, and she hasn't let go of it for three days. I'm so scared for her. Nothing's working. Why won't she get better?

And why am I the only one who isn't getting sick?

Reason #456 not to get a Kindle

Sorry, I prefer to own the things I pay for.