Red

I’ve just begun reading Christina Henry’s most recent tale The Girl in Red. 

Hilariously, sort of, Penguin/Random House labels it a “fairy tale.” Sure, in a dark, scary and creepy as fuck way. This assuredly ain’t no Disney outing.

Nope. 

Henry’s stories are WAY more in line with Giambattista Basile and the Grimm Brothers tellings which were never meant as fables for children.

The Girl in Red (based on Little Red Riding Hood), begins in the midst of a pandemic (yes, I KNOW – how ominously en vogue!). The Cough, as it’s called, is a killer. There are different deadly strains, including one where your lungs explode, blowing out your chest in a baby Alien being born kind of a way. Fun, eh?

There aren’t any good survival schemes. The government’s sending troops out to round the remaining, not yet diseased folks up, bringing them to quarantine camps. Since no-one’s been diagnosed before entering, these tent cities become Cough breeding grounds.

How Trumpian…ya know?

In the apocalyptic landscape outside the quarantine camps, only dead bodies, predatory asswipes and feral militia (redundant, I know) types are left. Red’s mixed race family is dead, not from the deadly virus but at the hands of shotgun-toting, racist militia shits. So, she’s on her own and headed for grandma’s cottage in the far off woods.

Grandmas didn't die from stuff like that. Grandmas went on and on, enduring year after year, shriveled and worn but somehow ageless.

What a time this is to be reading a story about a population decimating illness and how the quest for survival does NOT bring out the best in most humans.

I was at MGH again yesterday (because OF COURSE I was – it’s my second home, don’cha know) and asked the nurse who was taking my blood (NOT all of it, mind you), what’s the deal with the coronavirus. I totes get that it’s serious BUT is the media pushing the panic narrative?

Her response? We’re still learning more about this BUT yes, the media’s hyping this up. She instructed me to wash my hands often and well. 

It’d be nice if we had a cool, calm, truth telling Prez leading this country but NO, we have a lying sack of Maybellined weasel shit in the White House who’s referred to COVID19 as a hoax (that and FAKE news being his go-to accusations for anything which inconveniences or shows him off as the fetid dumpster fire of spoiled meat that he is). Yes, the gas station urinal cake did SORT OF walk back his hoax claim,  nonsensically saying that he was referring to Democrats finding fault with his administration’s response to coronavirus, not the virus itself. 

TOO late Bucko! Your dimwitted cult believes you, you’ve, unsurprisingly, totally bungled one of the simpler aspects of your job (putting respected scientists in charge and being a calming focus for worried citizens) AND further divided the country. Great job, Sparky!

Come November, as long as the U.S. hasn’t devolved into a a Henry-eque post-apocalyptic nightmare, I’m voting BLUE NO MATTER WHO. I'm fine with Biden (though Warren would've been perfect and YES I'm still in mourning). Remember, our job as citizens doesn't end just because our Party's guy is voted in. We still need to make noise and get into some good trouble to change this country so that it works for ALL, not just the slimy plutocrats.