Week 3: Cryptic Conversations

Another delay in Matthew’s return. This time it was a government official that called us. Although they did not admit to lying about the forest fire they did admit that there had also been outbreaks of the Southern Flu in central Florida and that they wanted to eliminate any non-emergency travel through the area.

I told the squeaky man that surely there was some safe passage through central Florida.

He said that there probably was, but they were taking an overabundance of caution towards dealing with the situation and although it may seem like an inconvenience the decision was made with everyone’s safety in mind.

I said that it sounded like the Southern Flu was more than the news had made it out to be.

He simply said it was. Then perhaps in an effort to back peddle, he said that I shouldn’t worry as they had everything under control.

We spoke to Matthew again. He tried to sound brave but I could tell he was getting scared.

We talked with Matthew sporadically over the next few days as well as with school officials, government officials, and others. They all indicated that everything would be cleared up by Thursday. At the same time similar situations were popping up all over the United States (and presumably the world).