The wind howls. Newspapers fly through the streets and slap onto streetlamps. The skies are grey. The streets are empty, and chilling post-apocalyptic tunes play over the eerie scene.
The scene cuts into the homes of citizens; dark livingrooms illuminated by the blue light emanating from a tv screen. The scene lingers a little longer on the television screen enough to draw attention to the softly audible snippets of doom tales reported by stern-faced news anchors who share stats of an alarming death toll. Families tighten their embrace and watch in horror.
Our present-day is not nearly as dramatic, but it hasn’t stopped it from feeling like a film of sorts. The sudden disorder upon unbeknownst citizens that makes the plot of a regular film is our reality now; we are no longer spectators at the movies, this is real life.
Perhaps the most indistinguishable scene between our present-day and a film is that, in both, we are waiting at the edge of our seats for some form of redemption or hope.
Thankfully, the blue skies of spring and the burst of colorful trees along the streets create a more idyllic scene in real life. Moments before we were officially put on lockdown to abate the COVID-19 disease spread, I run down to take a snapshot of, an eerily empty, downtown Main Street Ellicott City. The outdoor café at Little Market had been recently renovated by Celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, to draw in larger crowds to the little town. Yet, like the pretty cherry blossom trees dazzling the streets right now in the heights of their performance, the seats are empty, there is no one in attendance to watch the show.
I hope that soon I would be able to recapture this photo with people in it… Back to normal, whatever that may be then, whenever then may be.