IN THE FACE OF A PANDEMIC

James took in the face of the tall curvaceous woman standing beside her in the subway station. She was beautiful! A kind of beauty that only reminded him of his late wife Elena. The train pulled up and he could not help but throw a last glance at the lady before stepping into the carriage. Once inside, he realized that the only available seat was right opposite where the lady she had been admiring outside sat.

He looked at his watch and shrugged, it was going to be a really long six hours’ journey if he was going to stare at his wife’s lookalike all along. The mere thought of Elena really agonized him. This was actually the reason why he was leaving town. He wanted to be faraway, away from anything that reminded him of her and their son. His plan was to go as far away from here as he could. To start all over again, to try luck elsewhere. 

With no options left for him, he lazily took out his Bluetooth device from his pocket and fixed it into his right ear. He switched on his best collection of a playlist from the 90’s, leaned back and closed his eyes. However, the music in his ears did little to distract him from thinking about Elena and the beautiful life they had built together. He opened his eyes only to find the lady staring at him and their eyes locked. For a moment, he held the gaze but quickly closed his eyes once more and leaned backwards swearing to himself not to open them again until he arrived. Those eyes reminded him so much of her. “Why on earth did they look so much alike? Who was she and could she be related to her in any way?” These questions kept drifting in and out of his mind. He remembered how fast they had fallen in love and gotten married within the first six months of their dating. Their love had grown day by day and even became stronger when they had given birth to their son two years later.

He remembered how happy he had felt the first time he had held his son Lemuel at the Hospital. He also recalled the joy in there faces when the sonographer had told them that their second pregnancy was a baby girl.

They had built so much together in those ten years. When they met, Elena worked as a receptionist at a foreign embassy while he worked as a computer engineer at a flight company. They were a happy middle-class family going about their daily lives. 

Towards the summer of the previous year, news started circulating of a new respiratory disease that was killing people within the first two weeks of showing symptoms. It first started as a rumor that the government rubbished but then slowly started becoming a reality. It was said that the disease had started from a small city in a country in Asia but had spread quickly to other cities and then had started spreading to other countries. At first, they paid no much attention to it as the thought or even an idea of a pandemic had never crossed their minds since childhood. The only pandemic they had experienced was the HIV and AIDS and it had not been of so much concern to them as its mode of transmission was nothing compared to what was being said about the new disease. Therefore, James continued with his job at the airport as usual. After about a month, the government finally admitted of having confirmed the existence of the disease and said that it was doing all it could to curb its spread. People were requested to be extra vigilant as the disease was highly infectious and deadly with no known cure.

However, these admissions seemed to come a little bit too late as a week later, one of their colleagues at work started coming down with a fever and a flu. Given that the symptoms were similar to those that were being shown by others who had the disease, the airport had to be closed for sometimes and everybody sent onto self-quarantine as they awaited test results of their colleague. Within no time the country started reporting more and more cases of the new disease. In a bid to contain the spread, cities were put on lockdown and only essential services were allowed to continue operating. International travels were locked.

The embassy where Elena worked and other institutions started lay ing off most of their employees. James and Elena included. Days, weeks, months had passed with no end in sight. They used up all their savings on food and rent. 

With no job or source of income, James had turned to friends, family and well-wishers for help to feed his family. They sold their household items and their only car at a throw away price. As if this was not enough, when they were at their lowest point, their son came home from their estate playground complaining of a headache and stomach discomfort. They assumed it was the normal children illness, gave him some pain killers and told him to go and lay for some time as they observed his symptoms. However after about an hour he had gone to check on him and what he saw made him scream. His son’s face had already turned pale .He was all sweaty and was burning with fever .He had also developed breathing complications .They called for an ambulance but he died on the way to the hospital. A week later, his wife too developed similar complications and died three days later while in the intensive care unit. The doctors had advised him to take a test for the new disease even though he showed no signs together with his daughter. To his shock the results had come back positive and they were put in isolation and started treatment immediately. A month later he and his daughter were lucky to leave the hospital alive .

However, with no job, wife and son gone , he felt dejected and lost. He did not know where to start or how it would all end. There was no way he was going to continue living in their one-bedroom apartment. It would give him night mares and bad memories. He had decided to take his daughter to the village and leave her under the care of his mother when travel restrictions were lifted, then look for ways on how to maneuver around. 

****************************

It had been a year since the death of Elena and James had not been able to secure employment. He survived from pocket change given to him by his former colleagues and friends. All of who were also struggling. He could not sleep at night. This place only reminded him of the agony of losing his son and wife Today, he had decided to take a train and move to a faraway city. 

He recollected each and every detail from the time he had met with Elena to the moment he stepped into the train. To run away from the pandemic struck environment. The thought of stepping into the train brought him back to the reality. He quickly sat straight and opened his eyes. He was profusely sweating with his fists clenched. He looked around only to see everyone in the train staring at him. Had he been talking to himself? had he been shouting? he wondered but it was too late to tell. “Am sorry”, he apologized to everyone in general feeling embarrassed.

After everyone had settled back to their seats, he realized that only Elena’s lookalike was staring at him. Before he could take his gaze away, she smiled at him and nodded in acceptance of his apology. He thanked her and was about to look away when he realized something else, her tight mini skirt had risen up her thighs and only a small part of her thighs was covered. He could even see the color of her panty. He tried to look away but he could not. The lady caught him in his gaze and instead of pulling it lower, she spread her legs a bit revealing more of her inner side. Her thighs looked soft and tempting to touch and he felt his body rise. All the thoughts about Elena and the pandemic vanished and all he could think of was the lady opposite her. But then again on second thought he felt stupid. He was already rendered poor by the pandemic and had nothing to offer apart from his good looks. A lady like her could never want to be with a man like him. His body started cooling off and he was able to look away for the first time in minutes.

The beautiful lady rose and went to the bathroom only to come back after about ten minutes. This time she had applied more makeup on. When she sat, he realized that she had intentionally lifted up the skirt. His gaze went from her face to her thighs and back. When their eyes locked, she bit her lower lip sexily and looked at him so seductively then spread her legs a bit only for him to realize she had removed her white panty. The message was so clear and there was no way he could resist the temptation. His body was already so hard, darkness was fast approaching and he wished he could have gotten a space next to her.

At the next stop the lady alighted. James followed even though he had not arrived. She was walking fast and he almost lost her. He ran and grabbed her hand. She turned and looked at him straight in his eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds, he then pulled her closer and without a word they hugged and kissed in the middle of the road, darkness providing them a little privacy. They kissed passionately as if they had known each other their entire lives. Then they held each other’s hands and walked to the nearest hotel.

After a rigorous and passionate hour if kissing and love making, he only woke up the following morning and to his disappointment, she was already gone. He cursed and hated himself for having slept so deeply. He should have asked her for contacts, he should have told her how beautiful she was and that he loved her before they slept. He paced around the room wondering how he would ever see her again. He felt heartbroken as he angrily rushed to take a shower, quickly dressed and grabbed his suitcase ready to leave and then right there below his suitcase was a piece of paper. He looked at it and smiled as he walked to the bus station. To the very least, he had hopes of a new beginning.