Stuck

 On the first day of April, just a few days ago, Alameda County reported just one death related to COVID-19. This was good news since just a couple of months ago the average daily death toll was hovering around fifteen. This relief from misery may be the reason my wife looked at me askance when I suggested we head on up to the local Safeway to get our second booster. More shots? Why would we need more shots when we're doing so well?

I reflected on this. For a moment or two. I was just beginning my spring vacation, and the potential for running into any large waves of virus would necessarily be limited by the extreme lack of intermittently masked eight year olds. I was, in effect, heading back into quarantine. Two years after that first lockdown. But I heard the CDC call for those of us fifty and up to present our shoulders for yet another vaccination. President Biden got his. Patton Oswalt got his. I want to keep up with those guys. 

And there's this: Now would be a particularly ridiculous time to fall off the program. The first shot had me waiting four hours in a socially distanced line reminiscent of the one for an infectious ride on Space Mountain. The second came just a few weeks later at the same location, but it was like I had a FastPass, since I was already in the system. When the call went out for a booster, I was able to schedule a time at a nearby CVS, and I ended up waiting longer after being my dose for those potential after-effects than I did driving over and sitting down. On April Fool's Day, I scored back to back appointments for my wife and I to get jabbed for the fourth time. Three for her, since her initial dose was of the Johnson & Johnson variety. There was a certain matter-of-fact familiarity with the pharmacist who asked on which side we would like to be stuck. He backed up and apologized for his needle rhetoric. "On which arm would you like to receive treatment?" 

Much better. Again, the time we spent roaming around the aisles looking for an after-vax treat was much longer than the wait to be injected. My wife chose a pomegranate juice, high in antioxidants. I picked a Hershey bar, high in almonds. Later that evening, our arms were a little sore, but we didn't have COVID. We had made it through another day without dying from that dread disease. 

Why did I go through the hassle? 

That one person who did die on April the first.