One small drop of coffee landed silently on her hand. It left a criss cross pattern on her hand as it moved slowly forward. Jenna tried to keep her hands as still as she possibly could as she balanced the two cups of coffee on a small tray. 

It wasn't the most difficult job in the world, but she never managed to not spill anything from the cups as she made her way back to her office. Sometimes it seemed that the more she focused on the cups, the more she spilled. But the one time she decided to not pay any attention to the cups at all was the time that she tripped over her own two feet and created a coffee puddle on the ground. A coffee puddle with a heap of misery laying on top of it.

She managed to get two almost-full-cups back to her client. 

"Oh, let me hold the door for you." The other woman got up from her seat and held the door for Jenna to pass through. "You have no idea how badly I need that coffee."

Jenna laughed. "It's not just you. I am not capable of functioning like a normal human being if I don't have a cup of coffee in the morning." She put the tray down, gesturing at it. "I brought sugar and cream sticks because I realized I didn't ask you whether you wanted any."

The other woman waved Jenna's comment away. "I like my coffee black. It gives that kick that I need." She took a small sip from her coffee. Her nose twitched only ever so slightly. 

Turning around to grab her notebook, Jenna smiled. She knew the coffee from the machine wasn't the best. However, it was the only coffee they had in the building, so that was what they had to deal with. You learned to appreciate it over time. 

"First of all, thank you for coming on such a short notice" Jenna said. She shifted some of the stuff on her desk around to make it look like she knew what she was doing. Truthfully, she no idea where her notebook was. Organizing wasn't her strongest skill. 

"Oh, no problem at all! Thank you for having me." The woman looked around, her coffee in hand. "You know, as an inspiring writer, you hope that a publisher will look at your book and think; 'This is the new J.K. Rowling!'" She shrugged. "It just takes some time for one of them to realize what they hold in her hands. I'm just happy to be here."

"Yeah, totally." Jenna flashed a quick smile before opening the top drawer of her desk. "Where are you?" she muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing" Jenna said. She dropped to her knees, reaching for the lower drawers. Her head popped up behind her desk. "How many publishers have you reached out to so far?" 

The woman hesitated. "Only about, twenty, or something." She shook her head. "But that doesn't mean anything, of course. J. K. Rowling send her book to publishers about fifty times before someone understood how brilliant her story truly was!" 

Jenna rolled her eyes. She was still behind her desk so she allowed herself this luxury. There was only one drawer left in her desk. With a quick sweep of her hand, she pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. It almost immediately fell back into place. A smallish huff caused it to move a little. "So you are a fan of the Harry Potter series?" she asked to buy herself some time.

It stayed silent.

Not sure if she had spoken loud enough, Jenna opened her mouth to ask again but then she got an answer. 

"Well, no, you see, it is not really my cup of tea." The woman moved around on her chair. "I'm just saying that true brilliance is not always seen for what it is right away."

There it was. With her blue notebook in hand, Jenna jumped up. The other woman jumped in her chair, looking at her with a strange look. "That is true. But then again, not everyone loves the Harry Potter series. It is a matter of taste." Jenna sat down across from the other woman. 

"Some people have poor tastes then" the woman said, laughing. 

Jenna opened her notebook, quickly reminding herself of the notes she had received from her colleagus and her own thoughts. "Yes, some people have poor tastes.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The small talk in the break room stopped as soon as Jenna walked in. She threw her lunch on the table, sat down, and softly banged her head against the table top. 

"I take it the writer of 'Clowns in black' came over for your meeting?" Christopher asked.

Jenna made a sound.

"And let me guess; she took your critism really well?" 

She glared up at him. 

"What is that bad?"

"She kept comparing herself to J.K. Rowling. Just as misunderstood and at some point someone in this world would understand that her work is just what the world has been missing. Her work could change the world if we only gave her a chance." Jenna took a deep breath. "I have never read something so boring and dull in all my life. And you know that I read 'The bunny who ate a carrot' from another 'amazing author to be'."

Christopher patted her on the head. "There there. At least it is done now." He smiled at her. "On a much happier note, how was your weekend?"

A small smile appeared on her lips. "It was relaxing. Just me, a book, Boomer, the outdoors and a brilliant sun smiling down at me." She sighed. "Why can't it always be that way?"

"Because we have to work to make our money?" Christopher suggested.

She sighed. "Yeah. Work. Living. Groceries. Dishes. Washing up. What is my life?"

Christopher got up from his chair. "I'm 47 and even I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe you should ask Paul."

The 64-year-old man in the back let out a sarcastic laugh. "At least I'm not turning grey yet."

"I'd like to think it makes me more attractive" Christopher jested.

"You are incredibly attractive" Jenna said, winking at him. 

Christopher winked back. 

"Look, there he is again." The man in the back pointed at the small TV-screen that was located in a corner of the room. It was positioned in such a way that the sun was always covering at least a small part of the screen. "What does he want from us this time? I'm not going to pay more taxes" the man grumbled. 

The prime ministed had appeared on the screen. He was in his office. 

"Turn it up a bit" Christopher said. 

With a sigh, the man reached for the remote and turned the volume up.

"There are three possible scenario's: First, we can control the way the virus spreads. Second, we don't control it at all and let the virus run wild. Or option three, we try to hold it back and opt for a lockdown. A lock down could take a year or even longer."

The man in the back snorted. "We are never going into a lockdown. Not for the flu." He opened the newspaper in front of him and started reading. "This will be all over soon."

"Are you sure? Even Italy went into a complete lockdown. They are calling us crazy" Christopher argued.

"They are the crazy ones" the man said, ending the conversation. He muted the television.

"It's a bit scary, isn't it?" Jenna asked. She took another bite of her lunch. 

Christopher sat back down next to her. He put a hand on her arm. "I'm sure we'll be fine. We have good quality healthcare here and I'm sure that the people in charge know what they are doing." He softly pinched her. "Everything will be fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jenna sat behind her desk. She still had a lot of work to do before the day ended. There were still some e-mails that needed a reply from her, and there were notes that needed to be organized. And on her right sat a new manuscript that needed to be looked at. It looked at her furiously, accusing her of letting it wait for so long. It needed someone to look through its pages and scribble notes on it.

"Maybe tonight I will" she said out loud. 

Ping. A new e-mail reached her mailbox. She didn't have to open it to know what it said. Peter, a man who had been declined so many times that she lost count, had send her yet another story idea. The problem was that he never managed to actually write the book he dreamed of. In his e-mail he would once again ask her if she thought the idea was worth it. 

It could wait until tomorrow. And maybe even the day after that. 

Her upbringing, however, didn't allow her to ignore him. So she opened the e-mail and replied to it. Yes, it was a good idea. Yes Peter, you should write it down and write a book. Yes, even though we both know that you will never actually do it.

She looked at the words on the screen. Kind yet clear. Send.

Ping. 'Did you get a chance to look at my book yet?'

Ping. 'When am I going to receive your feedback?'

Ping. "Manuscript"

Her cursor went up to the 'x'. "Oops." She sighed, closing her eyes and leaned back in her chair. A beam of sunlight gently stroked her face. "I need my lavender scented candle, 'Wintersong', an entire teapot filled with strawberry tea and a little bit of honey, and a comfortable blanket. And of course Boomer to keep me company. That is all I want. Is that too much to ask for?" 

A short knock on her door answered her question.

"Apparently it is" she sighed.

The door opened, revealing one of her co-workers whoms name she wasn't sure of. Maybe it was Lucy. Or Margret. Or something else entirely.

"We all need to come to the meeting room. Immediately." After that, she walked off. Jenna heard her knock on the office door next to her own. The same message was repeated. 

She shut her computer off and walked out of her office. All around her, her co-workers emerged from their offices and walked down the same hallway. 

"Why do we all need to get to the meeting room? Our shift is almost over" someone complained.

"Maybe they want to give us an extra bonus because they screwed up with the Christmas gift last year" another offered.

There was a laugh. "Yeah, it did. Maybe they are giving us more coffee machines?"

"Or it is about the corona virus?" No one answered.

"I think that they should pay us for overtime" someone else commented. People nodded.

The murmurs became full blown conversations when they arrived at the meeting room. There weren't enough chairs left so people had to stand. 

Jenna moved to the back, to ensure a place near a window. She didn't like to be in a room filled with people. It got pretty crammed in there. There were faces there that she had never seen before. Most of the people wore their every day clothes, others were dressed in nice suits and dresses. 

"Why are the people from upstairs here as well?" Christopher showed up by her side. He looked around the room. "They seem to be as confused as we are."

"Strange" Jenna said. 

The volume of the conversations died down when their chef entered the room. It dropped down until everyone was silent. Their chef looked back at them, with pearls of sweat on his brow. "I'm sure that you are wondering why we've asked you all to come here at this hour." He paused. "Some of you may have heard the news from earlier today."

Someone fidgeted with a pen. Jenna looked at Christopher, he furrowed his eyebrows. 

"We, as a company, have decided that it is our responsibility to keep you, our employees, safe. To make sure that you all stay safe, we decided that all the work that can be done from home from now on will be done from home." People started to talk. The chef send them a warning look. It quieted down immediately.

"We understand that this may be confusing or that people don't have the devices to work from home. That is why for now you are allowed to take one of the work laptops home with you. One laptop per employee, only if you need it to do your job. If you have a laptop at home then you can contact our tech guys, they can help you with installing the programs on your own computers."

"Now, for the people who can't work from home, there are new regulations in place. Only the cleaning staff is allowed to come into the building from Wednesday onwards. Also, there will be people avalaible from higher up to help you out, they will also be here. The cleaning staff will get new instructions from their own chef."

"For now, try to bring as much of your work with you as you leave for home today. If you are unable to bring all of it with you in one go, we understand. Our building will stay open for three more hours today so that you can get back to get the rest of your stuff. And we will be open tomorrow for pick-ups as well. Are there any questions so far?"

People looked around the room, small chatter started again. One person raised their hand.

"Yes?" the chef asked.

"What will happen to new manuscripts that are send in?"

"Good question. Since most of them arrive through e-mail, we will send them to the right person. Physical copies send to us will be send to your homes." The chef nodded. "More questions?"

"I can't work from home. I have small children who will constantly need my attention when I'm there!" one of the woman from higher up said.

"We understand that it may be difficult to work from home. For now; give it a try. If it turns out that you really can't make it work, contact your chef and we'll see what we can do. Our first priority here is to keep people safe and to make sure that we keep this from spreading."

The chef looked around. No one else raised their hand. "If you have any questions after today, please let us know. The company will keep us updated on any updates that may come." He gestured towards the door. "Please gather your stuff and have a safe trip home. If anyone needs to talk, then the board is upstairs in room B to answer any questions you may have. Dismissed."

Quietly murmuring, the crowd left the meeting room. Jenna and Christopher waited. They weren't in a hurry to leave. 

When the room was almost empty, they made to leave. "If they are scared of the virus spreading, then why did they gather us all together in one room like that? It wasn't as if we were standing afwully close to each other" Christopher said.

Jenna shrugged. "I don't think they really thought it through."

Christopher hummed. "It is nice that they are still here to answer questions though." He held the door open for her as they passed through. "You know, I don't really mind working from home. Now I can finally sleep in and have no one make any comments about it" he said, looking at her side-eyed

She giggled. "You came in three hours late! In your sweatpants, may I add."

"I couldn't help it that Dancing With The Stars was so tense the night before. I needed to see who won!" he argued.

"Of course you did." They stopped in front of her office. "Well, this is me. Time to gather my stuff and work from home." Her eyes opened wide. "I can work in my pyjamas, with a blanket and drink all of the tea that I could ever want!" 

"There we go" Christopher said, laughing. "Already looking at the positive side of things."

"I'm going to miss you though. What am I going to do without you?"

"You'll be fine. Besides, don't even entertain the thought of skipping lunch with me. I need someone to talk to or I'm going insane" Christopher said.

"I thought you already were insane. And you have a boyfriend to talk to."

"Shush." He waved her comment away. "He doesn't love books the way we do." He gave her an air-hug, "Can't touch you anymore, I might get the coodies", he said. Snickering at his own joke, he walked off, turning around only once to yell: "Lunch, every day, 1 pm sharp!" 

She waved at him, sticking out her tongue. 

It took some time to find all the stuff that she needed to work from home. Luckily she didn't have to stand in line for a laptop. She had one at home and had already asked one of the tech guys to help her set up the programs a long time ago. Sometimes she enjoyed the comforts from home over working in a crowded office. Working from home was nothing new to her.

There it stood. On her desk. A box filled with everything she would need to keep working. One small box that contained everything she had worked for over the last couple of years. Her fingers gently brushed over a photo of her dog Boomer that rested on top, against the paper manuscript she still had to read. 

The box was heavier than she thought it would be. She had to put it down on the ground to lock her door. There were others that were ready to leave the building as well. Some people kept their distance from their co-workers, while others chatted with each other as if nothing had happened. 

Jenna left with a smile. "I'll see you soon!" she said, waving at one of her co-workers who was already loading up his car. She looked forward to a couple of days at home.