I am aghast. “It’s monstrous,” I say.
He seems faintly amused by my outrage and turns from the keyboard with a shake of his silver head. “It’s necessary,” he says. “The way we stop this disease is to isolate the vulnerable and let the healthy catch it. Most will recover and when they do we’ll have a shield of herd immunity.”
“You can’t know that,” I say. “You’re running a terrible experiment with millions of lives.”
His mane tosses like a lion’s. “The peak will be sharp, but it’ll be short.”
Somewhere, faintly, a phone is ringing.
Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here
Neil MacDonald Author 
Yes, the world forgot ‘to look behind you’. I despair with the sudden rush of experts who ignored the obvious.
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To be fair, I think we’ve finally understood again to listen to experts. It’s the politicians who’re scary
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I feel like getting on my soapbox… So instead I’ll just say “humanity people, humanity…”.
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Thanks, Tannille
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Ah, there are no experts in this. Nice one.
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Thanks, Anthony
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‘Most will recover…’
This sums up perfectly the view of our political masters almost worldwide.
At what point does it become genocide?
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I will try to make this my last coronavirus piece
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Dear Neil,
Round and round she goes, the outcome nobody knows.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I suppose it must take courage to spin that wheel
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Sadly, some treat others as guinea-pigs.
Hope the person on the phone is sane. But, will the phone be answered? Will the sane advice be heard?
Take care.
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I think the sane advice is being heard in many countries
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History will judge us harshly, but there will at least be some history. At least I hope so. Well done.
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There will definitely be history. This one is just the dress rehearsal
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Relevant to the time we are in! Hope all is fine in your place!
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We’re all good thanks
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👍
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Ooh, chillingly realistic!
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Thanks, Susan
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I’ve turned off the news. Whenever the scientists speak I feel calm and positive about the future, then the politicians start and I feel blind panic and despair…
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I know what you mean, Iain
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Well, they’re all denying now that ‘herd immunity’ was ever muted – a week after it seemed to be policy. How considerate of Boris to inform us we’d have to be prepared to lose loved ones ‘before their time’, too. Cos that helps. Chilling, but I fear not too far from the truth, Neil
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It’s a direction we could have gone, and didn’t
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I’m thinking I heard something similar in a press conference recently. Makes you long for the days of kind comforting words, or, olacking that,ignorance. Information on a need to know basis.
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It was a strategy they talked about and rejected
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Amazing that this wasn’t fiction, isn’t it! The Science was there all the time and Boris and Co finally heard it. However listening to Trump today we have another leader who gets bored with facts and just prefers to make things up….Staying indoors indefinitely strikes me as a good idea.
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Perhaps some of the leaders can be persuaded to stay indoors indefinitely
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I wish the media would turn off their microphones and go home. Permanently.
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But then we wouldn’t know what was going on
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I’m not so sure we do anyway.
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My friend told me about people comparing coronavirus to chickenpox and suggesting we expose ourselves to build up an immunity. Just like in your story. No thanks.
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Who would have known that herd immunity would be on every one’s lip when the year started
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Guess what next year’s buzzword is going to be
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Chilling! I was wondering what he said at that last press conference! Great storytelling, Neil.
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Thanks so much, Jade
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You are very welcome.
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Damn politicians do nothing but build up fear. Best to listen to the real experts.
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That’s one of the lessons we’re learning. I hope
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We hope….
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An extreme and dangerous measure indeed.
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It would have kept the economy safer
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Timely piece. I hope someone somewhere is quietly making a note of all that is done, all the reactions to it, the timing of the course changes and the outcomes. We’re going to need this stuff so we’re better placed the next time.
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Thanks Sandra. It’s probably no accident that the countries that had outbreaks of SARS are now doing better in dealing with covid19
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Yes, using test-trace-isolate. I’m staggered that we’ve been testing so little in the UK.
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It wouldn’t surprise me if some politician somewhere has suggested this as a solution.
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The evidence is pretty clear that they did. This was apparently Dominic Cummimgs’ view until quite recently
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Indeed it was.
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Whilst the political class attempt to earn their wages, for many of us it is a time to phone or write letters to isolated friends.
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Write letters? Steady on! That’s extreme!
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A pertinent piece! At least it has provided me some time to write – every cloud!
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Thanks, Clafre. We’ll look back on this time as a golden age of literature
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Really well written, Neil. I’m not sure why, but the piece reminded me of Conan Doyle’s writing.
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Thanks, Penny. What an interesting association. Perhaps it’s the Moriarty figure
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The MC put me in mind of Professor Challenger, but it was as much about the language as anything.
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I am in the ‘elderly’ category, much to my rage and fury. I am resigned to catching it even though I follow the rules.
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There’s a difference between catching it when the health system is buckling and catching it when the health system is coping
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we can only appreciate those who came before us and made sacrifices for the common good.
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It’s great to hear words like the “common good” coming back into use
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Oh this concept still scares me. I’ve watched too many sci to disaster shows where this occurs… usually doesn’t end well!
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Luckily, it’s fiction
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Yikes! Good story, but scary.
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Thanks so much
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The evil of our leaders. The trouble with trusting the experts is, there are so many of them and often with contrary views. The first thing to do is work out who are the experts and who are the ‘experts.’
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I think maybe coming out the other end of this we’ll have learned whose advice to listen to
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Ugh!
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Sorry
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Always those willing to sacrifice for the “greater good,” as long as it’s not them making the sacrifice.
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They’ll fight to the last drop of your blood
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Sad to say it sounds like a Non-Fiction. Well penned. God help us.
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Thanks so much, Susan
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I scratch my head at what comes out of many of the policitican’s mouths around the world. I hope we learn a thing or two, but I fear for how many will be lost because of their incompetency to handle the situation. Great piece of fiction with a non-fiction theme, Neil!
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Thanks so much, Brenda
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Who is to say that this conversation is not going on at the highest levels across the world. Scary because it could be true.
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There is some reason to believe something like it did. In more than one country
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Very poignant! Great story.
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Thanks so much
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I went with a lockdown theme this week.
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Evidently, he believes the experiment is necessary for the greater good, as long as he’s not one of the guinea pigs. Frighteningly believable.
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Thanks so much, Magarisa
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The state epidemiologist of Sweden keeps insisting he’s been right all along, and more than ten times the number of the neighbouring countries have died. Talk about insistent guy…
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Sweden is an outlier. But, oddly, not a disaster
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I’m not so sure… They’re on the top ten list of deaths per million inhabitants, worse than both the US and Brazil. Norway, who they usually can compare with, is number 79, Finland number 67. When Norway started acting, it was a lot worse than Sweden. Many deaths could have been avoided easily. That’s the thing with gambling, I guess… Sometimes you lose.
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