Life is a Novel That Always Ends Poorly

     In my fiction, to get the maximum effect out of a dramatic spike, I usually preface it with the main character (MC) on an emotional high, the part just before the more aware of us begin to listen for the other shoe dropping. It's formulaic, I know, but it's a literary formula that works.
     In spite of all the problems facing me and all of us in this pandemic, I was feeling pretty good yesterday. I'd just launched a new novel a week or two ago, Steve Bannon and three or four of his cohorts got arrested yesterday and Trump was losing big on every legal front. I had fun writing the post and doing the requisite research. I hoisted a few shots of Bushmills in Bannon's dubious honor then, even though he's not my man, we crowned a new Democratic candidate whom virtually all the polls say will dislodge Trump (Then again, they said the same thing about Hillary four years ago).
     Then the figurative shit hit the proverbial wind tunnel fan.
     Facebook disappeared from both my laptops, giving me the white screen of death. It seems to be linked with them forcing people to use a simpler but much slower version and I'm guessing this is an interface problem between them and my Firefox browser that no one can tell me how to fix. That in itself would be a huge inconvenience as I harvest most if not all of my digest content from my Facebook wall. But that was just the beginning.
     I tried to reup my cell phone's minutes last night in bed and for the first time ever, my card got declined. A quick look at my bank account online told me I was literally a day late and a dollar short. So I rushed to Paypal and tried to instantly transfer $50 to my checking, leaving us with $38. When that didn't show up, I transferred $10 as a trial balloon.  Nothing. I've made use of it dozens of times since the service was made available but this was the first time the money never showed up. It still hasn't. I called Paypal and they insist it went through on their end. I told them, "On my end it hasn't and that's the end that counts." Luckily, earlier in the day I made a standard transfer of $100 that, thankfully, went through but Verizon gobbled up half of that when I renewed my plan today (they shut me off at midnight last night.).
     Then after my phone was reinstated, I checked my mail and discovered from a relative in Florida that my father died last night of COVID-19 . And here I am with no money and no way of getting to my mother in the deep south.
     I still don't know how to feel about this. But with my money and Facebook suddenly disappearing from my devices, this was the icing on the cake and I feel cut adrift. I'm 61 and without a father for the first time in my life. You'd think I'd be used to that. We hadn't been in direct contact since 1995 and had, let's charitably say, our differences over literally everything under the sun. When we came back from Italy in 1972, he turned into a racist right wing bigot.
     None of that makes a difference any more, I guess. My  Mom just turned 84 a few days ago and I hope her family, also in Georgia, is with her now. We were never close, either, but she's still my mother and someone needs to look out for her. The cousin that emailed me the news from Florida is virtually the only go between on my Dad's side of the family and me. I don't even know if they want me there but I have to make an effort to do so even if for no other reason than because he was my father. Otherwise if I don't make that effort, I know it'll be held against me, not the least of which by myself.
     So I need a lot of help this time, guys. We were already in a situation where there would've been too much month left at the end of the month and had zero chance of staying solvent before next month. My phone cell provider immediately shut me off at midnight because I didn't renew on time for the first time in over 12 years. The gas bill's paid but I have no way of paying off my ISP or the $110 the auto insurance people demand then there's transportation down south. I don't even know if I'll be allowed to stay at my Dad's house and may have to stay at a motel.
     Ergo, I'm going to be largely if not entirely going dark if you guys can help me out and get me to Georgia. My Dad just turned 80 this summer so he lived a good long life. But in a case like this, I have to wonder how much longer would he have had if COVID-19 didn't exist. That's a question that'll never be answered.