Monday 06/04

I bought this journal today.

Not because anything special happened, but because nothing happened – which I guess is the whole point.

I was at Target picking up paper towels and that lavender hand soap Mark likes (the one he insists smells “clean” and not like a grandma bathroom). This journal was sitting on one of those end-cap displays near the greeting cards. Just a simple cloth one with an elastic band to keep it closed.

It made me think maybe I should start writing things down.

Not for any big dramatic reason. I just thought someday when Mark and I have kids it might be nice to have something like this to look back on. Maybe when they’re older I could turn it into one of those cute mommy blogs or something.

“Life Before You Were Born.”

Something nice and cheesy like that.

Anyway here I am trying to figure out what to write in it.

Today was very normal.

Mark left for work around 7:30 like he always does. He works for that cardboard packaging company downtown “Think Inside The Box, Inc.” – the one that makes the heavy shipping boxes for Amazon and all those warehouses. He always jokes that cardboard is the unsung hero of the modern economy.

I tease him that someday I’ll see him on TV giving a speech about corrugated structural integrity.

He kissed me goodbye and grabbed one of the blueberry muffins I made yesterday. He said they were great but I think he just says that because he’s polite.

After he left I watered the roses in the backyard. They’re doing surprisingly well this year even though I barely know what I’m doing.

Mrs. Keller across the street was walking her little white dog again – the one that looks like a walking cotton ball.

She waved and yelled that she saw a fox last night.

A fox.

In our neighborhood.

That seemed strange but maybe not that strange. Animals wander around sometimes I guess.

The rest of the day was quiet.

Laundry.

HGTV.

Grocery list.

Normal Monday things.

Tuesday 06/05

Mark said something weird at dinner tonight.

Apparently shipping orders at work have gone crazy the past few days.

He said several big clients suddenly placed huge rush orders for reinforced packaging crates. Not just normal boxes either – the heavy industrial kind.

He joked that maybe the government is secretly preparing for an alien invasion.

I told him if aliens come here the first thing they’ll probably want is cardboard.

He laughed.

It was a dumb joke but he laughed anyway.

Later tonight something odd was on the news.

The anchor mentioned some kind of illness spreading in a couple cities overseas. They didn’t say exactly where, just “several major metropolitan areas.”

The strange part was how vague they were about it.

Usually the news loves details.

But this time it was all phrases like:

“Authorities are monitoring the situation.”

and

“There is currently no cause for public concern.”

Whenever they say that it somehow makes you feel like there should be concern.

Mark says the news likes to scare people for ratings so it’s probably nothing.

He’s probably right.

Still.

It felt strange.

Wednesday 06/06

I slept badly last night.

Not because of the news story. Just one of those nights where your brain won’t turn off.

I kept thinking about random things like whether we should repaint the living room or if we should start trying for a baby this year.

Normal 2AM thoughts.

This morning when I went outside to get the mail the neighborhood felt oddly quiet.

Not in a scary way.

Just quieter than usual.

Normally you hear lawn mowers or kids walking to school or at least cars driving around.

Today it felt like everyone was inside.

Maybe because it’s getting hotter outside.

Florida summers feel like living inside a soup bowl.

When I turned on the TV during lunch the illness story was on again.

This time they mentioned quarantines in a few places overseas.

But the anchor said it very quickly and then moved on to a celebrity divorce story.

Which felt like a weird transition.

Possible international medical emergency – now here’s two actors fighting over a yacht.

The world is strange sometimes.

Thursday 06/07

Something odd happened today.

Mrs. Keller came over while I was watering the roses.

She seemed a little jittery.

Not scared exactly.

Just nervous.

She asked if we had noticed more sirens lately.

I hadn’t really thought about it before she mentioned it but now that I think about it I guess I have.

More ambulances.

More police cars.

Maybe once someone points it out you just start noticing it everywhere.

She also said her sister in Chicago told her hospitals there are suddenly filling up with people with “flu-like symptoms.”

That’s what she said anyway.

I told her the news mentioned something like that.

But they keep repeating that everything is under control.

She said whenever the government says that it usually means the opposite.

Then she laughed like she realized she sounded paranoid.

Before she left she mentioned the fox again.

Apparently it came back last night.

But this time there were three of them walking down the middle of the street together.

In the middle of the night.

Just slowly walking.

She said they looked… confused.

I didn’t know animals could look confused.

Friday 06/08

Mark came home early today.

That almost never happens.

Apparently one of the warehouse workers got violently sick this afternoon and they shut down operations as a precaution.

Mark seemed more annoyed than worried.

He said it’s probably just someone bringing in a stomach bug.

Still.

It’s the first time they’ve ever closed the warehouse.

We ordered pizza and watched a movie tonight.

Halfway through the movie the power flickered for a second.

Just long enough to reset the cable box.

Afterward Mark checked social media and said people online are going crazy about the illness story.

Rumors everywhere.

Some people saying entire neighborhoods overseas are locked down.

Videos of crowds fighting in grocery stores.

Probably fake stuff.

The internet loves fake stuff.

Still.

I asked Mark if we should maybe pick up a few extra groceries just in case.

He smiled and said if the apocalypse comes he’ll build us a fortress out of cardboard boxes.

Then he kissed my forehead.

Saturday 06/09

I went grocery shopping this morning.

The store was packed.

Not holiday packed.

But nervous packed.

Lots of people buying bottled water and canned food.

Two women were arguing in the cereal aisle about something they saw online.

One of them said the illness makes people violent.

The other said that was ridiculous.

The store manager came over the intercom and said there was no reason to panic buy.

Which of course made everyone panic buy.

Humans are funny that way.

When I got home Mark was watching the news.

Every channel was covering the illness now.

Some kind of unknown infection.

Authorities are investigating.

Travel restrictions might happen.

But they keep repeating the same sentence:

“There is no reason for public concern.”

Mark muted the TV and said quietly:

“Whenever they start saying it like that… something’s wrong.”

For the first time this week he didn’t sound like he was joking.

Sunday 06/10

I woke up early this morning.

The neighborhood was quiet again.

Too quiet.

No lawn mowers.

No kids.

No traffic.

Just wind.

When I went outside to water the roses I noticed something strange in the street.

A bird.

Just sitting there.

It didn’t fly away when I walked close.

It looked sorta sick.

Or maybe confused.

I went back inside and turned on the TV.

Every channel was talking about the illness now.

Authorities investigating.

Travel advisories.

Containment protocols.

But they keep repeating the same thing.

Over and over.

“There is no reason for public concern.”

Mark is in the kitchen making coffee right now.

He just asked why every news channel suddenly looks like they’re trying very hard not to panic.

I told him maybe it’s nothing.

Maybe it’s just the flu.

Maybe by next week nobody will even remember it.

Still.

I’m glad I started this journal.

Just in case.

[Document Type: Parts of a handwritten personal journal
Recovered From: Cloth-bound notebook discovered in the remains of a residence in the Brookside Estates subdivision.
Several pages were smoke damaged but most entries were intact.]

[1214] Words : Tuba, Sirens, and Suspicious Birds