"We have the results!" Ned called up the stairs after getting the mail. A manilla envelope was waiting to be opened as a series of footsteps came running to him.
Ned used his letter opener to reveal the results.
"Just letting everyone know, that if you are tested positive for Whovid, then you'll have to be quarantined for 2 weeks."
Sweat dripped from dozens of eyebrows as Ned read down the list.
"JoJo-Negative, Harley-Negative, Hannah-Negative, Hanavas- Negative... Helga-Negative, Henrietta-Negative... Hildegard-Negative, Honey-Negative, Hazel-Negative, Holiday-Negative, Holly-Negative, Hilda-Negative... Heart-Negative, Huggy-Negative, Hedy-Negative, and J. J.- Negative."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"I hope this has taught everyone a lesson to keep social distancing and to wash their hands, unless you want to redo these tests?"
A chorus of "No, sir"s and "nu uh!"s rang in the Mayor's ears.
"Good."
It had been 17 months since the pandemic hit. Holidays were celebrated in a completely different way. Whollaween wasn't the same as last year, as the kids wanted to trick or treat, but the Law required everyone to keep social distance and so parents resorted to buying bags of candy to keep their little ones satisfied. Thanksgiving was better without elderly relatives coming over to judge your parenting due to the risk of getting the virus. Christmas was pretty much the same minus the annual singing around the town's Christmas tree. New Year's proved a big problem with party goers not wanting to follow the law of staying home.
When the council decided to open the schools back up, under the pretence that children wear masks, get their temperatures taken before entering the classroom, and the janitorial staff disinfect every hour, Ned wondered if Sally was willing to allow her kids to go back to school.
"Get these kids out of my house!" She yelled one morning after a series of temper tantrums caused her to lose her mind.
So, Ned was happy to shove backpacks onto his children and see them off to school.
By this time, everyone got used to the idea of wearing masks in public. Now it felt weird to not have one on your face at all times.
Ned was allowed back at work and he was more then happy to have adult conversation, even though at times it was hard to understand what someone was saying through their mask.
2 daughters had a health scare when the school called and deemed them too sick to enter the classroom when their temperatures were over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Until their Whovid tests came back, Sally made a makeshift bedroom out of a storage closet to quarantine the girls.
"We feel fine!" Hailey said.
"Yeah, Mom, we don't feel sick!" Hope tried to reassure her mother.
"Sick or not, you're staying in here until Dr. Whobert calls with your results. We have 98 other people in this house, I'm not taking chances of this house turning into an episode of 'The Walking Who'!" Sally tucked the two girls into the twin bed and turned to leave.
"Let me get you two some juice."
To reassure that no one went in, Sally had Hildegard make a sign for the room.
In big bold Whotalic letters:
QUARANTINE ROOM!
DO NOT ENTER!
2 days later, the results came in.
"Positive for both girls. We have to keep them in there. And we have to get all of them tested again." Ned hung his head as he read the results.
Sally was horrified. The virus was in her home! But how?
One night as she dropped off cookies for a Whoronavirus awareness sale, she saw it.
A woman with her 4 year old son. Sally could see his nose was dripping and he was sniffling. "Excuse me, but does your son have the virus?" She asked.
"Yes, but he's getting better. Whorona is just a fancy word for flu."
Sally was enraged. She went straight home and told her husband what happened.
Ned jumped on it. He called for a meeting with the school officials about the incident.
The school nurse confirmed that the 4 year old in question and his older brother had the virus and were still sent to school, and according to school documents, both boys were in Hope and Hailey's classrooms.
Before he knew it, a news bulletin announced that since schools had opened up, that didn't mean that Whos were out of the woods yet.
"The city council requires parents to not send children to school sick and quarantine children who are sick."
Sally and her mom acted as nurses for the two sick girls. Well, now three, because Helena was now sick. Sally nearly had a heart attack, thinking that all of her children would get sick and die.
Many bowls of chicken noodle soup, sippy cups of juice, spoonfuls of medicine and lots of rest proved that the girls were healthy enough to fight the virus and their final test results came back that the virus had passed through their bodies. The other children's test results showed Negative in flying colors.
J. J. had his first birthday in quarantine.
Like they did with all their babies on their first birthday, Ned and Sally started their birthday with a "happy birthday" song followed by getting them dressed in a special birthday outfit.
The one they picked for their youngest was a light blue shirt that had a monkey on the front, denim overalls over the shirt, and a whoball cap cover his messy auburn hair.
Breakfast was J. J.'s favorite ever since he could eat solids.
Whoberry pancakes, whoberry infused maple syrup, and a bottle of cold pumped breastmilk.
Minus the bottle, the other kids got the exact same dish, plus a glass of juice, as is tradition in the McDodd household.
The birthday kiddo got to choose all the meals, the activities and their birthday cake for the evening.
It was a good thing that J. J. was little and didn't ask to go out for playtime at the park or to the beach like their daughters would ask for. The beach was closed and the park was off limits due to the fact that some mothers wouldn't listen after the "Hope, Hailey and Helena got Whorona" incident. Ned was not taking anymore chances.
J. J. was content with crawling around the grassy backyard.
After playing outside, the children were brought inside for lunch. J. J.'s favorites, macaroni and cheese, pizza rolls and peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
The random foods didn't seem to go together, especially the PBB, but J. J. loved it, and that's all that mattered. Seeing peanut butter and cheese smeared across his face made Ned and Sally smile.
The rest of the day's activities were centered around J. J., and at the end of the day, all McDodd relatives and friends gathered to bring J. J. gifts and wish him a happy birthday.
"I have something to say." JoJo said. He pulled out a guitar.
The family watched in awe as JoJo began to strum.
"Happy, happy birthday,
Happy, happy birthday,
J. J.,
You're so cray-cray,
You make me wanna say, say,
Happy, happy birthday!"
The baby squealed with delight as JoJo finished the song. JoJo blushed a little at the silly lyrics, but seeing his brother smile and giggle made it all worth it.
A vaccine was finally perfected. After Ned met up with Dr. Larue, he sent dozens of approval letters to the WhoDA, asking for their permission to get it approved. Testing had to be done, and after months of it, it was finally approved.
Within a few days, 60% of Whoville got vaccinated, and within a month, all of Whoville and most of Who York signed up for vaccines.
The ferry to Who Island was loaded with crates of vaccine.
Ned did have a problem with some citizens not wanting to get vaccinated, despite having the facts of the disease intended to kill it in front of their eyes.
"From now on, either you get the vaccine, or you wear a mask. Failure to do either will result in immediate banning from businesses until you do one or the other."
Protests started, but the local police put a stop to it. Luckily, no who got hurt, just angry "Karens", as the kids call them, holding up signs against the vaccine.
The "Karens" won the battle, but the rest of Whoville won the war. Majority won.
Soon enough, 89% of the population of all three communities were vaccinated.
"We did it, Horton! We survived Whoronavirus!" Ned said into the horn.
"That's great, Mayor. I knew you little guys could do it." The large mammal said to the minuscule man. "What are you going to do next?"
Ned thought for a moment.
Dr. Whobert recommended a therapist to Ned and his wife after they lost their twin boys. They rejected it, because they wanted to keep it a secret, due to their kids being so young and not understanding that their baby brothers wouldn't be coming home. Ned and Sally truly needed to heal and they just shut down.
JoJo recommended they try a few sessions to try to heal. They had 7 years of grief to get out.
After two sessions, they felt at ease and more comfortable talking about their deceased children.
They had the "death talk" to the kids who needed it and about their deceased siblings.
Theg were shocked to find out they had two more brothers, and were very sad to find that they were passed on.
Now that everyone knew about it, Ned and Sally decided it was time to do one more thing to let go of their grief.
"I'm taking the family to a funeral for my twin boys."