A Snake-y Stain

On the carpet of the entryway there was a stain of a long thick curvy line, almost serpentine in nature starting with a bulbous head and tapering to a thin tail. It has been there since Chandler brought the house, never leaving, but never changing just as any stain should. 

It wouldn't have been so bad if the stain were someplace out of the way - say under the bed or in the lightly used closet. Unfortunately, the stain was directly in front of the door, invading the house. Chandler walked past that stain every night when they come home from work or a night in town. 

Nothing got rid of it. It was always present, a slightly darker spot on an already dark navy carpet. To date, the only way Chandler thought it would go is when they change the carpet for the next owner in however many years before they sell the house.

Chandler had just got a job promotion out of state, so it was time to pack up and ready the apartment for sale. This of course means filling the little nail holes that used to hold up paintings with spackle, giving a fresh coat of paint to every room, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom counters to an inch of their life, fixing the flickering lights, and, yes, replacing the carpets in all the major rooms, especially the front entry way.

Chandler had stopped by the home improvement store on the way back from work to pick up paint and rug samples. Paint was relatively easy to decide on as Chandler just picked the same off white cream that the flat came with, but the rug was harder. There was no common theme to the carpets in the house. The closet had the same carpet since the flat was built, the bedroom had a shaggy knotted carpet, and the rest of the house had a threadbare crisscrossed carpet. None of the carpets were still in production. 

It was an easy decision to decide to replace all carpets with just one finalist. The decision was which carpet? It all depended on the entry hall. Chandler favored the light rug color, but for so long the entry hall had the dark navy carpet that Chandler was not quite sure how it would look with beige carpet. Chandler placed the sample at various place in the room, gauging how it would look with the freshly painted wall, the old trimmings, and the ostentatious wooden door. 

It was when Chandler placed the sample next to the head of the serpentine stain that Chandler noticed anything amiss. The stain slithered closer to Chandler's hand. Chandler yanked back. The slithered followed. Stationary, the stain was hard to pick up immediately, but in motion, it stood out like a bump in the carpet.

It was relentless. Chandler backed away, bumping into the wall. Surely, it was just a trick of the eye?

If it was, it was real enough to be fooled. Chandler ran out of the room hoping it was just the odd lighting in the room. Chandler turned around.

The stain looked more detailed now, bigger too, and it was slithering closer. There was a sound of ripping velcro. The carpet jerked and popped as whatever the stain was ripped the old glue that kept the carpet secure. Chandler stumbled further, turning around and running for the acrylic kitchen floor.

Chandler turned once they reached the safety of the kitchen floor. For extra precaution, they readied to jump onto the kitchen counter. The stain reach the transition from carpet to acrylic. It couldn't get through. Carpets were more throughly secured anyplace where there could be a tripping hazard, it should be like a fortress to get through.

The stained bulged stopped for a second at the entryway to the kitchen. Then it turned and slithered away. Chandler hardly dared breath for a second, but upon not seeing a reappearance, Chandler released their breath. It had to be a trick of the light in the room and the stress of moving to another state. That had to be it. Maybe it was the paint fumes making Chandler’s mind see things.

Riiip!

That was the only warning Chandler got before a high speed navy streak lunged for their throat from a gaping hole in the carpet. The last thing Chandler saw was black scales, a triangular head with red beady eyes and large fangs dripping with venom. 

~ll

Thoughts on Coronavirus Pandemic (3/9)

For up-to-date information, please see the C.D.C. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html or the W.H.O https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 or ask your local health organization.

TL;DR - Please don’t be a jerk just because people are sick and there’s a flu (however serious) going around. Check C.D.C., W.H.O., and your local health organization for more factual information. Take care of yourself!

What I hope people remember and keep in mind as the virus is going around is that this is not malicious. People usually don’t intend to go around and make everyone sick. And with coronavirus’s varying incubation period ranging from 1 to 14 days, people who are contagious might not even realize they are sick until it’s too late. Any transmission is accidental, maybe careless if it could have been avoided with better hygiene, but still accidental.

Even though this virus originated in China and spread through Asian countries first that does not give license to discriminate against Asians or travelers coming from Asia or other stricken countries. You can treat people with caution and avoid physical contact with people, but do not let your suspicion of someone’s health give you license to treat people as anything less than human.

Stockpiling

I could say more about over-stockpiling and hoarding, but I’m not sure what to say about it. Buy what you need, but try not to buy out the whole shelf is my advice. If you are self-isolating, buy two, maybe three, weeks of food, but try not to buy the whole grocery store!

Face Masks

If you’re sick or coughing a lot, wear a face mask. At the time of writing, the CDC and W.H.O. do not recommend a mask for people who are healthy. The idea is, unless you are a health worker interacting with sick people, the masks are more preventative measures to contain the virus. It makes sense because a mask will help hold in the mucus and water droplets from uncontrollable coughing and sneezing. Healthy people don’t sneeze or cough (and if it’s a one time cough/sneeze the hand and arm is an excellent stop gap measure). 

The W.H.O. has a nice F.A.Q. page which includes some steps on when and how to wear a mask (https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses).

Hygiene

Do wash your hands frequently! Use soap! Sing happy birthday to yourself twice! Pretend everyday is your birthday! ‘Nuf said.

On the other hand, if you’re sick of singing happy birthday, there are tons of alternatives. Here’s a link to BuzzFeed (https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/19-songs-to-sing-instead-of-happy-birthday-while-washing), but there are even more suggestions on on the world wide web. Or you can come up with the next great hit!

Ongoing and Looking to the Future

I am worried about how coronavirus will impact the world in the long-term, starting with the hits to the economy and the drastic changes in face-to-face interaction. I don’t have enough information to speculate except to be hopeful that we’ll pull through somehow. 

And I know this is an ongoing situation, I’m praying for hard-hit communities and grieving families. Coronavirus will get worse before it gets better. The only comfort I can give is that so far at least half of the people who have fallen ill have recovered. John Hopkins has started this neat visualization showing the total number of confirmed cases and displaying numbers (https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6). What’s really cool is the red circles are total confirmed, but if you go to the bottom of the map and toggle to the ‘active’ case, you can see how many cases (orange circles) are ongoing. This is more apparent in China and other countries that had the outbreak longer, but the orange circles are much smaller than the red, which means that even though things are bad, there’s an end.

To end with a positive note, I found a cool article suggesting replacing handshakes with the Vulcan salute https://www.cnet.com/news/spocks-vulcan-salute-should-replace-handshakes-in-coronavirus-era/. Alternatively, if you want to hug someone, I’ve given ‘air-hugs’ whenever I was sick or more often on the other side of video call with relatives. It’s exactly how it sounds, pretend someone is in front of you, hug them, and send positive vibes their way.

The rebellion

The mission was clear-cut. Subdue the enemy and clean up. Another group did the subduing, Lieutenant Barbis and his team was just there for the clean up and tying loose ends.

The enemy was a ragtag bunch of sentients. There was no greater overall organization, just a general resistance that at best constituted guerrilla warfare, but really was an annoyance to the empire. 

Barbis ran a critical eye over everyone. He marked out the primary interest of their captain - a young female human that led to the discovery of the outlaws, but was caught in the middle of the conflict. The first team had already separated her from the rest of the vagrants - a hardened group of outcast imps, fairies, and one lone elf.

The human was not, could not be, a threat and the supernatural were already in cast iron. Barbis pinpointed the leader as the lone elf whose head was still stubbornly high despite their despicable situation. 

The elf, birth name Magnus Willow, appeared and acted female which was the reason for his (her) expulsion from the Willow commune. She went by Mickey Sandson now, as the Willow name was forbidden to outsiders. Sandson did not flinch as Barbis approached her.

"What were you hoping to accomplish with your little rebellion?"

"Release us and you will find out."

Barbis almost snorted at the audacity of the elf. Elves were generally smarter than this. Granted, a smart elf would have never disobeyed or left the commune in the first place. "Look around you. You have no allies coming to rescue you and your compatriots. You're in chains. And soon you'll be heading to the cells to await your trials where when you're found guilty of treason and a whole litany of crime you will either be locked away in the Pit for life or sentenced to death. You can make it easier on everyone if you cooperate, so I'll ask again - what were you hoping to accomplish?"

Sandson scrutinized Barbis. Her gaze felt like a trailing spider leaving an itch that you cannot scratch and was never there in the first place. Instead of answering the question, she asked, "Why did you separate Ana from us?"

Ana, full name Ananta Mohana, the human did not factor into Barbis's interrogation here. "I believe I'm asking the question here."

"Well, I won't answer unless you either answer mine or bring Ana back."

Barbis decided to go in a different direction, "What is the girl's role in your rebellion?”

The corner of Sandson's lip twitched up but only for a millisecond. It was enough to raise Barbis's guard. Elves never smiled unless they were truly happy and unguarded. To see an elf's smile was to either be in their innermost circle or to see one's death before their victory.

"Just our computer geek. You found us because you tracked her here, didn't you?"

The elf’s voice was dry, cold. Barbis internally noted to tell his captain to put extra protection around the human. In addition to the captain’s interest, humans were a valuable, but vulnerable specie. ”Yes ..."

"She got sloppy."

Barbis could only agree. As valuable humans were, there was a reason their specie was declining. ”Generally, human are sloppy."

"Generally, imperial officers don't take notice of ordinary human. What caught your superior's attention about her?"

Truthfully, the human only caught the captain's attention because she was pretty and weak. Of course, Barbis was tactful enough not to mention that especially to the hostile elf in front of him.

Instead, Barbis asked, ”What does it mean to you? It's not like you can use this information to avoid a similar situation in the future. This is it for you."

"Just preparing a mild lecture for when we get out of here for her. Whatever she did, she should know better."

"It was opportunity. She didn't do anything.”

The elf snorted, "Yeah right. She didn't do anything my ass."

Barbis tilted his head, then shook himself out of it. "Nevermind that. What were your plans for this rebellion?"

"Oh nothing much. Just overthrow the man and restore balance to the universe. Stuff like that."

"And just how were you hoping to accomplish that?"

The elf smiled. Her lips stretched slowly, revealing gleaming teeth. "Be underestimated. Take everyone by surprise."

Barbis leaned back warily. Even the presence of iron cuffs did not diminish the sense of danger promised by that smile. "Well you've lost the element of surprise didn't you? I don't see you doing anything any time soon."

Sandson tilted her head, her teeth baring smile at its fullest. "Oh I'm not going to do anything. She is."

"Wha-?" Barbis never finished because he felt a prick in his neck. The paralysis set in too fast for him to do anything.

He collapsed in a heap, eyes wide opened and locked to the scene in front of him. He could see the feet of the elf and the next prisoner over. A foot in a drab sneaker step daintily over him, making way for the elf.

There was rattle of metal. The cuffs on the elf fell to the floor. The cuff of the next prisoner fell shortly after that. None of the prisoners were chained to any fixed location, so one by one they came over and the irons fell to the floor in front of Barbis.

Sandson spoke as the other prisoners came and went. ”They assumed I was the leader."

“Really, I would have pegged Alba here as the leader,” said Mohana, the human. “They have the ability to dastardly plot and succeed.” 

The fairy chittered, “O moi? I have no idea what you’re talking about. The tobasco-filling croissant was a complete accident!”

The human hummed skeptically. Barbis listened as he mentally struggled against the drug. There should have been no known drug to take him and his crew down, not by these vagrants, and especially not by humans.

The line of prisoners were finally free and moving somewhere out of Barbis sight, but the elf and the human’s feet remained.

“So,” asked Sandson, “how long do we have?” 

“Enough time to do what we need to do. Did you get any information from him?”

“He,” Sandson nudged Barbis's still conscious body with her foot, "said you were followed by opportunity."

“That’s … vague.” The human stepped behind Barbis. Moments later, two arms encircled Barbis and lifted him up to a chair with surprising ease. “What opportunity? Why did their captain single me out when I started working at the Capitol?”

Now Barbis could see more than feet. The elf had crossed her arm with a thoughtful look. Former prisoners were coming and going, carrying this and that, presumably readying to escape for good.

A gnome walked up and handed a gelatinous rope to the human behind Barbis. “Here you go, we already secured the other guards,” said the gnome in a crackly voice that sounded like marbles crashing and grinding together.

“Thanks.” Mohana walked around Barbis wrapping the rope. The rope tied Barbis’s chest and his arms to the back of the chair, and she used the little bit at the end to make sure Barbis’s could not move his legs either. “Does that look secure to you Mickey?”

This was all wrong, Barbis thought. The human was wrong. The other sentient rebels seemed to defer to the human, not the elf. Humans could not lead, especially not females. Not only that, Mohana was deaf! The other rebels had to step around front of her in order to speak! Deaf, female, disabled, she was — should have been —  the weakest human in the Capitol. She would not have survived a day in the Capitol if the Captain had not take her under his wing.

Sandson stepped up and tugged at the sticky rope. It stretched a half a meter, but did not break and snapped into place when Sandson released it. Barbis flinched, the first movement of his body.

The elf nodded and said, “Regardless of what their opportunity was, Ana, you know what it means that you got caught."

The human groaned, "Ugh, yes. No more undercover work for me. You were right, I was wrong. I just don't know how I got caught so quickly."

Barbis twitched a finger, revealing in the voluntary movement, but despairing of the situation. The human and the elf caught the movement and snapped their gazes to him. Then the human smile.

Maybe, Mohana was not human. Her smile was like an elf, beautiful, powerful, and promising terrible things for those who did not make her happy. Yet, she was not an elf, maybe an illegal human hybrid? She showed no characteristics of other sentient genomes besides human. Something else?

In any case, the time for wondering had pass. Barbis was not in power anymore. Maybe he never was.

Mohana pulled up another chair and sat in front of Barbis. The height equality did not make him feel better. “So, I hope you have some answers and are ready to talk … Mr. Alien.”

~ LL