Claire Still Kicking: Stories and Poems from the COVID Pandemic

Claire and her friends are in their local bar when they hear the governor's order that restaurants and bars must close as a way of slowing the spread of COVID. Ronnie says out loud what others wonder to themselves, "Can he do that?" She and everyone else soon learn he can, and has. The seasonal residents who flock each winter to the California desert community, Claire calls home, flee as the pandemic worsens, leaving the locals, who are delighted at the prospect of a spring without tourists to cater. Claire and her friends enjoy the casual easy sense of community that develops during the pandemic. As it ends, they miss the quiet of sheltering in place.