When my son, Josh, was a very little boy, the worst punishment doled out was to send him to his room for time out. I could never understand why that made him unhappy, since there were plenty of books and toys for him to enjoy, until I cooled off, and he could get his freedom.

Now I get it! It’s not the room, it’s the confinement.  I love my new apartment, and always have plenty of activities to keep me occupied, but it’s the (hopefully) semi-permanent isolation, and distancing from family and friends, that is so hard to take.

Consequently, always looking for a new distraction, and excuse to leave my apartment, I was most interested with the notification that public health nurses would be on the premises to administer a nasal-stick-it-up-your-nose test to determine if anyone here is infected with the COVID-19 virus.  I learned a new oxymoron when we were warned that a “false-positive” might show up, and that some unsuspecting person might be infected.

Properly informed, I signed up. The exercise was free, and would take only ten minutes.Yippee! It gave me an opportunity to leave my apartment, other than taking daily walks with all the other little dogs in the neighborhood, and taking a one-person-at-a-time dip in the swimming pool.

In the meantime, I planned to watch the Broadway musical, “The King and I” on my television set. It was a re-run from last week when technical difficulties made it impossible to watch the second half of the show.  So, last week I had watched the “King” part, and was looking forward to watching, “And I.” But back to the test—-

I was the first person to sign up for an 8 a.m. appointment. The entire staff was ordered to be tested the day before, so I knew the nurses would have lots of practice with different noses. I filled out the proper paperwork with my very own non-contagious  pen, and the nurse approached me with a q-tip that looked as if it was on hormones. She shoved Excalibur up my nose, and then pulled it out of my ear. Luckily, I had left my hearing aids at home, so I couldn’t hear myself yelping. I learned that from the dogs on my walk.  She dismissed me with, “Now, that wasn’t so bad was it?” I don’t answer rhetorical questions, but all in all, I am happy that I took the test.

Hopefully, all will be well, and soon the nasal-poking nurse will be able to take wax out of people’s ears the normal way. In the meantime, I recommend that all of us make the most of the time we have while we are in. That is exceedingly  better than being permanently  out for the count.

Esther Blumenfeld