Description

Panel One: Jan runs up to the front of the cart, holding up something in her hand. "Hey, Cal! I almost forgot your watch!"

Panel Two: A closeup of Cal's gloved hands. In his right hand he holds his gold pocketwatch. Along with the regular watch face, there are two smaller dials on the front, a moon phase indicator, and the date: 5/15. It's decorated with a monogram - CRM. In his left hand he holds a gold coin emblazoned with a caduceus, mounted in a round setting with a chain. "You added a fob?" he says. Jan, off-panel, answers, "I hope you don't mind. My parents are jewelers, and I saw your watch didn't have one."

Panel Three: Cal looks at the coin, a bit shocked. "No, it's nice, thank you. It's just - This is the coin I left to pay for my..." Jan picks up, "Your burial. My mom said it's tradition to give a survivor their coin back."

Panel Four: Doc chimes in, "It's very fitting, seeing as how it was your grandpa's gold coin."

Panel Five: Cal eyes Doc suspiciously. "Wait - You knew him, didn't you?" Doc and Blanche are clearly amused that's he's finally figured it out. "He was one of my best friends," she says, "I swear, you look just like him."

Author Note

The penny drops. Cal realizes that Doc and his grandpa were friends. Makes perfect sense, as the whole purpose of field teams is to make the rounds and see if there's any sign of infectious disease spreading. Hanging out with the local healthcare workers is simply part of the job, with friendships being a nice bonus! I can imagine Doc knows all of the embarrassing little stories about Cal and his mom that grandparents like to tell. Heck, she probably knows his family's birthdays and everything like that, too. Of course, bringing a small child to meet a Carrier is probably not something that's done, so if she's seen him before, it's only been in pictures or from a distance, and she's definitely never seen him since his accident (bad lungs around a Carrier? Nope.) She did know about it, and had her suspicions about his reaction to the disease.

And yes, the crew was probably devastated about losing their friend's family, so you can imagine how protective they are about Cal.

Regarding that, while gold coins aren't required for burial - I mean, come on, they're not going to leave a plague victim uncared for, dead or alive - It's an evolution of the tradition of leaving coins for the ferryman. Health care of any kind is free, but I can see leaving a coin for the Carriers regarded as more like a donation or gift than an actual payment, even if that's the term that gets used. Sort of a, 'Sorry to be a bother, have this coin." As such, I can see custom coins being a popular thing that people get done, along with passing coins down. Healthcare workers having a coin with some sort of medical symbol on one side is probably a bit of a thing.

So, yeah! A bit more culture/lore, and lookit that, another date to reference and a monogram.

Keep Your Mask On,
- Bran