Before Now

flash nonfiction

Before the virus, I had for a long while accepted that between my husband and me, I should be the one to die first. My husband is far more active in the community; if he died before me, I reasoned before the virus, plenty of people would come to his funeral. I worried that only ten people would attend mine. Then I realized that the same large number of people would come to my funeral in support of my husband. Either way, our respective, somber gatherings would look as if both of us had led exemplary lives surrounded by the people we loved.