This is a honest to God conversation I had with a friend. In 2020.

He sat over ten feet away from me, on my front porch, telling me why Covid is not real. He agreed to social distancing and sitting outside because I told him it was the only way I’d talk to him. I’ve known him for at least five years.

“We should watch the news. The military is on the move, they’re preparing, someone may have noticed. Someone in the media.” He looks at me, “I mean it. Turn on CNN. You’ll see what I’m saying is true. You believe in the media, watch them and pay attention. There will be clues. They are going to drop more clues.”

I nod. He starts to explain, he tries to tell me what he’s heard from David Wilcock, Alex Jones* deceased, Q anon, and the other conspiracy theorists who don’t believe in the moon landing, Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and more. “The military, they’re off the coast right now. There are aircraft carriers stationed just off the coast of North Carolina, they’re stationed all the way up the coast to New York, they’re ready, waiting for the instruction to ‘go’.”

“Go where?” I ask, not really wanting to know the answer. Afraid of what he was about to tell me. A military coup?

“The deaths? All these supposed Covid19 deaths? They’re from the military. They’re executing people, they’re executing the hundreds of thousands of pedophiles who are kidnapping children. That’s what the deaths really are…” he trails off, looking at me. He reaches for a banana, peels it and begins to eat it.

“There are that many pedophiles in the world?” I shake my head. “Really? Hundreds of thousands…”

“They kidnap children. They won’t be on CNN, forget that. CNN is part of the deep state, they all are. They won’t report it. But it’s happening. The military are finally moving in on the child molesters. They’re going to save the children. It’s not just in the US, it’s worldwide. Putin’s special forces are removing the Russian pedophiles. That’s why he and Trump are so close, they are part of the same force … removing the child molesters.”

I nod, as if understanding. “The same children that the Clinton’s kidnap, the ones who are sacrificed for their blood? (*read that link for a mind blowing New Republic article from Sept. 2020) The ones that were in the basement of that pizza place in DC?”

“Yes, the same ones. It’s all over for them, finally. The Clinton’s have already been arrested and executed. What you see are body doubles. The Queen and her family are all body doubles too, except for Meghan and her prince, they got out of the royal family because they refused to participate in the ritual sacrifices of the babies. Their lives are in danger but there is a secret society that protects them, that’s why they’re here.”

Why do I listen to this person, this man who sounds like a raving lunatic? Because I’m curious. I truly want to understand what people are thinking, what is said by “Q” and other information sources. This is not a Proud Boy or a militia member. He doesn’t own a gun, doesn’t go to rallies. He lives with his mom, lost his job at a local restaurant, wouldn’t hurt a fly. This is a 20-something, misinformed, quiet, impressionable friend who I’ve watched go off the deep end since March 2020.

So what do I tell him?

I start by telling him there really is something in the air and it’s killing people. I convince him, over an hour long discussion, that I don’t know what’s it is, what country spread it — could be anyone — and now we’re dying from it. I convince him, slowly, he’s got to quit running around visiting people. He needs to stay home for a month. He can come and sit on my porch when it gets to him, or he can sit on other people’s porches, distant from them, but he cannot go into homes any more. He can’t visit. He begins to believe me, just enough. He won’t wear a mask, but I think I’ve made him realize he needs to stay home. He may not believe in a “pandemic” but he will believe in an airborne killer, spread by anti-American forces.

There are a thousand comments you can make about this meeting. Believe me, I’ve said them all. But if I convinced him to stay home for a few weeks, I’ve done all that I can. I know you wonder how anyone can be so dense, but if you listen to what they say, you’ll find out why they deny the virus and maybe you can work in a little discussion about how to stay safe. And why would I remain friends with this young man? I care about him, it’s that simple.

Before we wrapped up our visit, I asked him “How’s your mom doing?” She’s in her early 60s, hefty build, diabetic, bad thyroid. He said, “Oh, she’s home now. Got back last night. One of our traveling pastors … his daughter got married in Alabama last weekend and she and a bunch of friends drove down there for the wedding.” We’re in North Carolina. A full day’s drive from here.

The non-believers. They’re killing us.

*This post is taken from my journal entry back in Dec 2020. With folks seeing the pandemic in the rear view mirror, it’s time to think back a bit, all of us, to what it was like when millions of people died.