One evening last fall, Rachel McKibbens received a text from her younger brother, Peter. It read: “I was too distressed to tell you, but today dad passed away at 2:42 pm.” Little did she know that her father was even ill. When she called Peter, he told her that their father had been dead at home for weeks. Both have contracted Covid.
Peter and their father have lived together for a long time and both are unvaccinated; During the pandemic, they were scared of vaccines.
Peter didn’t take their father to the hospital, didn’t call 911, didn’t tell Rachel what was going on until it was too late. During the call, she told Peter to go to the hospital. But Peter was discharged on the doctor’s advice two days later while lying to Rachel that he was getting better. Before she could see him, Peter was also dead. He is a healthy 44-year-old male. Rachel was criticized for how many months she did not know about her father and brother. What was her brother thinking while their father slowly died in front of him? What is he doing? Then Rachel found out. She had found records of Peter’s last weeks and knew exactly what had happened.
From Serial Productions and The New York Times, We Were Three: A Story of Lies, Family, America and What Covid Revealed, and What It Destroyed.
Behind Series
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Introduction to music
Sophie Allison is a 25-year-old Nashville-based artist who has released critically acclaimed music under the moniker Soccer Mommy. Earlier this year, Allison released her third record, “Sometimes, Forever”, produced by Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never, who also recorded “Uncut Gems” and produced “Dawn FM” by Oneohtrix Point Never. Weeknd. Allison and her band, who have previously supported artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Phoebe Bridgers, Paramore, Vampire Weekend and more, are touring internationally for the remainder of 2022.
Matt McGinley is a New York-based musician, known for his work with the band Gym Class Heroes and as a contributing producer on “This American Life”. Matt has composed music for many Serial Productions shows, including “S-Town” and “Nice White Father.”
Reported by Nancy Updike
Made by Jenelle Pifer and Nancy Updike
Edited by Julie Snyder
Edited with help from Neil Drumming, Ira Glass, Jen Guerra, Chana Joffe-Walt and Sarah Koenig
Edited advice by Kiese Laymon, Ivan Oransky and Sayre Quevedo
Fact-checked and researched by Ben Phelan
Sound design and music supervision by Michael Comite
Manufacturer monitoring Ndeye Thioubou
Origin of Sophie Allison of Football Mom
Additional original music by Matt McGinley
Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Anthony Almojera, Eslah Attar, Rana Awdish, Trevor Bedford, Taison Bell, Jordan Cohen, Kelly Doe, Danielle Elliot, Jeremy Faust, Lindsay Fischler, Jason Fujikuni, Tara Godvin, Dana Green, Desiree Ibekwe, Rachel Bender Ignacio, Lauren Jackson, Nina Lassam, Jeffrey Miranda, Anisha Muni, Megan Shepherd, Kristen Panthagani, Jason Salemi, Mark Shapiro, Julia Simon, Al-Amyn Sumar, Tim Trumble, Kimmy Tsai and Susan Wessling.
