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DAY 10: TOTAL CONFIRMED DEATHS 16,572 WORLDWIDE


She discovered a shopping cart graveyard. She had been on her now illegal bike ride- the mayor shut down all trails and parks in response to the people not being able to socially distance appropriately- meaning kids were still partying and playing team sports on the beach- so the entire city was punished. But her trail had escaped the eyes of local law enforcement- at least for the moment. Less people were riding their bikes or walking, and some were starting to don masks. The path followed the Sweetwater River down to the bay- a river filled with ducks, doves, fish, squirrels, snakes, and a population of the homeless who had made camp on the banks for years. Graffiti covered the freeway underpasses; she made sure to ride quickly through those spots. The graveyard appeared on the left: twisted metal and plastic, red and gray, reaching up through the flowing water towards the sky. Some were on their sides, some prone, some were supine, like helpless spindly animals taking their last breaths, grasping for help.

She felt sad for those carts, bereft of their mission to cradle and protect a shopper’s parcels navigating large stores.

She did love shopping.

But shopping was now a dangerous endeavor. IT could be lurking everywhere- on the cart, on the products, on the conveyor belt, on the card reader.

The telescreen reported more infections, more people in Congress, and her country was now 3rd in worldwide cases- and those were only the ones who had been tested.

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