Tag Archives: Quarantine

Zone 7

farm

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

“The recorder’s on. Go ahead and read what’s on the card.” Mr. Newman had a soft voice and it sounded creepy, not like Dad’s or Grandpa’s.

“My name is José Raymond Phillips. I’m ten years old. My family has been assigned to Zone 7: Jordanville in upstate New York. How am I doing, Mr. Newman?”

“Just fine, but keep to the script. Its just for your records.”

“Okay. Well, anyway…I live in Zone 7 on the Jordanville farm with other families. We are happy here and enjoy the work and the outdoors. My Dad let me drive the tractor for the first…”

“That’s not in the script, José.”

“Sorry, I just got excited.”

“I’m turning off the recorder. Take a few minutes to compose yourself. Then we’ll try again.”

“Why do I have to make this recording?”

“It’s for your official records.”

“You mean like school records?”

Newman chuckled in a way that was scary. “No, not exactly. We just want to show people that you like being in a zone and that you are happy. You’re happy, aren’t you?”

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“The Apollo Containment” Available in SCI-FI #3: Lockdown Science Fiction

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Promotional image for the Black Hare Press anthology “Lockdown Sci-Fi #3”

“Lockdown Sci-Fi #3” featuring my short story “The Apollo Containment” is now available for pre-order on Amazon for delivery to your Kindle device on October 31st. That’s right, just in time for Halloween.

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Featured Author for the Black Hare Press Anthology “Lockdown Sci-Fi #3”

featured

Promotional image for the Black Hare Press anthology “Lockdown Sci-Fi #3”

I’ve already mentioned that my short story “The Apollo Containment is being published in the Black Hare Press anthology Lockdown Sci-Fi #3. Here’s the graphic featuring me as a contributing author.

Oh, excerpt:

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“The Apollo Containment” Accepted into Lockdown Sci-Fi #3

 

scifi3

Promotional image for the Black Hare Press anthology “Lockdown Sci-Fi #3”

Black Hare Press is producing a number of “lockdown” anthologies, all based on themes of SciFi, Horror, Fantasy, Phantom, and Paranormal Romance. My short story “The Apollo Containment” was just accepted into Lockdown Sci-Fi #3 (on that page, keep scrolling down).

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It’s Okay To Be All Three

3

Social media meme

First off, I’m going to say for the record, that a lot of you aren’t going to like this.

My previous blog post Presenting “What good are constitutional rights if they are violated when Americans get sick? drew a certain amount of attention because (I believe) there’s this notion that governmental intervention in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic (lockdown, quarantine) and U.S. constitutional rights are mutually exclusive. That is, you can’t be a responsible citizen in this crisis and still retain civil rights.

If you complain that there is a potential for certain governments to take advantage of the crisis to not only temporarily relieve citizens of their rights, but to plan to never give those rights back after the crisis has passed, you are considered something like a “pandemic denier” (and there are a few other things that being accused of being a “denier” is like being accused of mass murder).

However, as the graphic and title above suggests, it’s okay to be all three.

That said, I’ve seen a few things on twitter lately that have caused me concern.

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Returning to Life

ferry

Photo credit: Dorothy

They seemed just two more Asian tourists sitting on a bench watching the ferry at Angel Island.

“When did you die here?” During her lifetime, she would never have asked such as direct question of a man, but death is very liberating.

“1899.” He was staring at the ferry and the multinational conglomeration of visitors, all happily chattering and oblivious to the history they were walking upon. “I had been a dock worker and got the plague. They sent me here for quarantine, but I was also sent here to die. You?”

“1922 when the island was an immigration station. I was suspected of having a disease, but I actually got a parasite from another Chinese immigrant. I suffered on the island eighteen months before I died.”

“How many others like us do you think are here?” He turned toward her finally, noticing that like him, she was dressed in modern clothing.

“Too many, but most won’t let go of the past.”

“If you’re ready, we can rejoin the living.”

They stood and held hands. “Yes, let’s.”

I wrote this for the FFfAW Challenge Week of April 3, 2018 hosted by Priceless Joy. The idea is to use the image above as a prompt to craft a piece of flash fiction between 100 and 175 words long. My word count is 175.

I was stuck about where the photo was actually taken, so I made something up.

When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I visited Angel Island many times. It’s accessible by ferry and you can take bicycles and ride around the entire island. It has a very interesting history, some of it very grim.

You can read the details of both when the island was used as a Quarantine Station and later as an Immigration Station (people could be held on the island for anywhere between two weeks and two years) for the context of my two characters.

In this case, I’ve given my couple a second chance at life, though I’ve kept the mechanism of how deliberately vague. If you can learn to let go of the pain of the past, you might find your way back to a new life and the rest of your future.

Guilty confession. I read this story before crafting my own and yes, it influenced me. My bad.

To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.