Brother and sister, exposed. But not in the way you think

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When we got home, Allie parked on the street and invited me to check out her room before going in the main house. We went around back, me toting along my backpack and suitcase. She rattled through her keys briefly before opening her door and flipping on the lights.

I said, “Hey, I like what you’ve done with the place.” The room had been repainted pale grey, and she had new towels in the bathroom, enough sprucing to make the old floor and fixtures not so noticeable. When I lived here I never bothered with new paint, and I’ll admit it was ugly.

Allie beamed at the compliment. “It took a lot of work to get your smell out of this place,” she joked. At least I think it was a joke, because when I laughed she did too.

I was still chuckling when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and shot a glance at the screen, but it was an unrecognized number, so I let it go to voicemail. I suppose there are college students who get a lot of calls at 3:00 in the morning, but I wasn’t one of them.

Within seconds, the phone buzzed again, the same number as before, and I said, “Allie, I don’t know who this is, but maybe I should take it.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

I punched the green button and said, “Hello?” and my life changed forever.

A female voice over the phone said, “Is this Jason Peters?”

“Yes, speaking.”

The voice continued, “Did you disembark from a plane in Burlington, Vermont? Departed from Philadelphia?”

“Um, yeah, I guess I did. I started in Dallas but changed planes in Philadelphia.”

“Where are you now?”

“Hang on, who is this?”

“Jason, my name is Samantha Talmadge. I’m calling from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. There has been a possible pathogen on your flight, and it’s critical that we get information from you to help contain it.”

“A pathogen? What do you mean? What kind of pathogen?”

Allie was looking at me with her eyes partially squinted and her lips pursed. Hearing just my end of the conversation, she was understandably confused.

“We’ll talk about that in a minute, but first I need to know where you are.”

“I’m at home. My parents’ house, I mean.”

“Who have you encountered since getting off the plane?”

“Encountered? What do you mean by ‘encountered’?”

“In general, someone you’ve touched or been in the same room or vehicle with.”

“In that case, just my sister. She gave me a ride home from the airport.”

Samantha said, “And where is your sister now?”

“She’s standing right here next to me.”

“Is there anyone else in the house?”

These questions seemed unusually detailed and personal, and I could feel my heart rate start to rise with anxiety.

“So right now we’re in the guest house. My parents are in the main house, and I’m going in there in a few minutes.”

“Jason, I need to ask you to stay where you are for now.”

Allie was visibly frustrated, especially after I mentioned her. She said, “Put it on speaker.”

Into the phone I said, “Just a sec, Samantha. I’m going to put you on speaker so my sister can hear.” I pulled my phone away from my ear and hit the speaker icon, then asked, “So why can’t I go in my house?”

“Jason, what is your sister’s name?”

Allie responded for herself. “Hi, I’m Allison Peters.”

“Allison, since you picked up Jason at the airport, have you encountered any other people?”

“No, I don’t think so. Some people at baggage claim I guess, but that’s about it.”

“Okay, thank you. There was only the one flight that arrived in Burlington at that time, so those people in baggage claim were either on the flight or meeting someone from the flight, and we’ll track them down just as we’ve contacted you.”

“What’s going on?” I asked. “What is this pathogen you talked about?”

“Jason, Allison, one of the people on your flight may have been carrying a highly contagious virus called Zara. Are you familiar with this virus?”

Allie and I looked at each other. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, so I said, “No, neither of us has ever heard of it.”

“Zara is a virus we think originated in central Africa. Its first known occurrence in humans was about 3 years ago. So far it’s only been found in remote African villages. But one of the passengers on your flight was potentially exposed to the Zara virus in Africa. He should have stayed in country on a medical quarantine, but somehow he was able to board an aircraft and changed planes in Philadelphia to the same flight you took.”

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