"Excuse me," the woman waived the waitress over with an elegant hand. "But I'm afraid this soup is terribly salty."

"Oh, I am so sorry, ma'am, let me take it back and check with the chef. Would you like something else instead?" The young waitress gently lifted the large white bowl from in front of her.

"No, I'll simply wait for my entree." She settled back into conversation with the older gentleman across from her, sipping her wine.

"Miss?" Another hand waived to her before she entered the kitchen.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"The sauce on this pasta is terribly plain, it's nothing like the chef typically makes." The gentleman lifted his plate and stacked it on top of the soup bowl.

Two more steps and she heard, "Excuse me, but this lobster bisque is much too salty."

Standing by the table, a woman placed it on the tower of dishes the waitress now held.

She marched to the kitchen, laying the uneaten food on the counter.

"What is this?" Yelled the sou chef, Randy, raising his arms in the air.

"The customers are all complaining about the food tonight. I just don't understand!" The young girl shrugged her shoulders. "I'm afraid to go back out there." She sighed, half sitting on a stool.

They both looked at Michael, the restaurants chef. He stood silently with his back to them, his head was bowed.

"My apologies," he mumbled. " I was hoping to create by memory, but I can not. I am finished." He covered his face with shaking hands.

"What? What are you talking about?"

The truth had to be told, the secret could not be kept. "I woke this morning, to no taste or smell. My senses, they are gone." He cried.

"Then what the hell are you doing here!!!" Randy screamed. "Go home, get out of this kitchen before you get us all sick. We need to throw everything he touched out. Close the restaurant for tonight. Say there was a fire in the kitchen."

Randy grabbed Michael's coat and threw it at him. "Go!" He cried.

Michael backed up, fear in his eyes, and turned to the door.

Randy looked at the waitress. "There is a new disease that is spreading across the world. They say it began in China. People are dying and they don't know how to stop it. But symptoms are you loose your taste and smell. We will all need to be checked on by a medical facility immediately. People are dying. They are calling it COVID-19."

Michael walked home to his flat. The cough was getting worse as well as the chest pains. By the time he put the key in the lock, he couldn't catch his breath. Clothes hit the floor as he stumbled and fell onto his bed.

The next morning the news would begin it's story about this strange disease that was spreading like fire across the country, leaving so many dead in its wake. Michael Dante, a famous chef in Manhattans upper east side would be among the numbers.