The Pandemic Project Vol. 2

The Presence of Time Keri Green The vibration of my phone felt as if someone was shaking the bottom of my bed repeatedly. I jumped up, realizing there were already two missed phone calls and two text messages; it was the third phone call that startled me. "Hello,” was barely out of my dry mouth but my lips motioned the word hello, so it was repeated after clearing my throat, “Hello?!”

“We can't find him, he is not in his room,'' said the loud, quivering voice.

“What are you talking about?” was my reply. Immediately I sat up in my bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes. “Who are you talking about?”

“Nick. We can't find him and he's not in his room and I know he was here when I left yesterday, but we can't find him,” the anxious voice quivered through the speaker of the phone.

Turning towards the clock, the bright blue glow showed 6:13 a.m. Monday morning.

Suddenly there was another voice in the distance, but this one was stern, saying, “Why did you wake her up? I'm handling it!” The quivering voice responded, “Well, she needs to know.”

Softly asking if everything was alright, the distant voice was no longer so distant and replied, “Nick is fine and he is at the hospital. I don't know why they keep calling you.

They were told not to call you and use me first and that was not an emergency situation that I could not have handled.” We jokingly laughed because we know it will take time before they correctly follow the chain of command. They will continue to call especially since my phone number has to be accessible.

Another glimpse at the clock and I realize more time has passed. It is now 6:49 a.m. and class begins at 8 a.m. Luckily due to the pandemic, class is now online so there was no need to rush out of the house and drive frantically to get the best parking spot in the lot.

Laying back down onto the soft pillows and pulling the weighted blanket over my legs, there was hope the next hour would be better than the first one. Trying to relax before fully committing to waking up, there was hope of being comforted by the bed, pillows, and blanket. My eyes were closed tight so as not to look at the clock.

The clock now says 7:45 a.m. and I still need to get ready for class during a pandemic! I feel like a schoolgirl wanting to look good for the first day of class; this is the first official web meeting so anxiety and uncertainty of what to expect set in. The days of showing off new school clothes to your peers used to be a nice confidence booster. Today, confidence would be boosted just by being on time and online for the classes.

The moment has arrived and it is 8 a.m.; eager to begin, the button to join the meeting icon appears. It is pressed and immediately a feeling of video overload from all the faces showing on the screen happened with thoughts of MSNBC and the ticker that shows up on the screen; too much movement is going on. Then, there is a face trying to hide behind a binder with a cloud of smoke rising from the right side of the binder and the voice in my head says, “Wow, she’s vaping. Does she know we can see her?” Then, there is a baby’s hand hitting at her mother's face and the mother is pulling away from her while trying to adjust the image on the screen. Then, there's feet that show up behind someone's head and next there is a loud echo that is emitting over the speakers. First, it is very loud 27