FFM 24: The Great Cold

It came suddenly. The virus was a plague that came with the summer rain, tiny and insidious like a single dandelion seed. it jumped from droplet to droplet, waiting to splatter against an unsuspecting, warm-blooded host.

A germ entered the waterglass that belonged to a family in Brooklyn. The family started coughing, into the night. The youngest son went to work and spread the germ. It ended up infecting a theater company.

The great cold spread through the company. Morning vlogs started with coughing actors sipping ginger mixes. They would blow their noses into various cocktail napkins. They had a matinee in the afternoon. Even the understudies were ill. 

"But!" The commenters cried. "What about the show?"

The show must go on, the company thought. But how can we go on?

It was quite a question. They had to figure out how to keep going. 

"Aromatherapy!" Commenters suggested. "Intense ginger cleanses! Lots of tissues!"

Regardless of this, the curtain had to go up on a sick cast. They swallowed their coughs and cried onstage, usually off-cue. Piles of tissues gathered backstage, just out of sight. Ushers passed out hand sanitizer, especially to those in the front row seat.

It was an interesting performance of muffled sneezes and coughs, of trying not to infect the audience. But the show went on, long after the great cold returned to the city.