JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Lali, Mother of Muji (gorgeous white rescue cat with Persian locks but a decidedly non-Persian face), had the answer to my question: Without public transportation, how do the workers get to the groceries, pharmacies, and other essential businesses where they work?

Answer: If their employers can’t provide them with some sort of shuttle service, they sleep on the premises. And if their employers do not allow them to sleep on the premises, they sleep ON THE SIDEWALK.

I should point out that grocery, pharmacy, bakery, market workers are also frontliners in this pandemic, protecting us from starving to death or expiring from other health issues. They have been called “retail heroes”, but they can’t sleep on empty compliments, can they. What they really need are a means of transportation, or proper accommodations so they can go on performing their indispensable jobs for the general public.

A friend (of a friend, squared) of Lali’s discovered to his horror that the staff at the supermarket he regularly shops in were sleeping on the sidewalk so they could get to work in the morning. He sent an official letter to their office asking them how they could let this happen. Then he posted a letter on the supermarket chain’s Facebook page. That is how it’s done: Register an official complaint, and let them know that everyone is watching.

I will spare you the infuriating details since lockdown has already frayed our nerves to breaking. Businesses today are very conscious of how they are perceived on social media, so the supermarket chain eventually, after some hounding, did something. The workers were reassigned to branches closer to their homes, and shuttle services were provided so that the retail frontliners could go to work everyday. The point is: If you see companies shirking their responsibilities, call them out. Social media has its problems, but it has its uses. Social media companies are already bigger than governments, but after this pandemic, they will rule the world.

For now my 66-square-meter world is ruled by my three feline overlords, who alternate between being pleased to have 24-hour human attention, and being bonkers. Most of the time they are quiet, and then for no apparent reason one of them starts doing crazy parkour around the apartment, knocking things off shelves and generally acting possessed. And then as suddenly as it began the madness stops and all three resume doing impressions of statuary.

Three days ago I thought I saw a flea crawling into the fur on Buffy’s neck. Being in survival paranoia mode, I did not bother to check if there was an infestation. Immediately I anointed the cats thoroughly with virgin coconut oil (VCO), which apart from repelling fleas (It worked before), conditions their fur and makes them smell like biko (sticky ricecake). They hated me for a couple of hours afterwards, and expressed it by giving me the evil eye. Drogon, the head of the household, sat beside my laptop and pointedly turned his back on me. (“I fart in your general direction!”)

The following morning I noticed that Drogon’s left ear had a red rash and he was scratching it frantically. A flea must’ve bitten him before the VCO treatment, causing an allergic reaction. This may explain the little piece that was already missing from the edge of his ear when he moved in with us—he may have scratched it so much it fell off. Luckily I still had the beeswax and VCO ointment Noel had given me years ago (very effective for cuts and mosquito bites). I applied it to the rash, Drogon stopped scratching, and the rash seems to be subsiding. (I’ve consulted the cat ladies and they agree that this is a sensible treatment.) Meanwhile Drogon has leveraged his contact dermatitis to emotional blackmail me into giving him extra portions of his favorite cat food. I have been rationing the supply because my cat food dealer’s shop is closed during quarantine. If we run out, I’ll have to buy them the supermarket brand that they sniff at disdainfully.

No, my behavior is not due to cabin fever, I always anthropomorphize my cats.