Food In The Fall and A Warm Satisfaction

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Total Confirmed: 1,203,099

Total Deaths: 64,773

Total Recovered: 229,309

I had another invention fail because apparently I Can’t Math. It was cold and windy outside and we went to Home Depot and stood in a line 6 feet apart marked by a roped off area with yellow X’s taped to the asphalt in the parking lot. Only so many people were allowed in the store at a time. They let people in when The Others went out. The line was one way so people wouldn’t pass each other. In one door to the building. Out the other. No Exceptions. We wore the masks Mom made us and non-latex gloves, and the worker guy told us they disinfect every cart every time. Aidan touched a cart that hadn’t yet been disinfected and a worker lady chased him down and took away the cart and tried to spray his gloves with disinfectant. She gave him a clean cart and we went on our way.

They’re Not Fucking Around.

I got a sheet of birch underlayment, some 3/4 inch EMT conduit, and some additional items for my invention. Aidan bought baby plants so we’d have Food In The Fall. Because you never know.

It was scary being in there. It felt dangerous. The aisles were too narrow to stay 6 feet apart and not enough people were wearing masks. The CDC says everyone should now, no matter what. Officials admit they lied when they said masks weren’t helpful. They wanted hospitals to get the real ones, so they just lied to us. Now they say wear a mask. Anything. Even a cut-up-sock. I’ve been trying to start a hashtag #betterthanbandanas but I’m not actually on Twitter and I don’t think it’s catching on anyway.

That was definitely our last trip. We won’t be going back. I hope I have everything I need for my invention. What I’ve got is what I’ve got.

I feel the prudent move would be to stock 30 days worth of food at the house. I feel like something big is coming. And I don’t want to be stuck with oatmeal until the very end. Until there’s nothing else. We’ll all get sick of oatmeal. And rice. And canned green beans that we usually give to my Mom’s dog when she is trying to lose weight. But we’ll eat anything. If we have to.

Aidan is okay with eating questionable food. He gets that from his mom. He doesn’t believe in expiration dates. I’m not militant about expiration dates, but at least I look at them. And I smell stuff before I eat it. And when I smelled the cheese today, it was definitely bad but Aidan said it was fine and we disagreed for a minute, and then I put it on my dinner anyway and then had to give my dinner to the dogs because the cheese was definitely Not Fine.

My skin is clear since the house is clean. There’s no germy germs that end up on my face. No work germy germs either. I feel healthy and I’m losing weight and everyone is posting memes about gaining a ton of weight by the end of the apocalypse because they’re eating because they’re bored. They put signs in their refrigerator and try to stop buying cookies since they technically last a long time but really only last a day or two once they get to the house.

Another storm is coming so Aidan set the new baby plants on his work bench in the garage, but planted the little tree out front. Third time’s a charm, he says since we killed off the last two we planted in that same spot. He wore A Warm Satisfaction that he wears only when he’s in the garden. The snowflakes started drifting around how they do and melting on the street and on his shoulders and I know this winter will never ever end.

So it’s another day of feeling that this thing is coming for us. Coming and coming and invisible and intangible.

But coming.