Don't apologize for not being funny. Laughter is nearly always welcome, but it's not always appropriate. I think you struck just the right tone with this. You showed that heroes aren't always the ones wearing the flashy clothes or have the extra powers. The ones who toil behind the scenes, never receiving their due, always having more work than there is time, those are the real heroes. And I think it's brilliant that Lois's son is a doctor fighting this epidemic with everything he's got.

Michael, I wish you'd provided a link or some reference to the news report you mentioned. I'd like to know who that is and what he/she is supposed to have said and done (or tried to do).

Thank you, Mary. Really. You hit the bulls-eye with this one. Good work, lady.


Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.

- Stephen King, from On Writing