Excercise: This Keyboard

This is an excercise in writing. You can write about anything. It doesn't have to be poetic or beautiful. It just needs to come alive. I'm beginning this excercise using one prop, the computer keyboard at work.

During spring of 2009 the world broke out in panic over the flu. It was the swine flu, also known as N1H1 or el gripe porcina in Spanish. It was embellished and given strength. They called it Pandemic. When news first hit the airwaves on tides of rumor, gossip, TV, and radio, people followed as if unable to stop. They surfed the net and refresh MSN, CNN news for updates... every 30 seconds. Click.

The magic potion is sanitizer, bought by the bottle, the liter, the gallon. Sterilize everything! Wash your hands. Cover your mouth. Don't cough on people. If you get the flu, give up your life to the sickbed: no school, socializing, shopping, or work. Stop everything! ...27, 28, 29, 30. Click.

Grocery list:
--Lunchmeat
--Bread
--sanitizing spray
--soap
--grapefruit
--chips
--Don't forget Vitamin C.
You look up and find that the OJ prices have been hacked up, but you still nab the last 3 gallons. You can't get sick. They say you could die. The older gentleman walking up the aisle opposite from you sneezes rapid fire. Just as quickly you turn right around, walking too fast in the opposite direction, the cart wheels squeaking in your wake...26, 27, 28 29 Click.

Bilboards prophesy the answer to all your ailments. "Get Vaccinated", they cry in bold letters. People flock to clinics and stand in line, waiting hour after hour for salvation. They tell their friends and family, besearching sceptics to save themselves before the sickness infects them all... 25 26 27 Click.

Type an e-mail, an assignment, a love letter, a ransome note, a blog post. You look down at these keys so often pressed without concern and you see something new. You see crumbs stuck in the board from careless co-workers. You see the grime from many different hands. You see a light sheen, which could be about any sort of bodily fluid.
You see red. Mayday! Mayday! S.O.S. Brain is going into meltdown.
Must clean. Must burn. Must rid it of impurities.
Nothing is safe. Nothing is sacred!

Click. Click until the web browser crashes from overload of too many links trying to run and refresh all at once.

Months later we became immune to the billboards cries and the flood of news articles and updates dwindled to a small but steady stream. Much research on the H1N1 vaccination shows contradicting results, some of which include mercury poisoning. Either way, life went on, and panic abated as the populace realized it was only the common influenza, changing as it always does and always will. And humans' bodies will subtly adapt over time in accordance to external changes.

*As a sidenote, I'm not germaphobic in any way. It equally amuses and worries me that people would kill off all bacteria, even the good ones, leading to an insufficient immune system and greater likeliness of contacting illness or disease.

Overall, this was a good waste of my time. =) Onward to more homework!