by Mary Wakefield Buxton –
View from my Lanai, Conclusion
Urbanna, Va. — “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.” Yeats warned us of this truth years ago in his great poem, “Second Coming.” They were falling apart for me too. I think the first indication that my Florida dream was unfolding was my first glimpse of the alligator in the lake fronting my condo. Its presence was incongruous to my imagined Eden.
While I dreamed of paradise and Congress fiddled with impeaching our president, Rome burned and the contagious virus that had sprung out of China spread like wildfire across the globe. The result was a mass panic like few Americans today have ever seen before resulting in rapid drop in the stock market, rising unemployment and a mysterious mania to hoard toilet paper.
I watched circumstances worsen from my third floor condo lanai overlooking the lake and green of the 17th hole of the golf course beyond. Trouble was brewing even in such lush settings.
Mating season had arrived and the male birds were frantic to attract a mate. Their antics — preening, quacking, clucking, taking off and crash landing in front of a likely female — were aimed at garnering attention and were laugh out loud funny. Some males would almost stand up in the water flapping their wings and spreading their feathers in order to catch the eye of a desired lady. Eventually the birds magically paired up, built nests and tended their eggs.
Throughout all this the alligator could be seen half submerged underwater watching with interest. (I had a neighbor that knew of my patrol and alerted me to any alligator sightings by banging a broomstick against the wall.) There is nothing spookier than an alligator slowly approaching innocent ducks. I often jumped up from my chair to give warning…“Watch out! Alligator approaching!”
Then the golfers. Their joy in life was constantly frustrated by a wicked sand trap positioned just before the 17th hole. The lake also collected their errant swings. I watched as they struggled to deal with their problems; wedging balls out of deep sand or from marshy reeds along the shore. Golfers also had to deal with the alligator whenever he decided to come ashore and bask in the sun.
Sometimes their balls hit my building. A neighbor said she had been hit twice by the same golfer who sent balls on different occasions through the very same window of her condo.
In the end we literally fled our Florida dream along with hundreds and thousands of other tourists when the “spring breakers” arrived to party on the beaches in large crowds oblivious to what they were spreading. The trip home was a nightmare.
The roads were packed with us fleeing “snowbirds” who wanted nothing more than to return home safely. The governor of Florida had already closed beaches, restaurants and bars and all public venues had been canceled. We relied on fast food along the way for sustenance along with quick stops at gas stations, always washing our hands with Clorox wipes after every transaction.
We spent a worrisome overnight in a motel with the window cracked for fresh air using hand sanitizers hoping not to pick up any virus. The usual morning breakfast buffet was canceled and guests were given doggie bags for breakfast or served a plate of eggs by one-gloved cook to eliminate all public serving utensils.
By the next morning all fast food restaurants had been locked and we were unable to even wash our hands. The lines for pick-up food were so backed up they circled around the block. A few gas station food centers stayed open so we could get to washrooms. We learned to exit I-95 and drive a few miles to escape the crowds close to exits.
We cheered when we reached the Virginia border, arriving two hours later to our home in Urbanna and especially holding our cocker spaniel, “Dandy,” again. These were the happiest moments in my Florida dream. As Dorothy said after returning from the Land of Oz, “There’s no place like home!”
Dandy, who had not had a clip in many months, looked like a wooly black sheep. Happiness is as fragile as a flutter of wings. There’s always an alligator in the lake. Change happens and happiness can suddenly pop like a bubble at the kiss of a needle. Our challenge is to function anyway.
I say damn those alligators, full speed ahead!
(Conclusion, Notes from Florida)
©2020
