At the heart of the COVID-19 crisis is quarantine and its attendant
colleague Lockdown. From my lockdown experience, Quarantine is adding up to be
an adversity many multiples more severe and challenging that most adversities
that I may have encountered in my sixty plus years earthly sojourn. It is an
unprecedented disruption of my life.
I am a consultant and my pre lockdown routine has been leaving the house
for office daily at seven in the morning and back at about 8 o’clock in the
evening, a warm shower follows before I settle down on my favourite armchair for a
spot of news on television while taking supper. I normally go to bed at exactly
11 o’clock in the evening.
I need to add that I have only one wife- a corporate employee- tottering
towards retirement and a father of four two young male adults and two
teenagers, boy and girl. Pre- COVID-19, I can’t really recall when we last had
a meaningful family conversation with the four products of my loins.
What I experienced on Good Friday was bound to
happen. You see, every home has a seat where the head of the house sits. I have
a seat reserved for me, it sits in a domineering position with the perfect view
of the television and a small side table next where, my reading glasses and
mobile phone rests. Everybody in the house knows that, the house help knows
that even the family pet cat knows that!
So, on Good Friday, at exactly 34 minutes
after eight in the evening, I walk in from my shower and dressed in a gown and
I find my 21 year old son on my seat. Even by the strange, elastic standards of
this time. It is an abomination.
I am surprised, as he knew I was in the house;
so I give a long steady gaze to this partly grown human being, hoping that it
would chill his blood. He gazes back at me his jaws rhythmically clamping on a
piece of chewing gum and slowly stands up from the seat still holding my gaze.
I now notice that he is broad on the shoulders
and beef has piled up on the biceps and the neck. I also notice that he has a
tattoo of a Nanga on his inner arms. The calf has grown into a young bull.
I could not have noticed this, I thank lockdown for this. I find myself thinking that if this
was a real bull, then this was the appropriate time to put it down for prime
veal beef.
I imagine that he is smiling inwardly, Our
eyes meet and the young bull throws a subtle challenge to the old bull, the
challenge is so subtle that it goes unnoticed by everyone in the room save for
me. It seems to say-Old man, your time is up.
I have willingly taken the challenge; it will
be a nice long fight, a long drawn fight. I have the experience and the resources to
make it a long and interesting fight. The young bull will win of course, he has
the energy, the time and yes he is also stupid.
Yes, it will be a nice long fight and I will
love every minute of this.
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