Dark Times

These are dark times, and Fio doesn't have any smart-alecky comments or soothing words to relieve your fears. Indeed, she's huddled in the same dark closet you are and wondering how long her isolation will last, if it is safe for her to use a gas pump that a million other hands have touched, if she should have been wearing gloves when she opened her mail box, and what will all of us do when the food runs out locally, then across the nation and the world. 
    Meanwhile, as politicians squabble and bargain, Fiorella tends to her immediate responsibilities--taking care of the dog, preparing the house for sale, working on the taxes, staying in touch with friends (by email), writing, writing, writing, and praying, praying, praying.
    Fio is also trying, more than ever, to be like her mother in WWII and make good use of what she has available. Thus, she's stingy with her paper towels, toilet paper, and cups, and she shreds her old newspapers into packaging material for her eventual move out of the house....if the opportunity materializes.
     One thing that Fio won't skimp on, though, is paying her maid, whom she has told to stay home. After all, that woman has been with Fiorella for twenty years, and she has children to feed.
     However, needless to say, Sonia Dog will not be getting her yearly shots any time soon, which is scary because Fio lives in the middle of a wilderness crawling with all sorts of wild beasts who are carrying God-only-knows what diseases, but there's no way for Yours Truly to avoid human contact in the Vet's office,