A Lamp Lights The Way Back:Memoir

[Anahit]

From my book
''My lamp guides me on my ways as if I am carrying it in my hand. I imagine that I am holding an old oil lamp, which my grandmother lit, when she was a young lady.
''No, time is not stuck in the lamp, but I find the images of time in the lamp,'' I say to myself very often.
My lamp did not leave my hand, when a very tiny and invisible enemy invaded the world. No eyes could see that enemy, but all tongues in different languages said its name, Covid.
The global pandemic started. It seemed to me that my mysterious lamp was leading me to walk over the blades. The whole of humanity became helpless and frightened. The invisible virus continued to attack like a horrible wild beast to stick its thorny claws into a human's blood. The TV news kept on announcing deaths in hospitals.
Most of the windows were open, but the doors were locked. The streets, which used to be crowded, became almost empty. Only some masked people were walking to the stores for food.
''No guest is ever welcomed,'' I said to my cousins.
Nara said, ''Anyway we should be in isolation for our safety. I am afraid of death. I want to live long.''
''Don't worry, my sister, we will probably avoid being infected with that cruel virus. Just wear a mask, when you go out,'' my other cousin, Nune said to Nara, her sister.
I got lost in my thoughts. I was thinking about life, ''the pillow on the hospital bed could let anyone's head rest on it. The air, which is always generous to every living being, could enter anyone's lungs through a lung ventilator.''
I felt as if the invisible enemy was chasing me and my loved ones...''