AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi guys! I had writer's block again, so I apologize for the delay. I was orignally going to write a story about Berethor's bachelor party, but I came up with a better idea. Last week, my parents introduced me to a game that we all really enjoyed playing, and I have it on my phone. If you have read my one-shot called "Game Night," you might like this story. The game featured here is Pandemic. Because this story is about that game, and considering what we are going through, I talked a little bit about COVID-19 as well from Wilbur's point of view. But please, no reviews or comments about politics. Keep in mind that this story takes place 40 years in the future and it is assumed that COVID-19 has eventually been cured. With that said, enjoy this family story!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related to "Meet the Robinsons." The only character I do not own is Wilbur.
STORY #16: Pandemic
STORIES OF REFERENCE: Insanity
NARRATOR: Wilbur
JANUARY 7, 2063 – WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT, USA
I knocked on my daughter's door, and after a few seconds, she opened it with a smile on her face.
"Hey, Dad. What's up?"
I smiled back at my black-haired daughter before I replied.
"Come on downstairs. There's a game your mom and I want to introduce you to."
I walked away from her room and took a few steps down the hall to her brother's room before I knocked on his door.
"Coming!"
The door opened, revealing my son, whose brown hair was up in a cowlick like my black hair.
"What's up, Dad?"
"Dad wants us to play a game with him and Mom," Diana answered for me as she walked down the stairs.
"Yeah, that," I said in response. "Come on."
"What game is it?" Wesley asked with a curious smile.
"We'll explain, and it's a good game, I promise."
I followed Diana down the stairs while Wesley followed me, and we all gathered at the kitchen table where my wife Karena was setting up the game.
"Great!" Karena said enthusiastically. "Everyone's down here."
"So, what's this game about?" Diana asked.
"I introduced your dad to this game very recently, and we agreed that it's one of the best games for us to play as a family. It's a cooperative game called Pandemic. We have to work together to cure the world from four deadly diseases."
"What are the diseases?" Wesley asked.
"For simplicity's sake, we're calling them red, blue, black, and yellow," I answered with a smirk. "Now, take a seat."
We all sat down at the table.
"Now, first things first: we need to choose our roles. Or we can choose our roles at random."
"Let's go random!" Wesley enthusiastically suggested.
"Well, alright then," Karena replied, and she held up seven different cards. "Wilbur, you first."
I took a card and revealed my role.
"So, I'm the dispatcher," I explained. "My special role is to move anyone to a city. And it could be for many reasons, which we'll explain in a moment."
"But for right now, Diana, you draw next," Karena suggested, and she drew her role card.
"I'm a medic," Diana revealed.
"You got one of the best jobs, Diana!" Karena explained enthusiastically. "When a medic reaches a city with a disease in it, you get to remove all the cubes from that city. When that disease is cured, the cubes for that disease are removed as you move along. Wesley, your pick."
"I'm the operations expert, whatever that means," Wesley said with a confused look on his face.
"The operations expert can build research stations anywhere in the world without using one of your player cards," I explained, taking the role cards from my wife. "Karr."
"I'm the scientist," Karena revealed. "So, in order to cure a disease, you need to have five city cards of the same color and then reach a research station. Because I'm the scientist, I only need four to find the cure."
"So we all have pretty good roles to hopefully cure the world, which is our ultimate goal," I replied. "Finding all four cures is the only way to win, but we need to work together. It doesn't matter who removes the most cubes from the board or who has the most or least amount of cards. Otherwise, we can lose in three ways: too many outbreaks; we run out of cubes of one color; or we run out of player cards. I'll explain as we go."
"But first, we need to infect the world," Karena said. "So I'm going to draw three infection cards. These three cities will have three cubes on the board to start out with. An outbreak is caused when that infection card is drawn again, and you have to put cubes on each city that is connected to that outbreak."
We watched as Karena drew three green cards.
"So we're putting three cubes in Seoul, Tehran, and Washington," she said.
Diana, Wesley, and I worked together to put three red cubes on Seoul, three black cubes in Tehran, and three blue cubes in Washington.
"Next, we're putting two cubes in Los Angeles, Paris, and Beijing."
We placed two yellow cubes in Los Angeles, two blue cubes in Paris, and two red cubes in Beijing.
"Lastly, we're putting one cube in Khartoum, Tokyo, and Johannesburg."
Diana placed one yellow cube in Khartoum and Johannesburg while I placed one red cube in Tokyo. Then, Karena placed a white building in Atlanta.
"So our goal is to get rid of all the cubes?" Diana asked.
"No," I explained. "The goal is to find the cures for all four diseases. But, getting rid of the cubes of one color after it's cured gives us an advantage. When that happens, the disease is eradicated, which means that we cannot put those cubes back on the board."
"So all of us get two player cards," Karena said as she dealt the cards. "And put them face up so we all can see. Let's actually reveal the color cards we have so that we all know who to give the cards to. So, I have one black card and an event card."
"What's an event card?" Diana asked.
"We'll get to that," I answered. "I have a blue and a black card."
"I have a blue and a red card," Diana revealed.
"And I have a yellow and black card," Wesley said.
"So it looks like black is our best bet for our first cure," Karena said. "Dad will go first."
"And it's always nice to talk out loud about what you plan on doing so you can plan ahead," I explained. "So, I'm seeing that Washington is about to outbreak, so my first action will be to go to Washington. I'm nowhere near a black territory and there really aren't any other diseases around me, so I'm just going to go ahead and use my last three actions to treat Washington."
I removed the three blue cubes before continuing.
"After I used up my four actions, I draw two player cards, which are Miami and Moscow: a yellow and a black. The most amount of cards we can have in our hand is seven. Now, I have two blacks, so right now, we need to try to get your black cards to me. Remember, I need five of them to cure black. Now, I'm going to draw two infection cards, and we put one cube on those two cities."
I placed a black cube on Algiers and another black cube on Karachi, and it was Diana's turn.
"So, Diana, you can move however you want to," I explained to her. "You could go to either Paris or Seoul, but you would not be able to remove the cubes if you used all four actions. But, I'm seeing that you have a Washington card. You can move to Washington, and then fly to Paris or Seoul, discarding that Washington card. Then, you have enough actions to remove the disease."
I watched as Diana took my advice, moved to Washington, and then flew to Seoul.
"So, I'm the medic," Diana thought out loud. "If I treat Seoul—"
"You can remove all the red cubes," I told her, and Diana did just that. "The rest of us can only remove one at a time unless the disease is cured. Now, you have one action left. How will you spend it?"
"I guess I can go to Beijing so that I can treat the disease there on my next turn," Diana said, moving her orange token to Beijing. "Now I have Montreal and Los Angeles, a blue and a yellow."
"And you'll need to put a blue cube on Montreal and a red cube on Jakarta."
After Diana put the two cubes on the board, it was Wesley's turn.
"Can I go to Los Angeles and get rid of the yellow cubes?" he asked.
"Right now, I would say that's the best way to go," Karena answered.
Wesley did just that, using all four of his actions, and then he drew his two cards.
"I have Johannesburg and Epidemic," Wesley revealed.
"Okay, we have an epidemic," I started explaining again, taking the epidemic card from him. "When you draw an epidemic card, Mom will pull the bottom infection card and place three cubes there."
"So Miami just had an epidemic," Karena revealed, putting three yellow cubes there. "Then, we shuffle all the infection cards that had been drawn, and we put them back on the top. This is our first epidemic, so we are still drawing only two cards, which are… Montreal and Washington."
I placed one blue cube on Montreal and another on Washington.
"And now it's my turn," Karena continued. "I cannot do much at the moment because I only have one black card and an event card, which I will not use yet. So, I'm going to use my first action to go to Miami, and then completely treat it with my last three actions."
I watched as Karena removed the yellow cubes from Miami and draw her two player cards.
"I now have a red and a black card, and we're putting one cube on Paris, which is now in trouble, and Algiers. Wilbur, your turn."
"We need to try to meet me in the black territories," I explained. "But, as Mom said, Paris is in trouble. So, I'm going to go to New York, Madrid, and then Paris, and remove one cube. I'm drawing my cards, which are a blue and a black, and Tokyo and Tehran are infected."
"And Tehran just had an outbreak," Karena revealed, putting black cubes on Delhi, Karachi, Baghdad, and Moscow. "The game is over when we have eight of them. Diana, it's your turn."
"And remember, I have three blacks," I continued as Diana treated Beijing, moved to Tokyo, and treated that country. "So I'll need Wes and Mom to meet me at their black territories."
Diana drew a yellow and a blue card, and then two infection cards.
"Khartoum and Seoul are infected," Diana revealed, putting the yellow and red cubes in their places.
"So I have two yellow cards," Wesley said. "Can we try to get your yellow cards to me?"
"That is good thinking," I commended him. "But right now, black is in trouble. Let's try to get you to Cairo."
"What you can do, Wesley, is use one of your yellows to fly to Cairo," Karena suggested. "But you have to be in Buenos Aires for that to work. And then Dad can just come to you. He can do that as the dispatcher."
Wesley did just that, bringing his token through Mexico City, Bogota, and Buenos Aires, and then flying to Cairo. Karena took his Buenos Aires card from him before he drew his two player cards: a blue card and an event card.
"What's this One Quiet Night?" Wesley asked.
"That one prevents infections from happening before the next player's turn," I explained. "I would suggest saving it for when there's another epidemic."
"Okay. Let's infect Johannesburg and Miami."
"My turn," Karena said. "I'm going to go to Montreal and treat it completely. And then I'm going to use my Airlift card and bring myself to Baghdad."
After Karena did those things, she drew a yellow card and a red one, and then we infected Karachi and Los Angeles.
"As Mom said earlier, as a dispatcher, I can go straight to you," I explained. "Wesley, I'm going to come to you first. I'm going to take your Cairo card, and then I'm going to head to Baghdad and take that card from Mom. Now I have eight cards, so I have to discard one. I'm going to discard Miami, since it's my lone yellow card."
I drew two cards, which ended up being another yellow card and an epidemic card.
"The epidemic is happening in Essen," Karena said, taking the bottom infection card, shuffling the discarded cards, and then putting three blue cubes on Essen. "Wilbur, you need to discard a card while Washington and Karachi is infected. And we have two outbreaks."
"Why two?" Diana asked with shock.
"Karachi borders Tehran," I explained as I discarded my second lone yellow card. "Because Tehran already has three cubes, the outbreak rolls there and causes a second outbreak."
Karena placed black cubes in Delhi, Mumbai, Riyadh, Baghdad, and Moscow.
"Diana, I would suggest going to Osaka and flying over to Karachi so you can help us with this mess," I told her, and she did just that before using her last action to go to Tehran.
"I have a black and a red card now," Diana said. "And Khartoum and Seoul are infected."
"Wesley, remember that your special role is to build research stations anywhere you want," I explained. "But I would do that in Khartoum. You can use your second action to build the station, and then remove two yellow cubes."
"Couldn't I do the same thing in Baghdad?" Wesley asked. "What if Tehran outbreaks again?"
"That's not a bad idea either," Karena commended him. "That way, Dad doesn't have to go anywhere to cure black."
Wesley moved his light green token to Baghdad and built the research station, but then he moved to Tehran and removed a black cube.
"That's actually pretty smart," Diana said as Wesley drew a blue card and an event card.
"I agree, that was smart thinking," I replied. "You have prevented a rollover, should either city outbreak again."
"So, what does this Resilient Population card do?" Wesley asked.
"This is actually the perfect time to use it," Karena explained. "You can use it to take away an infection card that has already been discarded. When you remove it, it stays out of the game, and the only way the city can be infected is if an outbreak occurs."
"Let's do it then!" Wesley said enthusiastically.
"Now, wait, are you sure?" I asked. "There are only four cards here: Washington, Karachi, Khartoum, and Seoul."
"Yes, I'm sure. Take out Khartoum."
Karena removed Khartoum from the pile before drawing two infection cards: Montreal and Los Angeles.
"My turn," she said. "Diana, I'm seeing that you have two yellow cards. I have two as well. Let's try to meet up in Lagos or Los Angeles so you can share with me. Wesley, you can give me your Johannesburg if that doesn't work out."
I watched as Karena took one black cube off Baghdad, moved through Cairo and into Khartoum, and then took a yellow cube off that city. She drew a red card and an epidemic card.
"Here's epidemic number three," I said as Karena drew the bottom infection card: Sydney. "We now have had three epidemics, so our infection rate is now three cards."
"Wesley, now would be the perfect time to use your One Quiet Night card," Karena suggested. "You could prevent Sydney, Essen, and Delhi from outbreaking. Or not if they aren't the cards we choose."
"The chances of that are high," Wesley said, pondering this information. "Okay, I'll use it."
Wesley discarded the event card, and it was my turn.
"I am discarding my five black cards, and black is cured." I paused, turning toward Diana. "You're in Tehran, so those two black cubes go away."
"Oh, sweet!"
"Now, I'm going to disagree with your mom and say that blue is the next important disease to cure. There are more blue cubes on the board than there are yellow. Wesley, I want you to meet me in Essen so I can give my card to you. But, on this turn, I'm going to cure Baghdad and Riyadh."
I drew a black and red card, and Montreal was infected.
"Sydney just got an outbreak," I revealed as Karena placed red cubes in Manila, Jakarta, and Los Angeles.
"Wait, isn't Los Angeles yellow country?" Diana asked with confusion.
"Yes, but because Sydney is connected to Los Angeles, Los Angeles is now also affected by red," I explained, and Diana gave me a disgusted look.
"So, I'm curing Delhi," Diana thought out loud. "Then I'm going to Kolkata and using my card to fly to Sydney, and I'm going to completely treat that city."
"Very good call, Diana," I commended her as she drew a blue card and an event card.
"What does Forecast do?" she asked.
"You can use your Forecast card to change the story of the next six infections," Karena explained. "It looks like the only city that could outbreak is Essen, which is not likely to be in the next six cards. It hasn't been drawn since the epidemic happened there."
"I'll keep it then," Diana replied as she drew three infection cards. "Washington, Karachi, and Seoul."
"Speaking of Essen, that's where I'm going," Wesley announced before removing one blue cube. "Consider that outbreak prevented."
We watched as Wesley drew two cards.
"Uh-oh, we have an epidemic," he announced before Karena drew the bottom card.
"It's in Cairo this time," Karena said, putting three black cubes on that city.
"I thought we cured it," Wesley said with confusion in his voice.
"But it's not eradicated," I explained. "Just because we found a cure doesn't mean it's completely gone. Where are the infections at, Karena?"
"Wait!" Diana shot out. "I'm using the Forecast card!"
"Well, alright Diana. The fate of the world is in your hands."
"We need to get to Seoul and Cairo as soon as possible," Diana announced.
"You didn't plan this right, Diana," Karena said. "Los Angeles is an outbreak. And then Montreal and Sydney are infected."
"I thought Los Angeles had a yellow and a red cube!"
"Los Angeles has two yellow cubes and a red cube," I replied, putting the cubes in their respective spaces, as well as yellow cubes in Chicago, San Francisco, Mexico City, and Sydney."
"My turn," Karena announced. "Wilbur, I'm going to treat Khartoum and then use my card to fly to Shanghai. Can you meet me there?"
"Sure, but what about your fourth move?"
"I'm flying to Hong Kong before heading to Shanghai," Karena explained as she drew her two cards. "Oh wait, never mind, Wilbur. I got my four reds. And we have outbreaks in Cairo and Seoul and an infection in Karachi."
"One more outbreak and it's over," I said. "We'll need to work together now. Here's what I'll do: fly to Wesley in Essen and give him that card. Then, I'm flying to Mom and giving her my Shanghai card."
"No, don't!" Karena replied. "I just said I have my four reds! Build a station there instead!"
"Oh, that's a good idea," I replied, putting a white building on Shanghai. "We just need to last long enough for Mom to cure red."
I drew my two cards, and then the first infection card was…
"Washington. Game over."
We all hung our heads dejectedly.
"This was totally my fault," Diana said with guilt in her voice.
"Hey, you're new at this game," I assured her. "Winning this game isn't easy."
"What other roles are there?" Wesley asked.
"The quarantine specialist protects the cities surrounding them," Karena explained. "The researcher can give any card to another player when they're in the same city. And the contingency planner can reuse event cards and have that event card count as an eighth card."
"I really liked Dad being the dispatcher," Diana explained. "He knew where to go and who to give cards to."
"My only thing is I didn't transport any of you guys to where you were needed," I replied, feeling guilty. "I should have paid more attention to that."
"I think Mom should be the quarantine specialist while I become the scientist," Diana suggested.
"I disagree," Wesley chimed in. "Mom should be the medic because she was always removing cubes. I'll be the quarantine specialist."
"I think we can try again with these roles," I said with a smile. "What do you think, honey?"
"I'm down for that," Karena replied, and we reset the board.
"So, we're going to have outbreaks in Atlanta, Osaka, and Tehran," I explained, observing everything that Karena set up on the board. "The good news is, we're right in Atlanta. Mom can treat that right away. Osaka is close. It may take some work to get to Tehran. Does anyone have two cards of the same color?"
The other three players shook their heads.
"This is going to be fun then. Diana, you're the scientist, so you only need four cards. What colors do you have?"
"I have a yellow and a red."
"I have a red as well."
"I also have a yellow and a red," Karena revealed. "I have Santiago and Bangkok."
"And I have Ho Chi Minh. Let's focus on red for right now, then. For my turn, I'm actually going to have Wesley move to Osaka so he can treat that right away. I just got two more black cards, and Los Angeles and Mexico City are infected."
"So maybe black as well?" Karena suggested.
"I have a black: Mumbai," Wesley revealed.
"That might be doable," I replied. "But, Diana, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to Lima to get rid of one cube," Diana answered. "And we have an epidemic."
"That was fast!" Karena exclaimed. "And good news! It was supposed to be in Tokyo, but Wesley's protecting it! Paris and Los Angeles are infected."
"Speaking of which, I'm going to treat Osaka and head to Tokyo," Wesley revealed. "Dad, I have Kolkata as well. Lima is infected."
"And what else?" Karena asked.
"That's it. I drew Seoul, but I'm protecting it."
"Well, then I'll treat Atlanta, go to Los Angeles, and treat that city. Osaka will not be affected, but unfortunately, Tehran just had an outbreak."
"Wes, you've been amazing so far," I said with a smile. "I'm going to move you again, but to Delhi this time. That way, Delhi can't outbreak. Black needs the most help right now, and we'll need to meet eventually. Istanbul and Mexico City are infected."
"Mom, can you meet me in Lagos?" Diana asked, removing a cube from Lima and making her way to that city. "And I have an airlift card! Mumbai and Delhi are infected."
"Can't!" Wesley exclaimed with a big smile. "I'm protecting both!"
We all smiled as Wesley removed all of the cubes in Delhi and moved to Mumbai.
"Oops. I should have gone to Tehran. Epidemic."
"It's alright," Karena said. "The epidemic's in Lagos, so Diana, you might have something there. We have infections in Tehran, which is an outbreak, and Delhi. The good news is, Delhi and Karachi are not affected by the outbreak. Now, Diana, I won't be able to make it to Lagos in time."
"Oh yes, you can," Diana replied with a smug smile, discarding the airlift card. "I'm taking you here."
"Well, that works. Alright. I guess I'll treat Lagos, give you my card, and head to Essen."
"Wait, why there?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Essen is the closest to the drama," Karena explained. "And I'm now in Milan. Osaka is the only infection. Wesley's protecting Mumbai."
"This time, I'm joining Wes in Mumbai," I said, thinking out loud. "I'm taking his card. Then, Wes, I'm going to move you to Baghdad. This time, you are protecting Tehran. Seoul is affected. Istanbul is protected."
Diana sat there, thinking deeply about her turn.
"What's on your mind, Diana?" I asked.
"Dad, I could meet you in Cairo so I can give you that card. But getting there only costs me two actions."
"May I offer a suggestion?" I asked, and she nodded. "Go to Cairo. Wesley has Kolkata. I can always head there and take it from him. Build a station in Cairo. That way, if you draw your last yellow, you're already right there to cure it."
Diana smiled as she took my suggestion and eventually made her way to Istanbul.
"I got a government grant card, and the infections are in Lagos and Paris."
"I'm heading to Tehran," Wesley announced, removing a black cube. "Dad, I'm now in Kolkata. Can I use my resilient population card?"
"I'd wait until the next epidemic," I answered. "That way, you'll have more options."
"Alright, then the infected cities are Mexico City and Lima."
"I'm treating Paris, and I'm also in Istanbul," Karena said. "Wesley, go ahead and use that card. We just got an epidemic in Madrid."
"The good news is we can't have a black outbreak this time," I revealed. "Our outbreaks would be in Seoul, which only affects three cities, Madrid, which infects five, and Mexico City, which also infects five. We have more yellow cubes on the board right now than we do blue or red. In fact, Madrid is the only city with blue cubes."
"I'll get rid of Mexico City then," Wesley said, discarding the resilient population card and the Mexico City infection card.
"The infections are in Osaka, Lagos, and Lima," Karena said, ending her turn.
"Wesley, I'm coming to you to take your Kolkata card," I announced. "Wesley, you are now needed by Seoul, so I'm going to move you to Shanghai. Diana, let's use your government grant card and build a station in Kolkata so I can cure black right away. The infections are in Madrid—"
"Which is an outbreak," Karena revealed.
"They are also in Seoul, which Wesley protects, and Delhi."
"I'm going to sacrifice my Bogota card so that I can treat Lima," Diana revealed. "Also that way, Mom can give me her two yellow cards. The infections are in Istanbul, Mumbai, and Paris."
"I'm simply going to remove the cubes from Seoul," Wesley announced. "Tehran and Los Angeles are infected. I'm protecting Tokyo."
"There are already three cubes in Istanbul, so I'm going to treat that right now," Karena said. "I'm also going to Madrid and treating that city. Diana, you need to get to one of your yellow cards. I think the chances of me curing yellow are better because I have four of those cards. The infections are in Atlanta, Shanghai, and London."
"Wesley protects Shanghai, so that is not needed," I replied. "Black is cured. I'm going to head to Tehran and cure that city. Now black is in better shape for another epidemic."
"The epidemic is in Khartoum this time," Karena revealed. "We have infections in Shanghai, which Wesley protects, Seoul, which is also protected, and London."
"I'll go ahead and fly to Johannesburg," Diana said, deep in thought. "Go to Khartoum and remove a cube, and then stay in Lagos. I do have three blue cards, and the infections are in Tokyo, Lima, and Mumbai."
"Tokyo's protected," Wesley replied. "I'm going to go to Chennai so that Mumbai can't outbreak. Black is cured right?"
"Correct," I answered.
"I'll get rid of one of my black cards, then. I have too many. Madrid, Lagos, and Khartoum are infected."
"Good call, Diana," I commended her.
"I'm in Lagos, and I'm taking Diana's card," Karena announced. "While I'm here, I'm going to go ahead and treat Lagos. We have infections in Atlanta, Paris, and Istanbul. Blue's in trouble."
"I agree," I replied. "Unfortunately, I can't get you or Wesley to where they need to be."
"Can you use them to fly with their cards or your cards?" Diana asked.
"Actually, yes! Only with my cards though, and that's a good idea. Diana, you already have three blue cards, so I'm going to fly Wesley over to Madrid without sacrificing any cards. Karr, I'll move you one step closer to Cairo. We do have an epidemic."
"It's in Beijing this time," Karena revealed.
"And I have a forecast card I would like to use," I revealed.
After I discarded the forecast card, Karena shuffled the discarded infection cards and gave the top six cards to me: Mumbai, Paris, London, Atlanta, Istanbul, and Lagos.
"We just had epidemic number five, which means four cities are going to be infected," I thought out loud. "And Wesley's in Madrid, which means London and Paris are protected. Those two are going on top. Mumbai is going to be an outbreak, so I'm moving that to the bottom. Atlanta and Istanbul are fine where they're at. Alright, Karr, Atlanta and Istanbul are infected. Wesley's protecting London and Paris."
"Wesley, can I take Madrid from you?" Diana asked.
"Go for it."
Diana took Wesley's card, and she ended up in Algiers.
"I'm going to use the one quiet night card," I revealed. "No one will be infected until the end of Wesley's turn."
"I'm in Karachi!" Wesley announced.
"Great!" I exclaimed. "Which means that Mumbai can't outbreak. Hopefully Beijing won't either."
"Lagos, Mumbai, Tokyo, and Seoul."
"Khartoum is treated," Karena announced. "Yellow is cured, and I'm in Algiers. Wilbur, this is going to be the last turn."
"No! Why?"
"And Beijing just had an outbreak. You're taking the last two cards."
"Balls! Diana, I'm taking you to Cairo. Then, I'm going to Hong Kong. Delhi and Tehran are protected; Osaka and Lima are infected. Diana, go cure blue and then get over here!"
"Blue is cured, I'm going to Kolkata, I'm going to Hong Kong and taking your card. And… there are no cards left."
"No!" we all cried out.
"We were so close!" Wesley cried.
"We just needed enough time for Diana to cure red," I said in defeat. "But it wasn't enough."
"Well, what do you guys think?" Karena asked.
"We worked so much better as a team this time," Diana answered with a smile of hope. "I'm confident we can win this thing eventually."
"Dad's a true leader," Wesley said, and I returned a smile.
"We're all leaders because we worked as a team," Karena replied. "Dad performed his role very well, and so did the rest of us. We just ran out of cards. It happens."
"Shall we try again?" I asked, and we all nodded eagerly, resetting the board with hope.
"Dad, have you ever been through a pandemic?" Diana asked.
"No, I haven't. But Grandma and Grandpa Robinson told me the story of a virus called COVID-19. The virus was founded in 2019 in the country of China. The virus spread all around the globe, and the economy was shut down and heavily affected here in the United States. It took years before the economy went back to normal. I wasn't born yet, but I'm thankful to have been born after the pandemic was over."
"Was it anything like this game?" Wesley asked.
"Unfortunately, no. No one in the United States was getting along because it was an election year, and they blamed the virus on the president. There were also a lot of heated discussions involving the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control."
"Why do they blame one person?"
"Keep in mind, Wesley, that the president is the representative of the country, should we be involved in world affairs. Around half of the country did not believe he was a good representative because of his past. The other half thought that he was standing up for his beliefs in keeping this country the way it is supposed to be: a free country."
"I'm glad I moved to the future when I did," Karena said, shaking her head.
"Karr, you dodged a bullet by moving to the future. My mom explained to me that when the virus first hit Todayland, everyone in the city were told to wear masks and maintain a social distance of six feet. Knowing our family, this was not acceptable to us."
"When are we not close?" Diana asked.
"Exactly. Schools were shut down, so Grandpa Bud and my mom were unable to go to work. Thankfully, my mom had her frogs to stay occupied. But my grandpa was so depressed at the thought of not seeing his students. Grandma Lucille and my dad continued to go to Robinson Industries to figure out either a cure for COVID-19, a more acceptable way for us to take care of ourselves, or both."
"What did Grandpa do?" Wesley asked.
"Did he invent a hazmat suit?" Diana asked with a curious smile.
"No, he didn't. He thought about it, but he knew it wasn't the answer. He encouraged everyone to still get together and shop for what they need, but to wear their masks out in public while he worked on a cure. He and Grandma Lucille worked together to collect samples from those who were infected with COVID-19, and from that, they invented a medication – a soup, that cured the virus. They also provided a list of foods those with the virus should eat to get better and to improve their immune systems. No one died, thanks to my dad and my grandma. The cure was found too late to open the schools back up, but the situation in Todayland only happened for two months before life went back to normal."
"Did Grandpa get the virus?" Diana asked.
"Thankfully, no. But my grandma did, and my grandpa was not able to see her the whole week before my dad found the cure. But my grandma was a strong woman, and she healed quickly. What I loved the most about Todayland is that there is always hope and we are full of common sense."
"So, how long did it take for the whole world to cure?" Wesley asked.
"Years. When news broke out that Todayland was cured, no one took your grandpa seriously. The rest of the country turned against each other and used COVID-19 as a political argument. There were riots going on as well regarding racism, and it did not help things at all. These riots happened right when your grandpa found the cure."
"So, say someone from outside of Todayland went there," Wesley said. "What if they were tested with the virus?"
"Everyone who entered Todayland was tested for the virus," I explained. "If they were tested negative, then they went on with their lives. If they were tested positive, they were admitted to the hospital, they were given the cure, and then they stayed there for a week to be sure nothing else came up."
I let out a sigh.
"Dad, you're a time traveler," Diana said. "Have you gone back to that time?"
"I did, unfortunately. Actually, there was one place where my dad was taken seriously: Elkhorn, Oklahoma. The sheriff, Woody Pride, had known my dad for some time, and he requested my dad fly out to Oklahoma to talk to him about the cure. The whole town was affected by the virus, all except for the Pride family and the town doctor, Barbie. They were mandated to wear masks and maintain their distance of six feet, but not even that helped. It was a very small town, and everyone had the virus. My dad gave Woody and Barbie the cure, and, with the help of Woody's family, they cured the whole town. When I went back in time to Elkhorn, it was October. The cure had been administered to that town in June. The rest of the state and the rest of the country were still fighting the virus, as well as the social injustice that occurred from the riots. Even after the virus was cured in Elkhorn, there was a state-mandated order for them to wear masks. The United States was never the same again after everything that happened."
"I'm so happy that we live in a place where we get to celebrate each other with each other instead of being apart," Diana said with contentment.
"We all are," Karena replied. "Well, I already got the board set up. Are we ready to save the world?"
"Yes!" We all cheered and got to work to cure the four diseases.