Read Chapter 9: — LOCKDOWN

Christmas Eve arrived without traffic.

Ravensbridge Council asked for neighbourhood volunteers to deliver food and medication, check on isolated residents and help with phone support. Maya read the notice while eating breakfast.

"I'm thinking about it," she said.

Ethan lowered his mug.

"About what?"

"Volunteering."

He did not smile. That irritated her.

"You don't approve?"

"I approve of you making a decision because you mean it. I don't approve of you doing it because I did."

"I spent yesterday on the phone with Linda. I took groceries to Mr Hall on the fourth floor. It felt useful."

"It can also be frightening. People can be angry. Some will lie about symptoms because they're embarrassed or desperate."

"I know."

"You'll need boundaries."

"Ethan."

"Yes?"

"You are becoming incredibly annoying."

He smiled then.

"Good. You sound certain."

Maya joined the local response team that afternoon.

Her first task was not heroic. She phoned sixty-seven residents to ask whether they needed prescriptions, food or welfare checks.

Her second task was to deliver baby formula to a couple whose six-month-old had run out.

The father opened the door and cried when he saw the tin on the step.

Maya cried in the lift on the way down.

That night she and Ethan made a small Christmas dinner from whatever they had. No parents. No cousins. No crowded table.

At midnight, they stood by the window.

Across the courtyard, somebody began playing "Silent Night" on a trumpet. Badly.

One window opened. Then another.

A woman laughed. Someone applauded. A child shouted, "Again!"

The trumpet started over.

Maya leaned against Ethan.

"Next year," she said.

"Next year what?"

"Everybody. One table. No excuses."

"Deal."

They kissed while the trumpet missed another note.