Valli : Personal Journal of Valli Pillay, a Living Dead Pandemic Survivor

Entry 10

I told Fergie about witnessing the airline crash, and he feels there is definitely a link between that and my reservations about Pedro being a pilot.

"Let's say we were living in 'normal' times," Fergie said and used his fingers to mimic quotation marks, "and you witnessed an airplane crash. You would continue to have serious issues with Pedro being a pilot."

Fergie was curious as to what happened following the incident and we ended up spending most of the afternoon talking about it. We left his office and went out for some tea at the mess hall. We stayed there for a while, talking. He encouraged me to get home and write down some of the stuff we had talked about. I told him I had been writing a lot and maybe he'll get a chance to read it.

"I hope I do, Valli. I believe it will help others understand."

"I know," I said.

"But it's up to you."

I suppose when I am done, if I am ever done, I will have to decide if I will share this journal with other folks or not.

I stayed on Stephanie's roof for a long time after the crash. Mom and Dad called me when they got home and told me it was time I came home too.

When I got back I told them I had seen the whole thing from the time the airplane crashed to the emergency services getting there.

"Are you okay?" Mom asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm fine," I said.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, don't worry."

We spent that evening watching the news and went to bed late. Mom and Dad didn't force Vani and me to go to bed. The MBC, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, gave good coverage of the crash, for once properly reporting on events.

The next day was a Sunday, which meant, occasionally, church, but for sure the market, because Sunday is market day in Rose Belle, or sometimes both if we had time. That day we all went to the market, skipping church. The crash had attracted the curious, or rather those who were morbidly curious, to our village. The police had told people to stay at home. Most people listened but a sizable few had to come see it for themselves. The roads were packed because they were all looking for a place to park. Dad cursed the whole time.

"Why can't these idiots stay at home?"

"Honey," Mom said. "Keep calm."

It was difficult for Dad to keep calm. The traffic was bad, and people and cars were all over the place. Dad kept losing his cool and Mom kept trying to calm him down without much luck.

Thankfully we managed to get our vegetables. The supermarket was closed by the time we got to the shopping centre which ticked Dad off even more. He only drank a few beers on Saturday and Sunday evenings. He usually polished off four beers and sometimes six if Mom or Vani and I didn't grumble too much. Vani and I didn't like Dad drinking, and we gave him a hard time about it. He liked his beer too much to care about what we had to say, especially when the Premier League was on. Dad was whining all the way home he'd have to get his beer from our local store and it was more expensive. He stopped when Mom told him she would make him a nice gajack to go with his beer. Mauritians love their gajacks, which are essentially snacks that go with your drink or just to have like that. They can be samosas, fried chicken or meat, chips, anything fried really.

When we got home, I immediately put on the news and called my parents over. That weekend 35 more airplanes had crashed around the world. And as we sat there watching the news, Dad forgot about his beer and Mom forgot to make him his gajack. Dinner was just instant noodles. We ate in front of the TV, which we never did. I was so engrossed in the news I forgot my homework. It wasn't a problem because when I went to school the next day there weren't any classes. The Ministry of Education had sent several psychologists to schools in the area to meet with students who might have witnessed the crash. Four had been sent to our school, I was sent to meet one of them. His name was Daniel Chung. He was handsome, like the actors in Hong Kong action movies I'd sometimes watch with Dad. All the girls wanted to meet him because the other three were older women or men.