Day 54: Advice From Beyond

My mysterious emailer has come up with a cogent explanation of Nina’s behavior. She writes that Nina might have felt she caught the flu through some exposure I’d consider unacceptable. She could have been seeing someone who had it or hanging out somewhere that turned out to contain the virus.

She felt guilty. She wanted to cover it up, get rid of the illness, the symptoms, as soon as possible. She wanted to take control. So she raided my Relenza.

To spare me from her presumed viral particles, she decontaminated everything in my apartment and banned me from interacting with her—from sleeping, touching, even from entering my once and future bedroom. Sneeky could’ve caught it from her, of course, but she couldn’t think of—or manage—everything. Ultimately she evicted him, too.

Even her use of an N95 mask makes sense in that light. They protect others from the wearer. I thought she was trying to protect herself from me, which would require one of my masks. On the other hand, she seemed pretty sure I had given it to her after catching it from some vixen, so nothing really makes sense.

In any event, thank you for your thoughtful letter. (Please send the text of your appeal; I’ll post it if it seems suitably broad in scope, as opposed to a local notice.)