A dot of thin red liquid appeared suddenly on Main Street on an otherwise pleasant summer’s day. Nobody noticed.
Soon, there was a second dot. Then, a third. People on Main Street started noticing when, around a day and a half later, there were 17 dots. It looked like the sidewalk had chicken pox. Do sidewalks get chicken pox? I thought only living things got chicken pox. Best not to take chances with your health, eh? Parents kept their children away. Animal lovers found a different route to walk their dogs. Cats, as always, were on their own.
Five days after the first dot appeared, Main Street was lined with them, from Broward Boulevard to Tecumseth. City Council was petitioned to do something, seeing as how this health hazard appeared to be spreading, so they sent a cleaning crew. This only accelerated the process: for every dot they cleaned, two appeared in its place. Sensing that quick action was required to sooth the populace, City Council fired the cleaning crew and dispatched a scientific crew to determine what the red dots could be.
The scientists quickly determined that the red dots were blood.
As the red dots slowly grew into each other, City Council debated (behind closed doors in super-secret eyes only session) what to do next. Obviously, they couldn’t just come out and admit that blood was appearing out of nowhere on Main Street – think of the property values! They did what any ordinary City Council would – they issued a press release stating that their scientists had concluded that the red dots were a strange atmospheric anomaly, and would citizens kindly go about their business as if nothing was wrong.
Ten days after the first dot appeared, Main Street was completely covered in a thin layer of blood, and citizens were kindly going about their business as if nothing was wrong. The shops on the north side of Main Street were all open for business (although those that could ushered customers into their back entrances). Those who lived in the apartments on the south side of Main Street drove if they could and met taxis by the back door if they couldn’t. Some of the hardier souls (or, perhaps, those with no choice) walked down Main Street in their heaviest winter galoshes, or, if they were conscious of fashion, took to wearing red shoes when going out.
Because, ultimately, you just have to get on with life, don’t you?
The scientists continued to monitor the blood. It was not diseased. If the blood knew how it got to the street, it was not sharing that information with them. Oh, but one piece of information that quickly became obvious to the scientists was that the level of the blood was rising. Slowly, perhaps, but measurably.
People assumed, against the increasingly strident pronouncements of their leaders, that the red liquid was blood. An inquiry at City Hall was held to determine who had leaked this information; when it was determined that nobody had, in fact, leaked the information, several PR/IT people were quietly let go anyway. Main Street was referred to as “Blood Street” in the press, which had the effect of drawing all manner of curious and cruel tourists, prompting City Hall to forget the leak and put its energies into promoting Main Street in prominent media outlets throughout the continent. Some people found in this a sign of the End Times, although time didn’t end, and, in the absence of a prophet of apocalypse, they soon lost interest.
Two months after the first dot appeared, Main Street seemed to have made an unspoken accommodation with the blood. The store fronts had been redesigned to blend with the red on the street. The lights at Frontera were given deeper bulbs so that the red would stand out against the blood on the pavement. And, the people, seeing that it was harmless, started returning.
They were helped by a company that developed a line of blood-proof clothing. The company started by offering socks and pants that you could wipe the blood off of with a dry cloth. It promised that it would develop shirts and hats if the need arose, but, of course, we all hoped that the need would not arise.
Six months after the first red dot appeared, the rising of the blood, which was up to people’s knees, slowed to a trickle and eventually stopped. People waded through it in their daily toing and froing. Children played in it (when their parents weren’t watching). Business was booming on Main Street, thanks to the cruel (the curious, sated, felt no need to return).
Because, ultimately, you just have to get on with life, don’t you?