The Jab

The big day had finally come and Andy and Maggie sat in the kitchen looking out at the cold grey morning sky. It was the middle of January and the heating in the flat was on full blast. Both of them were up and dressed as the nurses from the health center were coming in an hour to administer their vaccines. They were relieved to be finally getting it done.

Rather than wearing the usual lounge wear that they had got used to during lockdown they decided to dress properly for the visit from the nurses. Andy was wearing a pair of sand coloured chinos and a dark green polo shirt. Maggie also made an effort choosing her floral blouse with the crimson ribbon and a chocolate brown M&S cardigan. She had tried on the skirt that she usually wore with this ensemble but found that she couldn't squeeze into it and had to pair the outfit with the stretchy pants that Jan had bought her for Christmas.

'More toast Mam?' Andy asked as he popped two more pieces into the toaster.

'No thanks son,' she had immediately retorted remembering the struggle she had getting dressed. Andy sat down and buttered his toast pouring more Tea from the striped Tea pot.

'Now Mam once we get our second jab you can think about getting outside again now can't you?' Andy said.

Maggie, staring vacantly at the yellow kitchen walls, answered him: 'Oh yes that would be nice,' but she knew in her heart she couldn't face going outside again and whenever she thought of the outside world it made her terribly anxious.

She thought of Bill and felt sad that he had died of this terrible virus. 'If only Bill was here,' she suddenly said, still believing it was all her fault, remembering her trip to the shops to get cigarettes.

Seeing how his Mam was thinking Andy brought up Bill's VR helmet again. 'Mam it was the helmet, the virus was in that helmet from China, remember?' he said softly as if he was speaking to a child.

The doorbell rang and startled both of them as these days it was an unusual occurrence. They both jumped up and Andy buzzed their visitors into the block of flats. Maggie stood in the hall and checked her appearance in the mirror as she put on the surgical mask that she had been instructed to wear. Not liking what she saw she turned away quickly.

Andy opened the door as he saw the figures through the frosted glass. He let in the two nurses, one male and one female, who were wearing masks and visors and showed them into the living room. Andy and Maggie stood in the living room feeling awkward with the nurses trying to keep social distance in the small space. The nurses went through everything with them explaining the procedure and then got them to sign some paperwork before they could continue. Andy was asked to wait in the kitchen as they would inject Maggie first and then they would call him in for his shot.

Maggie realized as she sat down that she had dressed inappropriately for the procedure and ended up having to take off her cardigan and then slip her arm out of the blouse. Her arm had gotten too fat to pull up the sleeve and she sat self-consciously half undressed as they administered the shot.

'All done,' the nurse administering the shot said in a matter of fact voice. Maggie pulled her blouse back on and hurriedly put her cardigan on. She thanked the nurses profusely and offered them a cup of tea.

'Oh no we can't have tea that's against the rules now but thank you anyway. You just sit here for the next ten minutes and relax. The shot can make some people a little light headed,' one of the nurses said casually.

'Sher I hardly felt a thing,' said Maggie, feeling a wave of relief sweep over her. The nurses went through the protocol that she was to take it easy for the next few days. They would come back in two weeks' time to give both her and Andy the second shot.

After the allocated time they instructed her to sit in the kitchen as they called Andy in. It was all rather efficient. Andy had no worries at all about taking the shot despite what his family had said. He just felt quite pleased with himself that because he was Maggie's carer he was to get the shot earlier than others in his age group.

'That hardly hurt at all,' he said afterwards. 'No different than the flu shot really I don't know what all the fuss is about.'

Maggie however had felt somewhat queasy and had a slight headache shortly after the nurses left.

'Why don't you lie down on the couch and watch something on the telly,' Andy said. 'It's quite normal for some people to have side effects,' he reassured her. He sat in the living room with his Mam and turned on the telly. They both sat watching some presenters discussing the vaccine roll out and both of them felt quite smug and pleased with themselves.

'Well Mam that's us on the way and if everyone just obeyed the rules things would be back to normal in no time.' Andy said, sounding more than a little bit self-righteous.

As they sat on the couch talking they got onto the subject of the rest of the family.

'Well Mam we can be an example to them and show them the light,' Andy said. Maggie agreed.

'Yes well maybe when they see that neither of us have any problems they will stop all this nonsense.' she said.

They had not spoken to any of the family since the last phone call when they had been shocked at the family's behavior. Andy and Maggie constantly spoke about it.

'I think we should call them tomorrow,' said Maggie 'and let them know that we have had the vaccine and its nothing to worry about. We can reassure them.'

'Yes well, we can try I suppose,' said Andy, not feeling too convinced. 'It's their bloody choice and if they ever want to see either of us again they will have to reconsider.'

Once again Andy could feel his blood boil. 'Selfish bastards,' he muttered under his breath.

'Why don't I make a nice lunch for us Mam,' he said, 'and then we can do some online shopping?'

'Oh yes that would be nice,' Maggie answered. She enjoyed doing the online shopping it had become quite a thing for them both. Andy would make jokes and they would both actually pretend to be in the supermarket pushing the trolley down the aisle.

'Pass me some butter,' Andy would say and Maggie would ask 'Oh what kind,' and they would continue like this for the whole order. It took hours and they made the same jokes every time, both of them laughing together. Andy would say things like 'Oh look there's Mrs Casey. I hear shes back on the Gin again.' Then they would both pretend to greet her and gossip about her afterwards. It was quite mad really. It had escalated into a full-blown virtual reality shopping trip and neither of them realized how wrong it really was. What they really needed was social contact but that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

After they had lunch and had done the shopping Maggie perked up and wasn't feeling too bad after all. They both sat there having a spot of afternoon tea feeling quite pleased with all that they had achieved that day. They now only had to wait a few weeks and they could finally start getting back to normal.

Andy disappeared into his bedroom to go online and Maggie smoked a cigarette on the balcony. Andy had started giving her a hard time about giving up. He had hoped she would do it for New Year and she had gone along with it knowing that she had absolutely no intention of giving up. As she came in from the balcony Andy would spray the air freshener around and make comments about the smell of smoke. This irritated her every time so when Andy was in his bedroom she would sneak out to the balcony to avoid his withering looks and his manic spraying of air freshener. He had even cut down her supply of cigarettes from the online shopping saying it was for her own good. It was the only time she put on her coat these days.

As she smoked her cigarette she decided to call Jan and try and build bridges, after all they were the only family they had. So when she got back in she quietly picked up the phone and called her. Jan sounded surprised to hear her voice.

'So how is Andy?' said Jan.

'Oh he's fine, he's in his bedroom so I thought I would give you a call. Oh Jan I'm sorry we have all fallen out but you know what Andy can be like. He's just so worried about you all.'

'There's nothing to worry about,' said Jan.

'Well Andy is worried sick and so am I Jan. You must reconsider your views on Corona and stop taking all these risks, and what about Teddy? You could all be spreading this virus Jan. Now look I just wanted to call to tell you and to reassure you that the vaccine is perfectly safe. Andy and I have had our first jab today,' she said quite proudly, 'and both of us are fine no problem at all.'

Famous last words.