46 tests positive

Telling Jill

'Whose going to tell the First Lady?', the voice on the phone asked the three others on the call. Joe sighed and then coughed again. 'Excuse me', he said, putting his handkerchief back in his pocket and reaching for the sanitizer bottle. 'I'm fine', he said, in response to the flurry of queries coming across the phone lines to him. 'That keeps happening and my nose is runny but really I feel fine', he said. 'In response to your question, I'll tell Jilly'. He could feel the relief even across a phone line. 'Y'all might need to evacuate Washington when I do it', he joked 'but I'll tell her she can't come back here.'

He felt a pang in his chest at even saying those words and it was nothing to do with his Covid diagnosis. Joe ended the call with the team and ran his hand along his face. He needed to take a moment. He stood and looked once more at the note Dr. O'Connor had given him. 'Covid-19 has been detected' it read. He shook his head, so simple, such a tiny little sentence and it was about to set off a wave of alerts and messages and news reports right across the world.

He looked out the window and gazed across the south lawn. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, a light breeze blowing a great day for a trip or to take a meeting outside, to escape the bubble of the White House, to meet some real people. He had so enjoyed the event yesterday. Getting to fly up with the delegation had allowed him to get to know some folks better, share some campaign war stories, check up on old friends, meet normal people, great citizens who make the country work. He loved getting a chance to chat to real people. It gave him a chance to gauge the temperature across the country in normal people's lives, not what was fed through the toxic channels of Twitter or the increasingly unhinged takes on television. He sat heavily on the nearby sofa. Thankfully it had been so hot yesterday that they hadn't really hung around long. People were tired and it was too warm to have folks standing out in the bright sunshine so he made his speech and got into the car soon after. Boy was he glad of that now. They'd need to make a list of close contacts. He sighed again. He had one very close contact he needed to ring immediately.

He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed hard. He should have been preparing to go home in a few hours. He hadn't been home in weeks and he and Jill had arranged their schedules to make the most of the weekend. Time together. Just doing the most mundane household, couple things were magic moments since the presidency began. He sighed heavily. He had been so looking forward to this weekend. He was annoyed with himself. How the hell had he gotten it? He was usually so careful. He tried to stop himself from going down that path. What difference who or where he had contracted it, he just hoped that he hadn't passed it on to many people. He groaned aloud at the thought and put his head in his hands, thinking of all the people he had met over the past few days.

A cough erupted, catching him by surprise. He wondered what would happen, how the next few days would play out. He stood again and looked outside. He wouldn't be meeting many people over the next week or so that's for sure. The residence was going to become very familiar to him. He looked at Commander, lying quietly on the rug nearby. He leaned down and ruffled his fur, patted him, and gently pulled his giant ears. 'I guess it's just you and me pal', Joe said as Commander turned his deep soulful eyes on his master. Even the dog had been quiet since the Docs announcement. Everywhere Joe had gone this morning Commander had silently followed as if he was claiming his spot as companion-in-chief for the duration. 'You're going to miss Mom too mate, aren't you', Joe spoke softly. 'I know man, I miss her already but I'll look after you pal, we'll look after each other', he said, resting his hand on the dog's strong lean back. He traced his hand along his sleek fur and patted his side. 'I'm gonna ring Mom now, you can come with me if you like', he said aloud. He stopped and grinned ruefully. 'Less than an hour in and I'm already talking out loud in an empty room', Joe said with a quiet chuckle. 'It's going to be a long week'.