William, Liz and Mrs. Claus were sitting in the living room of the house that Mr. Claus had bought in Berkeley after falling in love with the place from last Christmas. He had purchased an older, spacious home in the hills from a retired professor, who sold the house with an impressive collection of midcentury modern furnishings and an ornate harpsichord. No one was happier for the big musical instrument than Peanut, who was Mr. Claus’s beloved poodle-pit bull mix that spent most of her daylight hours outstretched and asleep underneath it.
The whole gang were in the midst of adhering to guidelines laid down by the City of Berkeley that had started with a strict lockdown policy in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They had eventually allowed residents to form social bubbles of 12 people that were allowed to see one another without masking up and that helped people get out a little more. What everyone thought would be a short-term inconvenience was still with them at the beginning of December. Most people were still respecting the guidelines but a recent rise in cases despite all of the precautions pointed to people wanting to return to a more of a social norm.
Mr. Claus was off at a Council of Elders meeting that was hastily called in to deal with rising COVID-19 cases amongst the magical and supernatural members of the planet. They had not been susceptible to the first strains of the virus but there was word of an increasing number of cases from mutated forms of the virus.
“So I hear that the virus is much more contagious than the human form,” said William.
“Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook dearie,” said Mrs. Claus.
“There is no scientific evidence yet, but I expect it will come any day now,” added Liz.
“And we know where that ends up,” said Mrs. Claus snidely.
Mrs. Claus got up and walked over to the big cookie jar on the coffee table that held their supply of edibles. She opened the lid, stuck in her hand and fished around and came up with one gummy cannabis leaf. She popped it in her mouth.
“Damn I hope J.J. gets back soon- that was the last one,” said Mrs. Claus as delicately as she could while chewing.
“I’m more hoping that the damn virus hasn’t found it’s way to us,” said William.
“And that it’s somehow milder than the human form,” added Liz.
“Don’t get your hopes up you two. It’s Christmas and you know something always happens this time of year.”
William looked over at Liz and they both nodded in agreement.
