Pandemic. Plague. Call it what you will, but it spelled stay-at-home isolation for Leo and his neighbors. Except the new neighbor. Interesting looking but probably not gay and already hauled off to the hospital. That’s how Leo ended up with his cat, and mail, and food packages. A caretaker now, and he doesn’t even know the guy.<br><br>A major storm blows up, and people start piling in: the sick neighbor’s grandson and some other kid. The old lady neighbor with a tree through her roof and her long-lost flame. So much for social distancing, particularly when sex gets into the act.<br><br>Except for poor Leo. Odd man out. Until they decide to spring the sick guy from the hospital. What could possibly go wrong?

Love in Strange Times

The second drawer also held surprises; underwear, both useful and quirky, and two bathing suits; one a lot skimpier than the other. Opening the third drawer he found pajamas, also with his favorite childhood characters on them. He laughed out loud. If only Grandpa were here to share it with him!


He finally had the courage to go into his grandfather’s bedroom. His old karate uniform was hanging in the closet. His colored belts from those days were displayed on the wall over the bed. The bed was unmade, as if he’d been taken from it while sick, taken by professionals to the hospital. At least they had shut the front door and delivered the cat to Leo, but that was about it.


Chapter 6