As you climb steps, you listen
to a story from the scourging.
OMICRON
It's beginning
We have seated ourselves around the office
Sipping our coffees and kvetching about paystubs
As we do each morning while we wait
For light to creep across the southern sky
One takes a call and returns with a grimace
It is his brother
He keeps his distance and leaves
We who remain sit uneasy
We've all had a sickness this month
But so far we have all been clear of the plague
What of him now
Will he succumb too
Two days ago we were together all day
What will happen next
We have no choice but to go on working