Pandemic Proposals: Who's the Bravest of Them All?

Raina de la Carte. That young lady was stunning, intelligent, vivacious. Her big brown eyes sparkled beautifully when she, and her mocha-colored skin was always gleaming like the Nubian Queen she was. She was tall and slender, but alluringly curvy and had a mellow smoky voice that would awaken even the deafest ear. She was always catching the eyes of the men and had many suitors come and go, but she was so focused and driven that she barely paid them any mind. But little did she know, just how much her life was about to change. 

The weekend before Christmas she had been out and about helping the food bank pass out bags of food during a drive-through donation event. The pandemic had skyrocketed the number of needy households, and the lines of cars were endless as they lined up into the street. After she completed her shift, she was exhausted as she had awoken very early to maximize her time at the food bank. She went to bed early after having some well-needed self-care and drifted off to sleep. 

A couple days later she started feeling off and assumed it was just exhaustion from adjusting to the new schedule of working from home and community service. But within 24 hours she started feeling like she could barely keep her head up and checked herself into Urgent Care. Inwardly she was praying it wasn’t the virus but had a feeling that it was. She was tested, but her results turned out negative. She protested that she wasn’t feeling well, but the waiting room was over capacity as it was so she decided to try to head home. 

Suddenly she finds herself waking up to machinery beeping and an IV in her arm. She is too weak to open her eyes, and her body feels like it had been hit by a jet. She feels someone in the room and tries to open her mouth to speak but all she hears is croaking and a nasty wheezing noise in her lungs. She carefully dampens her dry lips, typically luscious and full, and finally opens her eyes to see that she is all alone. The room is bare other than what it came with. 

She reaches for her phone weakly and realizes she has been in the hospital for 48 hours and that Christmas Eve is the next day. Her heart sinks as it hits her that the reason there were no get-well cards, flowers or stuffed animals in her room is that not even family is allowed to see her or other patients because of the virus. She looks at her phone again and sees that an entire slew of notifications has nearly covered her entire screen, but she is still too weak to really comprehend what everyone is saying through their panicked texts and messages. 

She looked around slowly, and notices that she is in an isolation unit that has a plexiglass wall instead of curtains. “How could it have gotten that bad that quickly?” she asked herself internally. “When will I be able to see my parents? Are they okay?” She eventually drifted off to sleep again as the clock on the wall continued to tick loudly, almost derisively. The heart rate monitors steadied, and the machinery quietly beeped as she drifted. 

An ebony hand with long fingers taps nervously on a knee under the steering wheel. A sneakered foot peeking out from under pale ankles encased in joggers taps the airplane carpet impatiently. Soulful green eyes shift nervously from the bus window to a watch. Rugged fingers refresh the browser one more time for updates about the young lady. And yet another figure sits calmly, sun-kissed hands folded in prayer and full lips slightly parted in concentration. Five young men had no idea how their lives were about to change because of the beautiful young queen laying in that isolation unit.  

Word had gotten around to these men of how ill she was and each of them did everything in their power to get to her before she got any worse. Two of them had met her before, but the other three had only spoken to her remotely from various different situations. They all had intensely admired her for years and worshipped her, but she had always politely declined their advances. However, she remained friends with them. They saw her parent’s social media updates about her condition, and immediately started their journey to her, against all odds.  

Many hours later she hears murmured voices in the hallway. Some sound upset and cautionary, and others quietly protest. The door opens, pauses, then closes again. Young men’s voices greet her, but as she drifts in and out, she is not sure what is real and what isn’t. “You can’t go near her, are you crazy?” The blonde one says with an English accent. “No, I’m simply not living in fear,” says the one with the green eyes. “We should still be cautious,” says another quiet voice. “She’s so beautiful,” says another. They all observe her from behind the plexiglass wall as she drifts.  

Suddenly, the green-eyed fellow asks, “Why are we all here?” his forehead crinkling as all their masked faces turn to look at each other. No one said anything until one of them pulled out a tiny box that was encased in blue velvet. Slowly each of the young men pulled a ring box out of their pockets as they continued to look at each other in shock. “So, who’s going to go first?” The blonde one asks. They looked at each other nervously, not wanting to walk too close to her for fear of becoming ill.  

Carefully they walked to the side of the barrier and tenderly proposed to her, but still didn’t go near her. Except for the one with the bronze skin. He was often picked on for looking “plain”, but he had a loving heart and often put others before himself. Unbeknownst to her, he had been observing her from afar for a while and was actually her neighbor from down the street. He had also been one of the people she had served from the food bank, and he had always admired how much she was willing to put herself on the front lines to serve others.  

As he began to step around the barrier, one of the boys grabbed his arm to yank him back, but he sharply looked at him and said “I will not live in fear! She risked her health to contribute to her community, why can I not contribute to her happiness?” The boys backed away, as he walked towards the bed and took her hand. In her head it seemed like a dream the way he proposed to her, muffled and unclear. She was still too weak to respond and drifted off to sleep again. 

The day turned into night, and one by one the young men sorrowfully turned away and left except for the one who had been by her bedside the whole time. Out of respect he did not put the ring on her finger as she was unable to consent. So instead, he laid next to her in the hospital bed while she was sleeping, with the ring resting in his pocket. She opened her eyes to find herself wrapped up in his arms and blankets, and couldn’t do anything but stare in shock. “Why do I feel like I know you?” she asked, still a bit fuzzy. “Because you do,” he said. 

They quietly talked for a few moments, then he took the ring out of his pocket and proposed to her again. She initially protested and told him that he could do so much better than her, but he told her affirmatively that he knew this was the right thing, and told her what had happened with the other boys. She happily said yes, and just as she did so the nurse came in and fussed at him to go home and to follow protocol. But he stayed put and said he wouldn’t leave Raina by herself. 

Less than a week later, Raina was released from the hospital and went home. She was lying in bed resting when, suddenly her phone started pinging loudly, and as she looked at the screen her heart almost fell out of her chest and she started shaking. He was gone, just like that. Turns out that he contracted the virus not even 24 hours after he had proposed to her and had been quietly suffering ever since. He never told her because he didn’t want her to worry. But now he would never get that chance.  

Three months after his passing, Raina opened a foundation in his name to contribute to families just like his who had dealt with losing a loved one to the pandemic. It helped her deal with her grief, and she never removed the ring. While the opportunity of being married was taken away from them, the ring symbolized so much more than that. It symbolized hope, commitment, and courage, against all odds. And that is what she carried with her into the future.