© Vanessa Vides, MSIV
It’s 4:45 a.m., the alarm snooze button seems a monumental distance away
Everyone else has been ordered to stay at home
Partaking in quarantine is not an option here
For if I do, who will take my passengers into the city?
What passengers you ask?
The other essential workers–nurses, doctors, etc.
They have lives to save in NYC
I need to do my part by helping them to do their part
I have an honesty though, I do also need the money
I need to pay the rent, feed my wife and
I need to send my daughter her monthly $100
I’m not all that altruistic–I cannot afford to stay home
It’s 4:45AM, the alarm snooze button cannot be pressed today
I am so cold and hot all at once
Why does everything hurt?
What is happening?
It’s March, I never get sick in the Spring
Oh no–it can’t be, can it?
I am going to call my daughter, she will know what to do
COVID-19? A test? Stay home?
My bus is a big bus, I don’t understand
There were only nurses and doctors on the bus last week, no one else
They all sat so far away
I have COVID-19?
I can die from this?
But I have to work, I need the money
I have to quarantine for two weeks?
What am I going to do?