Decameron

or Things to Do during a Pandemic

The Decameron was written about 1350 AD by Giovanni Boccaccio. It tells of a gathering of seven young women and three young men (“two girls for every boy” and a spare) hiding out in a country estate from the pandemic disease of their time, the bubonic plague. Nowadays that country gathering sounds like the beginning of either a sex romp movie or a slasher movie, but it is neither. Instead of messin’ around or murderin’ or both, the ten young people tell each other a hundred stories. That’s a story a day per person for two weeks, with two days a week off for the Sabbath and chores.
     People aren’t being encouraged to group up during our current situation, but there are ways to encourage story-telling and listening among us, even with the libraries closed (the libraries on a stick are getting plenty of business). This includes the story of stories, that of God’s glad creation and redemption of those whom he loves, which is you and me, all of us.
     A niece of ours lives with three other women, and they are taking turns reading to each other in the evenings. Our niece is also picking up groceries and other needs for a great-aunt and great-uncle who live in her area.
     A friend of ours had knee surgery, among the last elective surgeries in our area, and the three women she lives with are keeping the cleanest house on the block and helping her with post-surgical therapy. Fellow church members are bringing meals to them.
     Our church is still doing the full Sunday morning service with the exception of two things: the band and the congregation. Pretty much everybody here can catch the live webcast, and many are doing so. Other churches are not so fortunate.
     The church staff has also connected everyone in the congregation (including many who have floated in and out lately) into groups for conversation, practical help, and prayer. I’m looking forward to hearing stories about what is happening with that when it’s all over. But I have a feeling that the “all over” will not apply to this new part of how we structure and strengthen our mutual love.
     The Decameron is fiction, though perhaps such things did happen, at least for people with options and resources enough to get away in that fashion. But leaving aside its fictionality for a moment, it’s fun to think about what might have happened next among these ten people, after they (presumably) went back to the city. Or perhaps some would decide to stay with the country life once they had discovered it.

• “Two girls for every boy” is from “Surf City” (Jan & Dean), which is from before I fully understood the appeal of such a scenario.