text: “Rebel and defend your rights,” “Don’t let the government bullies push you around,” “Do we live in a democracy or not?”--the loud slogans blasted across every window on Karen Singleford’s new car and shouted from the door of her two-bedroom walkup in the Seacrest Arms Luxury Apartment complex. Karen, the single mother of two pre-teen sons, Harry and Jarod, made no secret of her disdain for “health regulations” imposed during the influenza endemic and what she considered the clear danger they presented to her freedom to live life her way and to raise her boys free from bureaucratic interference. Two floors above her, however, ER nurse Nancy Huffingly felt she had experienced enough of the fatal disease close up to religiously follow all the mandates and to condemn those who “posed a real danger to themselves, their families and their neighbors.” Nancy felt she had seen too many hard-working people deprived of their loved ones too early in life due to the ravages of the illness that had taken over her quiet town. She had no problem writing scorching editorials to all forms of social media and the more traditional forms of communication to those in the tiny rural enclave in which both women lived. Sure, Nancy had seen Jan, a fellow nurse and her best friend, undergo a tortious reaction to her third booster of the influenza vaccine. But, thankfully, Jan had recovered after two weeks and the doctors at their hospital saw no lasting effects from the shot. Both Nancy and Jan had come to the realization that Jan’s suffering had been a minor price to pay for living the rest of her life. All medical “experts” consulted by the two nurses agreed wholeheartedly. Karen, however, remained convinced that the vaccination and other requirements imposed during the flu outbreak did nothing to make her life better and ultimately would lead to more totalitarian control of her pleasant suburban life. She also felt Jan’s condition proved the uselessness and danger of the restrictions. For six months the two neighbors loudly attacked each other on social media, in the traditional community press and in person. It got to the point where they couldn’t simply pass each other in the apartment complex hallways or each other without minor skirmishes breaking out. The other tenants also began to complain that they could not live in peace in the complex, and some of the fighting also resulted in damage to both women’s apartments. It got to the point where apartment superintendent Ralph Jacobson warned the bickering belligerents that, if they didn’t call a truce shortly, the authorities would be called and eviction proceedings would begin. That was until the fateful day on June 25, 2022. That morning Jarod woke up with a blazing fever and vomited up every scrap of food his mother fed him. He also told his mother he had lost all taste for the little bit of food he kept down. Karen, who could least afford it on her low-level food server’s salary, stayed home to take her son to the ER and nurse him to recovery as she worried about the future of her small family. Contrary to “theories” advanced by her doctor and the hospital’s other physicians, the young mother swore Jarod’s illness came from the unusually cold and wet weather plaguing their resort community for the last two weeks and not from the disease the bureaucrats used to justify their restrictions. Two weeks later it looked like Karen’s “traditional” remedies had helped Jarod to turn the corner to recovery and she took him home. The recovery proved to be short-lived and the boy’s symptoms began to return. Karen’s physician said the influenza that, in fact, had forced him into bed for several days had returned and might endanger his life. Karen still stubbornly refused to allow her actions to be dictated by the “autocrats whose restrictions ultimately will land this entire country in a social prison.” She continued to minister to her son with “the tried and true methods that have served myself and my family for generations” while stubbornly refusing to give in to any demand to vaccinate Jarod. Jarod appeared to rally at times, but, immediately after each period of turnaround, it looked like his life would slip away for the final time. Karen reluctantly rushed him back into the ER and allowed the doctors to treat him using the updated methods that their training told them would bring her son “back from the brink.” “However,” she warned, “I will not allow them to inject my son with a vaccination that they and their fellow autocrats have used as an excuse to attack everything I believe in.” Finally, when it looked like “traditional” and “modern” medicine had come to a standoff, Karen’s “ideological archenemy,” Nancy, prevailed upon the medical community and government officials to accept a compromise that she believed would save the day. After several heated meetings with the doctors with whom Nancy worked and Karen all involved decided to continue with Karen’s favored treatment. After three days, with only minor progress, the young mother agreed to have her son receive all three doses of the influenza vaccination. Government officials agreed, however, to lift all restrictions and to make treatment voluntary accompanied with constant consultations between members of the medical community and those who supported Karen’s point of view. Following a tense 48 hours during which Jarod slipped in and out of consciousness several times and again seemed on the edge of death, he recovered. Hospital staff released him four days later. Although the disease did not completely let go of its hold on the boy for another two weeks, little sign of the influenza remained. Karen and Nancy began working together with a number of world-renowned medical professionals to disseminate their combined treatment. The voluntary acceptance of the now-improved vaccination combined with improved testing techniques and advances in post-disease treatments greatly reduced the toll the disease took on people around the globe. The seriousness of the influenza and the almost total elimination of fatalities spread throughout their small community and around the world.