Wigeon of Leave

Another beautiful day, and a busy one. The Sparrowhawk took part in a medical study that occupied most of his afternoon. I put away laundry and edited another chapter. The body count took an uptick this time--somewhere between sixteen and twenty-one dead. It is unclear because there was an explosion that didn't kill absolutely everyone in the vicinity. We picked up the visiting friend and took her out for dinner. Once again I experienced that weird panic feeling. We were meeting her at her hotel. We were a bit early and went into the lobby to wait. We were masked, and had to find a sitting place with a placard saying "Sanitized" instead of "Do Not Sit Here." I wandered off to find the bathroom, and on my way I realized I was feeling freaked out. Once we got to the restaurant, it was okay. There was plenty of space and a good airflow. It's still weird, though. Also, restaurant service is really slow nearly everywhere, because they are all short-staffed. However, we had a nice visit with our friend. Madame called and postponed our scheduled lunch meeting tomorrow. She is helping her son, who had a hip replacement recently. She had forgotten that we'd already decided on a location. This time, I told her I would text her next week before the day arrives. She was fine with that. I will enjoy having a day off tomorrow. Perhaps we can get our flu shots.