The Waiting Game

Sheila got up and began pacing the floor. This was excruciating. This waiting. It drives you nuts! She didn’t feel like pacing, but her behind had fallen asleep. She decided to take off her shoes and try to find a more comfortable sitting position.

         After twenty minutes of squirming she settled on a semi – comfortable position, which she stayed in all of about five minutes until the doorbell rang. Sheila seriously considered not answering, but then it rang again. She took a deep breath, got up, slipped into her shoes, and opened the door.

         “Well, did you hear? Any word?” gushed her best friend, pushing her way in past Sheila.

         “No, no word. Still waiting.” Sheila answered. “And honestly, I would like to be alone while I’m waiting.”

         “No, you wouldn’t. Let’s play a board game or watch a scary movie or something. The time will pass much faster that way.”

         Sheila took another deep breath, kicked off her shoes and sat down. 

“You go get it, then. You know where they are.”

         “YAY! Be right back!” Amanda squealed as she ran out of the room. Calling from the hallway, she asked if Sheila had a game preference. Sheila’s response was about what Amanda expected. She knew that the waiting was driving her friend crazy.

         Sheila decided to give in, and while Amanda was choosing a game, she ordered pizza. She went over to the movie shelves and selected a couple of scary movies. The girls sat and played ‘Sorry!’. Once the pizza arrived, they put the game away and turned on a movie. When the phone rang, they both shrieked.

         Sheila answered the phone, hoping that this was the news she was waiting for. Amanda was also hopeful, sitting with her fingers crossed. Amanda let out a small groan when Sheila responded yes, she was happy with her long distance service.

         When Amanda headed home, Sheila decided to kill another hour with a bubble bath. When that was done, she took her time getting dressed and brushing out her hair. She selected her clothing for tomorrow and laid it out. When all of that was done, she headed to the kitchen in the hopes of finding something sweet to nibble on.

         Snack in hand, Sheila headed back to the living room and was in the process of selecting a movie to watch alone when the phone rang again. Part of her wanted to do leaps over the furniture to reach that phone. Another part of her didn’t want to answer at all.

         She gave in and answered, and it was only Amanda letting her know she made it home. Discouraged, disgusted and frustrated, Amanda slid her snack into the refridgerator and decided to go to bed. She lay down, determined to get some rest. Waiting was exhausting work. Sheila prayed for the peace of restful sleep, but of course all she did was toss and turn. Finally, she got up and grabbed a book. Most of the time, a good book could draw her in and she could kill hours. Naturally, even the book couldn’t distract her tonight.

         Sheila flipped through the television channels. Of course, three hundred channels and nothing to watch. She perused her movies again and selected one, but it couldn’t hold her interest, either. What else to do? She looked for a snack, but nothing struck her fancy. She finally settled upon putting away the laundry that was piled up in baskets.

         Now Sheila was frustrated again. The laundry had taken all of an hour and a half, and now she was back with nothing to do. Might as well go ahead and clean the bathroom. Decision made, she changed into work clothes and got busy on the bathroom. Feeling wonderful about the delirious amount of detail she had put into her cleaning, she looked at the clock. 

         Now she wanted to scream. She thought she had killed a couple hours easily, but it had only been one (actually ten minutes short of an hour, but she was rounding up). She changed back into her pajamas and went back to bed.

         This time, sleep found her, but it wasn’t good sleep. It was that thin kind of sleep where you aren’t even sure you are asleep and you keep having these horrible little mini nightmares that wake you every so often. However, at this point she decided anything that could kill the time was worth it.

         She awoke to the sounds of the garbage truck outside her window. She sat up, stretched (not satisfactorily), and went in the kitchen. She went about her usual morning routine. Brew the coffee, make toast and eggs, watch the news. And wait. Let’s not forget wait. 

         After breakfast, she got dressed. She had done most of her housework the night before, so she decided to rearrange the kitchen cabinets. Wow! She had never realized how much crap could accumulate in a damn kitchen cabinet. There were things in there she didn’t even remember that she had.

         Ooooh – a special treat! She ran across an old joint hidden in the cabinet way, way in the back. What the hell, she decided, that should definitely pass some time and if it doesn’t I won’t care anyway. She popped herself some popcorn for lunch, poured a glass of wine, and slipped in a movie. She sat with this delightful combination for the entire two and a half hours of the movie, pausing only twice for bathroom breaks and wine refills. Then she went and took a nap.

         Refreshed and relaxed, she awoke from her nap. Suddenly, realization came back when that phone started to ring. She was still stuck in this hideous time warp called waiting. She walked slowly to the phone, wanting it to be what she had been waiting for, but also not wanting it to be that at all. She reached out, praying that it was Amanda.

Of course it wasn’t Amanda, and it wasn’t what she was waiting for, either. What it was was her mother, and although she loved her mother, talking to her on the phone was even worse than waiting. Her mother drug her through an hour and a half conversation, based mainly on what she was cooking for dinner, who Dr. Phil had on his show, and what gossip she had gleaned from the other family members. 

When her mother finally hung up, she went into the kitchen to rummage up her own dinner. She had just opened the fridge when the phone rang again. Just like her mother, to call back five minutes after hanging up. Sheila groaned and answered the phone in a very grumpy tone of voice.

This time it wasn’t her mother, and it wasn’t Amanda, either. This was what she had been waiting for. She had been waiting for five miserable, long, treacherous days to speak to the person on the other end of the phone. He had five words for her, one for each day of waiting. Those words were, “You’re Coronavirus test was positive.”