CAROLYN O'DOHERTY
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COVID Diaries

5/9/2020

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In the pandemic there is pandemonium. Except there isn’t. Mostly there is boredom. Some of us keep working through erratic remote access. Others are left abruptly unemployed. Many of us share awkward conference calls and unflattering video ones. Some scramble through days gone harried, trying to function while keeping six feet apart. We all sit, isolated, scrolling through social media, watching Netflix, and drinking too much wine.

At least that is the story we tell each other.

The truth is more complex. Our boredom is freighted with fear. We wash our hands, prepare meals, eat, and wash our hands again. We don't sleep well. The familiar scenery outside the door simmers with threat. Our plans have evaporated and the future stretches blank and unknown, its edges a hazy horizon. We are locked down with our nearest and dearest, some of whom turn out to be too near and less dear than we’d hoped.

What is left? The confines of our mind are not always a pretty places.
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Sleeping

4/2/2020

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January 2016

3/26/2020

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     It snowed today. When I woke at 5:30 the porch was speckled with white chips of ice and by 7:00 the entire yard was covered with cold white. Overnight, the last annuals lost their lingering green, leaving behind only empty branches, curled and brown. The house is very quiet. The dog isn’t snoring in Ryan’s bed, the sound of her nails doesn’t clack against the hardwood floor. They’ve grown quickly recently, her nails, as if making up for all the other ways her body is failing.
     I make coffee and watch the snow drift onto the patio furniture I’d meant to bring indoors.
     When we brought Rosie home for the first time she was eleven pounds—two handfuls of oversized puppy. We tried to walk her, but her tumbling feet, combined with the strangeness of the leash, made her give up after a block, and she sat her little self firmly on the sidewalk and refused to budge. We laughed at her, scooped her up, and carried our wriggling little friend where we wanted to go.
     Rosie is ninety-five pounds now and carrying her isn’t an option, but she still shows her displeasure by sitting down. Not heading toward the park? Not interested.
     It’s still funny.
    The snow is falling harder now. Soon the yard will turn into a blank slate, a smooth surface vanishing lost tennis balls, gnawed branches, and unmentionable deposits.
     In a few hours, we’ll bring Rosie home for the last time. We’ll take her from the vet’s sterile cage to the house I’m not sure she’ll recognize. She’ll pace, sleep. She won’t eat. She’s unlikely to drink.
     The vet says it’s a brain tumor. She says we are doing the best thing. We all agreed this is humane.
     I sip my bitter coffee and watch as the snow transforms my world.

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The ugly duckling

10/21/2018

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snow white

10/14/2018

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Frog Prince II

10/7/2018

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sleeping beauty

9/30/2018

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rapunzel

9/23/2018

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The princess and the pea

9/16/2018

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Hansel and Gretel

9/9/2018

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    carolyn O'Doherty

    When the muses refuse to come out and play, free writes are one strategy to try and trick them into coming back. Sometimes I use prompts, sometimes I just start putting words down on a page. The short pieces posted here are some of my favorites and, yeah, I spent way too much time finding photos to go with them. Shout out to pixabay, openphoto, and stocksnap.io for their huge array of copywrite free images.

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© 2020 by Carolyn O'Doherty
  • Books
    • REWIND >
      • Buy Now!
      • Excerpt, Chapter 1
      • The World of Rewind
      • Rewind Photos
      • Study Guide
    • UNLEASHED >
      • Buy Now!
      • Excerpt, Chapter 1
      • Unleashed Photos
  • About Me
    • Top Five
    • Reading List
    • Author Interview
  • Flash FIction
  • News/Events
  • Contact