Down with the flu

To explain the sudden slowdown in posting. Everyone in the Commonplace house—both parents, all four children—have been down with the flu. And we all received flu shots too! No experience in fatherhood is more difficult than trying to care for sick children (and tend to a sick wife) when you are sick yourself. I want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my kipa and glasses, not enough energy to remove them, but noses need to be wiped, vomit cleaned up, temperatures taken, diapers changed, Diet Cokes fetched. When everyone is asleep at last, and I have a moment to write, I dive into bed and pull the covers. . . . I’d started a cheery reply to Frank Wilson’s dare-double-dare on Hollywood novels. I had some better ones to suggest. But they will have to wait.