Select Covid Dreams with Footnotes
1. Another traveler and I were looking at a map of South Africa[1], both of us impressed with the detail. It was a good map. I wanted to rent a Rover and drive down the coast. “They’re not expensive,”[2] he told me. Then we were in Cape Town, and when I asked him where he would go next he said, “I want to visit Yoho.”[3]
“Dude,” I said,“You’re in Africa – explore something here. Go to Madagascar!”[4]
2. A week-long gathering was winding up, and everyone was sitting around in the large bedroom enjoying the vibe that a week of togetherness brings. Some were packing, and I was drawing out my exit.[5]
“Should I go on the two-day or three-day sailing trip next time?”[6] I asked those who were packing. “I guess the three-day, right?”
I grabbed some pens and began to juggle – to impress one of the women.
“Oh,” she said. “You juggle?”[7]
3. My older brother died[8] so I was very upset and looking to my Mom for solace. I cursed the pandemic for not letting us grieve in public with a big funeral.[9]
[1] I spent seven weeks here in 2019.
[2] With rates starting at $100 per day, they’re the most expensive rental cars.
[3] In the Canadian Rockies, near my hometown of Calgary.
[4] I was going to go here in 2019, but went to South Africa instead.
[5] I hate saying goodbye in those situations.
[6] Where can I sign up for one of these?
[7] Yes.
[8] He’s alive and well. It was one of my older sisters who died, of melanoma.
[9] Because of Covid and quarantine rules, I could not travel for the funeral, which was limited to fifty people, though she could have filled a large cathedral. I’ve had a recording of the funeral open in my browser for months, but still can’t bear to watch it alone.
Daniel Hudon, originally from Canada, teaches physics, astronomy and math at the college level. He is the author of The Bluffer’s Guide to the Cosmos, a chapbook of prose and poetry called Evidence for Rainfall, and Brief Eulogies for Lost Animals: An Extinction Reader, named a Must Read in the 2019 Mass Book Awards. He has recent essays in The Smart Set, The Revelator, Hidden Compass and Appalachia Journal. He can be found at danielhudon.com , @daniel_hudon , and in Boston, MA.
You can see more from him in 9.1