Read first:
- Story 1: Coronavirus in the Fairytale Land. Princess Reasonzel and a Mysterious Virus
- Story 2: Coronavirus in the Fairytale Land. Epidemic at the BALL
- Story 3: Coronavirus in the Fairytale Land. Doctor Dolittle and the Little Lighter Girl
Contrary to the claims of Reasonzel’s advisers, the subjects of princess Aurora didn’t idle their time away. The CINDERELLA teleworking program was also introduced in their country, and online businesses were springing up like mushrooms.
A happy ending was, however, still far, far away, mostly due to a disastrous decision made by the royal couple almost twenty years earlier. Had they not ordered to destroy all spindles in the kingdom, most house-bound mothers would have gladly locked themselves in sewing rooms under the pretence of saving the world instead of analysing endless sentence structures and repeating the multiplication table with their offspring. As a consequence, the level of frustration in the country was soaring while the number of face masks plummeted.
Meanwhile, the neighbouring kingdoms also struggled with similar shortages. Attested dragon-hide masks quickly ran out. Due to intense use, their anti-virus scales peeled off, and the hide lost its legendary elasticity. Three wishes granted by the Genie were quickly used to satisfy other needs. And the Flounder, having worked out where all the disposable masks and gloves were going to be discharged, refused to further cooperate after completing just a few dozen orders.
Waiting for the transport of less durable yet lighter veils from the land of Scheherazade, the fairytale countries tried to cope with the situation as best as they could. Quarantined couriers donated their red riding hoods. Celebrities also played their part. Catskin, who had to cancel all of her shows, converted many of her outfits into somewhat extravagant yet highly fashionable face masks. Her products weren’t sufficient to satisfy the demands of a single isolation ward, yet their sale on auctions organised at the BALL raised funds to feed overworked physicians.
Furthermore, Catskin’s initiative promoted home production of masks even among those who had never used a sewing machine before. These masks were rarely flawless, e.g. those worn by Hans My Hedgehog were full of holes. Health care professionals were, however, happy to use other ingenious inventions of home-grown engineers, like a ventilator made of sweet flag, which had a calming effect.
Face shields and protective suits were even harder to come by. In an act of solidarity, fairytale countries agreed they would bring all wars to a halt in order to use armour as protection for doctors. Nevertheless, it soon transpired that they were not the most comfortable gear to perform surgeries or even to examine patients properly. They also didn’t fit everyone.
A top-down directive recalled giants from medical services in order to save material that could be used by entire hospital units. Fabrics could also be confiscated from private households, like in the case of mattresses and twenty feather-beds taken from a certain castle, which were reported anonymously by a certain resourceful orphan.
The situation in the Hundred Acre Wood was no different, with doctors tending to patients in face masks in all colours of the rainbow and all imaginable patterns.
“Didn’t I tell you to get vaccinated? One little injection and we would all be healthy now. But, no, ‘Rabbit, this would hurt!’, ‘Rabbit, don’t be such a hypochondriac!’ And see what you got now!” A long-eared animal was growing frantic. “You also didn’t feel like rinsing your nose with saltwater or washing your hands with sesame oil.”
“I would like to observe, my dear friend, that there is currently no effective vaccine against our virus, and all other protective measures are myths. There is no better evidence than you. Although we are all infected, you have the most severe symptoms,” calmly explained Owl and quickly tucked his head under his wing to avoid Rabbit’s sneeze as he still hadn’t learned to cover his snout with an elbow. “Yet if you hadn’t insisted on importing those suspicious seedlings…”
“The seedlings were fine, cough, cough… Besides, I sprayed them with spirit, cough, cough…” Rabbit would have surely provided more arguments to defend his gardening practices if he hadn’t choked on his words and succumbed to a violent coughing fit.
“I warned you not to go out in a storm strong enough to destroy stick houses as well as their inhabitants’ health. But, of course, nobody noticed,” recalled Eeyore, depressed.
“I have to agree with you, my friend, but only up to a point,” commented Owl. “We should have, indeed, stayed home, but not due to the weather. According to the Wonderful Hypochondriac Organisation, WHO, strolls are still recommended, but only solitary. Especially in the case of the elderly, am I right, Rabbit?”
“I beg your pardon, cough, cough! I’m in the prime of life, cough, cough…”
The friends would have continued their conversation about the possible causes of infection had they not been interrupted by a doctor.
“Why are you not in a tent yet, sir? It is forbidden to cough at other patients! You should be isolated!”
This proved to be too much for poor Rabbit, whose temperature had just rocketed.
“Go away, cough, cough… Hands off me! Aargh!” Rabbit cried from beneath an instantly pitched tent with a flowery pattern. “It’s a heffalump! Help, cough, cough…!”
“Are you insulting me? I’m an elephant. My apologies for not introducing myself. Doctor Dumbo, at your service.”
“It’s a heffalump! Elephants don’t have their trunks knotted. And doctors wear face masks, cough, cough…” stuttered out Rabbit before he fell on his back out of breath.
“Yeah, right. Has anyone ever seen an elephant in a face mask? How am I supposed to fit my trunk underneath it? It would be totally impractical. Tying it in a knot, in turn, decreases the chances of sneezing at a patient,” explained Dumbo.
Friends gathered at Rabbit’s tent accepted the explanation without further ado. Only Owl expressed his doubt:
“Weren’t you supposed to have lost your senses as a result of infection?”
Dumbo shook his head.
“Don’t believe in all gossips you hear at the BALL. And no more talking. Your friend needs to be intubated.”
At the sound of these words, Rabbit sprang to his feet and tore himself away, raving about heffalumps and woozles that were out to kill him. Tired after an all-day duty, the doctor eventually admitted that his patient wasn’t going to die on his shift and left.
The animals were about to resume their discussion – this time focusing on how to help poor Rabbit – when a rodent with a face mask made of a hollowed beetroot emerged from under their feet.
“Gopher, is that you?” asked Tigger, who was the first to recover from the shock.
“Why, is there anyone else you can see here?” answered the marmot.
“Hooray!” rejoiced Tigger, bouncing on his tail.
“Have you dressed up to cheer us up?” asked Pooh.
“My building site was shut down, and I was told not to stray far from home, so I decided to retrain and become a paramedic. I gather you just couldn’t stop yourselves from celebrating the first days of spring together and infected one another. But you, Kanga? I expected better of you.”
“Roo broke his leg while bouncing. We went straight to EW, but when he was having his leg put in a cast, the Hundred Acre Emergency Ward was turned into a Hundred Acre Isolation Ward, and we were forbidden to leave.”
Gopher whistled in acknowledgement.
“Right. Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk but to work. Where is Rabbit? I was asked to intubate him.”
As soon as Gopher entered the tent, Rabbit’s cry filled the air:
“Blood! Blood! I’m going to bleed to death!”
“It’s not blood, you scaremonger. My beetroot stained your fur. I need to replace my mask. Piglet, would you please come an help me?” called out Gopher.
“I…I…I no-no-no… be-be-because,” Piglet tried to excuse himself, increasing his distance from the tent. “Because I still haven’t received te-te-test results, and they still might be negative, so I…I…I…”
“Well, then, check it yourself!” cut in Tigger. “Draw a deep breath and bounce ten times. If you don’t cough after that, you’re healthy. Such testing is what tiggers like best!” claimed Tigger and bounced twice but had to stop due to a fit of coughing.
“Better save your breath for later, Piglet, and stop trembling. I won’t make you come closer. You have all rights to distance yourself. I can cope on my own,” assured Gopher, forcefully inserting a tube into Rabbit’s windpipe and unzipping the tent.
The sight of Rabbit lying motionless with something long sticking out of his snout would have surely depressed his friends if not for the fact that the orange tube bore a striking resemblance to his favourite vegetable. Gopher, in turn, vanished under the earth before Roo managed to ask him whether he had really used a hollowed carrot for intubation.
Since both Rabbit’s wheezing and his protests subsided, the animals went to sleep. Only Pooh was still furtively eating honey from a pot smuggled to the ward, happy that in the general turmoil, all doctors so far had ignored his obesity and no one had used the new disease as a pretext to order him to go on a diet.
…to be continued…
I hope you enjoyed this story. Feel free to share the link to this page with anyone you want!
If you would like me to write a similar (or a totally different 😉 ) story for someone you know, please read my OFFER or contact me directly at joanna@mypresents.eu .
And if you are at a loss as to how you can celebrate someone’s special day while maintaining social distance, read my ideas for “12 safe gifts to give in the time of a disease”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOANNA OSESIK – Polish-English-German translator, teacher, lecturer; privately wife, mother, friend and blogger. In 2020 she published the first of her numerous short stories, which have so far been enjoyed only by her family and friends.
What she cherishes most in fiction is uncovering stories that are concealed or inconspicuous and providing ordinary content with an original, magical lining.
On her blog mypresents.eu/en, she recalls wonderful, ingenious gifts she has given or received and shares her ideas on how to make others smile with personalised presents. In her free time, she also helps readers to write stories as gifts for their nearest and dearest.
Feel free to consult your ideas by writing at joanna@mypresents.eu .
Follow the adventures of fairytale characters in the next story: Coronavirus in the Fairytale Land. An Easter Carol