The Chaotic Coronavirus Craziness of 2020

It’s kind of crazy, but it’s already May 12th. This is truly the end of The Chaotic Coronavirus Craziness of 2020. It really feels like yesterday that I started this blog assignment. I knew I was going to like it, since I really enjoyed the other Tumblr blog that I did in sophomore year. “Stories of Marist” I believe it was called? Something like that. 

But anyways, since it’s my last official blog for English, I though I’d do a “Where are they now?”-type review of everything I’ve talked about.

To start it off, we just finished our 30-pack of toliet paper today. Yeah, this stuff that I wrote about all those weeks ago... on March 29th!  It turns out it didn’t actually last us through the entire Coronavirus quarantine. Though I must admit it lasted quite a while. 

The LTD is still running fine, now that it has had its brake line repair. Lights still lighting, brakes still stopping, Flex Tape still holding - everything is still going strong. I don’t get to go anywhere really anymore because of the increased lockdown (namely, the mask requirements). Even more places are closed than before. Speaking of closed places...

I believe Lake Katherine is closed due to the Coronavirus. I’m not 100% certain, but last time I checked on Google and it said “Temporarily Closed” underneath it, just like it does for all the other places closed from the virus. I’m glad I got to go there twice at least. If it wasn’t for Bailey and this blog assignment I would never have even remembered this place!

My grandma still comes over for her weekly visits, and we still play games like Scrabble, Uno, Pass the Pigs, and Five Thousand. In fact, she’s coming over again tomorrow. I think it’s OK now since the strict stay-at-home rule is lifted. Either way, my mother works hard every day to go the extra mile in terms of keeping our house clean - wiping down doorknobs everyday, etc. so I think my grandma will be fine. Some of my other family members are starting to have my grandma visit them too, so I think the slow slog to normalcy is starting to begin in some parts of life.

But when it comes to restaurants, it’s still as bad as it was on the day before St. Patrick’s Day, when it all started going downhill. I still remember that Friday before Spring Break - I couldn’t tell you how many teachers said that we would be right back in school after the break. I still hope we have a mock-last day during the summer, as frivolous as it may seem to some. I’d like to walk the halls of Marist one last time before we all head off to college.

And now, here I am. I’ve reviewed and looked over all my old blogs: I’m not sure there’s much else to do at this point. While everybody else has pretty much dropped off in terms of their blogs, I’m still here. I might continue blogging even after today - even though it will be completely pointless in terms of grades, it isn’t completely pointless to me. I still like writing these - reminiscing about the “early” weeks of the Coronavirus outbreak, when we were still hopeful. 

However, I still have faith that we will get through this soon. I know I’ve been saying that for like a month and a half, but I do truly believe it. Once the masks start coming off, once I start seeing peoples’ faces again, once the restaurants reopen, then it’ll feel just like those first few weeks again. You know it’s bad (or maybe I’m just going crazy) when I’m reminiscing about the first few weeks of a pandemic, but at least back then the memory of the pre-Coronavirus... a normal... lifestyle was still a recent memory. Now it’s much more distant. I feel like I haven’t been in Marist in years. Well, after all, the name of this assignment was “Hard Times and Hope” and these are still tough times and I still have hope - I guess it was a good name after all. 

Now I gotta think of a final sentence. A final send-off for this entire assignment. It has to be impactful, and summarize everything I’ve learned so far. Hmm, I can’t think of anything much. I guess all that really matters is one word:

I’ve been falling behind on my blogs - there hasn’t been much to talk about really. A few days ago JB Pritzker unveiled his “Restore Illinois” plan. This plan will decide the fate of the rest of the year, or at the very least until late fall 2020.

I’m not sure I 100% understand the logic - since Phase 1 is the “rapid spread” phase, wouldn’t have made more sense to mandate masks then rather than now? Also notice the interesting phrasing - “directed”. What JB and Lori Lightfoot really mean is “forced by the police”. And what’s more, masks aren’t just face coverings - they’re symbols. When someone goes out of the house and sees that literally everybody has a mask on, they’re left wondering, “So this is what the United States has come to?” Just a few short months ago, I remember looking at the pictures of the people in Wuhan, China, where the virus began. Each one had a mask, just as we do now. I remember thinking, “Wow, they look so silly. At least nothing like that could ever happen here. The virus is in some far-off land, under a totalitarian government.” That’s how everybody thought. We made memes of it, just as we did of Harambe in freshman year English class. And now... well, here we are. 

The masks represent the virus - and the fear behind it - getting worse. Even though we’re on the “2nd Phase” of reopening, all I see is more places getting shut down. There is still light at the end of the tunnel, though. I know I said that like a month and a half ago when I started these blogs, but this phase will be over soon - we’re almost halfway through! This 2nd Phase will most likely end at the end of this month, and Phase 3 will then begin. “Most likely” is not nearly as good as “for sure”, but I’ll take my chances - it’s better than the alternative. Phase 3 marks the end of the mask restrictions, along with the reopening of a few specific types of businesses. Some semblance of normality will not be achieved until Phase 4, however, as decently sized gatherings become available and restaurants reopen during that phase. It’s crazy to think, but by that time I could be in college already. 

Speaking of education, Marist dropped the final plans for graduation a couple days ago. We got the pamphlet in the mail with the bad news. 

The words jumped right off the page at me, like shadows from the darkest corner. There will be no in-person graduation for the Class of 2020.

OK, that’s not exactly what it said (nor was it nearly as dramatic), but it is confirmed that we are having a virtual graduation. I guess they couldn’t postpone it. I guess since Phase 5 (in which large gatherings are allowed) won’t happen until the fall or even beyond, a chance at an in-person graduation for students, which, at that time, will be scattered across the entire country, is pretty low. I’m still hoping they do a mock last day of school for us seniors, but I doubt it would happen. The loss of our graduation hit me pretty hard. If I’m going to be brutally honest, it was the only senior event I was actually looking forward to, aside from maybe the mass and our last day of school. But it did get me thinking about something deeper: I still remember the speech Mr. Tucker gave on our freshman orientation day. Right when we first walked in, we were ushered into the gym and Mr. Pirkle, if I remember correctly, gave us our Marist folders. I still have mine to this day, as worn as it may be after 4 years of use. As I sat there listening to him, I wondered at the year “2020″. It was so far away in my head. The funny thing is, it doesn’t seem like 2016 is that far back. Thinking about it now, I wonder: if he knew what our class - the Class of 2020 - would be going through, what would he have said to us? He is a great public speaker, so he would probably say something like this:

“Welcome, Class of 2020. I should preface this by saying that your class will be unique here at Marist High School. You will have many ups, and many downs. There are things here at Marist that every class has done before you. There are things here at Marist that every class will do after you. You, the Class of 2020, will be different. You will not get to do those things. Each class here has a unique challenge to complete. Some are more difficult than others, but all unique challenges nonetheless. This will be your class’s challenge. It will be the most difficult any class has faced yet. However, I know that with your classmates’ help and with God’s help, you will persevere. You will climb the tallest mountain yet. You will emerge renewed. You will go on to do great things. You will succeed. I, and all the staff here at Marist High School, know it. You are the Marist High School Class of 2020.”

So over the past few days, when I looked on my main page to read other people’s blogs, all I’ve seen are the ones from Tumblr staff or whatever it’s called. When I looked on the list of all the people I’m following, I saw that all of them haven’t posted in at least 3 days, some of them haven’t in 2 weeks. I guess it makes sense, since the assignment ended a long time ago and now we’re just in the extra credit phase. But I would’ve thought that more people would be doing it! I mean, it’s free points! And this is probably our last non-essay.... essay assignment. What I mean is, this is the last time we’re probably gonna get a writing assignment that isn’t just an essay. Since college is very essay-based, I have low hopes of an assignment like this happening again. 

I like these assignments a LOT more than the traditional essay. It gives me much more freedom in terms of topics to write about. With essays, you’re pretty much confined to a small, specific prompt. With these assignments, I feel so much more free. I can write about a quiet walk through nature with the added humor of a 30 year old car, or I can write about the struggle of owning said 30 year old car with the added humor of the toilet paper shortage. Speaking of the toilet paper shortage, it seems like it has finally relented. What a beautiful sight it is - the fully stocked toiletries aisle!

It’s an Easter - no, an early-May miracle! Doesn’t roll off the tongue as well, but who cares. An Easter miracle sounded cool in my head, but then I forgot it wasn’t Easter any... whatever. I’ll stop now. 

See what I mean? That would never pass in a traditional essay format. It makes me kind of sad to see people stop posting, since it means the end for my blogs is coming to an end soon too. I’ll still probably post some even after the end of the extra credit. It makes me feel way better to write about what I’m going through while I listen to Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Prince, Elvis Presley, or Green Day (wildly different artists, I know), and know that I’m not alone in this struggle - people my age, just like me, are going through the same thing.

Before the lockdown gets even stricter on Friday, we decided to see if my second favorite restaurant, Pompei, was open for carry-outs. We’re planning to get some food from my all-time favorite restaurant, Top Notch Beefburgers, in the near future. We called in advance, and learned that they were indeed open for carry-out. We hadn’t gone there since the day of the state-wide restaurant closure, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Because it’s so far away from where we live (it’s on Taylor Street just off of Ashland Avenue), it always us a while to get there. They have the best Italian food and pizza that I know of, which makes the long drive through neighborhoods of questionable safety well worth it. 

We got there a little bit early, and we had about 15 minutes left until our food would be done. Since we had extra time to spare, we decided to get out and walk around for a bit. We spotted a very cool-looking old stone church in the distance that we wanted to see up closer, so we took a short walk down Taylor Street and out on Ashland to get a better look.

The whole area has a lot of really old stone buildings, some even from the 1880s! Here in Oak Lawn the very oldest buildings are from the 1930s or 40s, so it’s fun to see some really old buildings every once in a while. Besides, Chicago is known for its architecture after all. When we got back to the car, we noticed our 15 minutes had passed and our food was ready to be picked up. We walked inside, and the first thing we noticed was how different everything looked. Usually it’s fairly crowded in their, nothing too bad, but there has always been at least a dozen or more people inside. Today, there was only us, a few people working behind the counter, and the chefs of course. They also took all the chairs away in the dining room, probably so they don’t have to keep cleaning them over and over again. It looked very strange. It looked much different than the lively restaurant it had been on the day that we last came there.

Yesterday we returned to Lake Katherine. Since last time we weren’t able to do the full trail, we decided then to come back later and do the full trail, once it got a bit warmer. Well, “later” turned out to be today. Since we already knew it was open, so this time we planned out exactly where we were going to go. Since we still have nothing else to do, my mom and I decided to hop in the LTD once more and drive to Lake Katherine. 

Coincidentally, we had parked in the exact same spot as last time. But this time it wasn’t snowing, even though it was still pretty cold. In fact, even though we went there less than two weeks ago, the forest looked like it had undergone a month of change. I could see lots of green poking through the dead leaves and pine needles on the ground, and I even saw a flower or two. Spring is in full swing now - nature is changing, even though we are still stuck inside. We are frozen in time essentially: frozen right before St. Patrick’s Day. Even though the world continues to move, we do not. It’s strange to think about.

These were all thoughts that ran through my head as we walked down the long trail. Eventually we came upon the edge of the forest, where there were more flowers and more wildlife. Trees were more sparsely populated in this section, making it more of a prairie than a forest. The trail now ran pretty close to the edge of the lake. We kept walking, and as the trail turned into a paved road we saw a swan’s nest! It must’ve been the partner of swan from last time - it must’ve been their nest. 

It reminded me of our last visit to Lake Katherine. Now usually I would say whether it felt like a long time ago or not that long ago, but honestly, I’m not sure. It feels like such a long time ago but it also feels like it just happened. I guess time is really at a standstill for us. Soon, we continued on our way down the path.

By now, the trail was approaching the small road that we had driven down to get here. In fact, it was more like a drive since it branched off from the main road. Regardless, the prairies that had dominated the previous section had now given way to a small tree farm, with many different types of trees and their name tags describing what they are. I never realized how close the lake was to that small road - there was only a path, a few feet of grass on both sides of it, and a small wooden fence separating the road and the lake! 

Just as it seemed like there was a glimmer of light for the world, a small plastic star of hope atop toothpicks taped together, held up for the world to see, it all came crashing down. JB just rolled a bowling ball across the floor and smashed those toothpicks into smithereens. Figurative talk aside, today he announced a lengthy new order. First and foremost, the quarantine will not end on April 30th, but rather on May 30th. Second, they’re now REQUIRING that everyone wears a mask in public, under threat of arrest. Now, I’m not sure under which law exactly what they’ll be arresting people for, but I assume the governor has the power to just conjure up laws in times like these. It’s probably to prevent the gridlock of the Illinois House and Senate. The peak date has also been pushed back, from April 20th to sometime mid-May. What this means essentially is that all the hope we spent in quarantine over the last month was pretty much all for nothing, since we have to do it again for yet another full month. 

Not only that, the numbers of total Coronavirus cases as well as condition of the United States as a whole is getting much worse, considering they’re essentially forcing people to wear masks. They’re also banning protests in many locations in California, and it makes me wonder when that rule will be expanded to cover here as well. It also makes me wonder how many civil liberties we’ll have to give up before this crisis abates. This is nothing new - many rights were temporarily taken away during the Civil War and the two World Wars. We has assumed that things like these were just parts of the past - strange laws enacted by strange men that could barely even be imagined, apart from reading about them in History class. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case - it’s happening again. It’s important to put faith in our leaders that they will do the right thing. If they don’t, God forbid, then it’s time to put faith in God - He will make sure the right things come to pass. 

A few days ago, J.B. confirmed it: no more school for the rest of the year. So, it’s official: that Friday before Spring Break WAS our last day at Marist. Honestly, it’s unbelievable. It didn’t feel like my last day at all. Like, for my last day in 8th grade at St. Gerald’s, we had what felt like a whole month of buildup. Everybody was counting down the days until our last day, and then until our graduation. On our last day, we did a lot of special activities, one of which involved walking around the school while all the younger classes cheered us on and said goodbye to us. Throughout most of the day though, we just talked during all of our classes. We got to see our friends one last time before graduation. We got to see all our teachers, some that have known us since we were 5 years old, one last time. We spent four great years at Marist, we should be able to end them on a high note. Unfortunately we’re not getting that from Marist it looks like. I can still remember Freshman Orientation Day vividly. All of our time since then - from when our first 8:30 bell at Marist rang - has led up to a last day of e-Learning and then... nothing. It sucks. 

So over the past several weeks I’ve been following and reading a lot of my classmates’ blogs, and I’m surprised at how much they help me. They remind me that I’m not alone in this - that we’re all going through this together. Some of them even inspire me. Mike’s are always funny to read, as are Tim’s and Flynn’s. Antonio’s and Bailey’s both gave me ideas for activities to help me get through this Coronavirus Craziness that I not only would have not thought of otherwise, but they may just help me get through with my sanity mostly intact! Up until I read one of Bailey’s blogs a while ago, I had completely forgot about Lake Katherine. Once I read it, I remembered how my mom used to take me there all the time when I was really young. I’m so glad I remembered it, since I haven’t been there in probably over 10 years. I used to really like walking around that big trail around the lake. Since she was able to go there, I knew it was still open. That is, if they hadn’t closed it in the meantime. Since we had nothing else to do, my mom and I decided to hop in the LTD and see for ourselves.

Well, we may have lost a couple hunks of metal from underneath the car on our way there, but we made it. And it was still open too! There was a police sign out front that said to practice social distancing, a term I think I’ve heard a thousand times by now. We didn’t have to worry too much about it though, since there was only 8 or so cars in the whole parking lot. It was still cold outside, in fact it was still snowing, but the cold doesn’t bother us, so we decided to walk around a bit. We couldn’t go on the big trail that I remembered, since it was so muddy. Instead, we went on the smaller trails closer to the big prairie. 

Walking on them made me remember those trails too. Now I clearly remember walking up that big pine-covered hill and running down the winding path to the bottom - how could I have forgotten it? 

Next, we went across the bridge to some buildings by the lake. There used to be a Snapple vending machine outside one of the buildings, but they must’ve taken it away. I remember always asking my parents for a dollar or two so I could buy something. Walking further down the path led us closer to the lake. They still had the little observation deck there where you could look out over the lake. We weren’t expecting to see too much since it was literally snowing outside, but we saw a swan! That was pretty cool.

After that, once the cold started getting under and settling in our coats, we decided to head home. We got Wendy’s, since there was one right down Harlem. There used to be one really close to our house, but it closed down when I was maybe 3 or 4 years old. It became a Del Taco shortly after that, but now it’s an Andy’s Frozen Custard. Anyways, now the closest one is in Ford City, and if any of you know about Ford City you’ll know that it’s not the prettiest or most welcoming place in the world by any stretch of the words. The other closest one is all the way down Cicero, closer to Marist, which is a long way from my house just for Wendy’s. Since we were out there, we decided to stop by and get some. Of course, only the drive-through was open, so we ended up bringing it home and eating there instead. 

See what I did there? “Hoppy” is like “Happy”... and “Hoppy Easter” is like “Happy Easter”? OK, I’ll leave now. 

Horrendous puns aside, I’m not sure what’s stranger to think about - that we’ve been in lockdown for almost a whole month already or that Ash Wednesday was already 40 days ago. However, I actually do have something to write about finally! I know we’re supposed to be on lockdown, but we invited my grandma over to our house for Easter. We try to keep our house extremely clean, especially in light of this epidemic, and all of us have been 100% healthy, so we knew she’d be safe. We didn’t want her to spend Easter Day all by herself in her apartment. My one aunt had to work, and my other aunt was still sick with bronchitis so she had nowhere to go. It ended up being a nice time, not having my grandpa with us was sad but at least my grandma was able to get here safe to spend time with us and not be all alone on Easter.

Now, I’ve been reading a lot of my classmates’ blogs on here and I’m surprised at how different and unique they all are. It’s interesting to see how people branch out from their first few entries that were almost entirely about the Coronavirus to their entries now. In fact, I was inspired by a lot of them. For example, one of Antonio’s entries, about how he played Monopoly with his family, gave me a good idea. Once we finished eating, and watching some of the Mass on TV, we weren’t too sure what to do next. So I thought we should play a board game that we had - Scrabble. Turns out, my grandma plays Scrabble a LOT. She easily beat us, but I still had a good time.  

Just when it seems like I finally catch up with the new schedule and all of the weird assignment due dates and all, I oversleep 3 hours late and a whole new wave of 8 or 10 zeroes goes into the grade book. In my opinion, it’s not an optimal learning situation whatsoever. I know now why it’s so important to be at school instead of at home. I really want to be back at Marist. It’s SO easy to oversleep, forget an assignment, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do but take that 0. For example, today I was supposed to wake up at 5:00 AM, to do a couple things for Peer Leadership, finish the English WT assignment, do a test for AP US Gov, do an assignment for Computer Science, do a worksheet for Forensics, and write this blog. In reality I woke up at 8:00. Whoops. So now the only thing I can do is write this blog. 

What’s even worse is that this is my senior year; my last month at Marist. This was not how I wanted it to go out.  Ever since that 8:30 bell rang on my Freshman Orientation Day in Mr. Brennan’s religious class in Room 231, all this time has led up to... this? It feels like an insult almost. All the homework assignments I’ve done over all four years, all the hours I spent in school will just end. There will be no graduation, no fanfare or formal send off. It will just end. 

 After this, I go on to four long years of college. Now I already know that I probably won’t adjust well at all to college. I probably won’t make any friends, but at least I’ll have my best friend Kenny Stafford with me. Who knows - maybe I’ll make some friends after all. When I started kindergarten, I didn’t think I would make any friends, but I met Kenny. I’m not too sure how colleges handle things like tests and essays, or if I’ll be ready. No one in my family has gone to college so I have no one to reassure me. What if I get a mean professor? What if all the other students hate me? There’s a lot going through my mind. It took me a lot of time to get to where I am now socially. I wouldn’t say I’m popular by any stretch of the word, but a lot of people at least know who I am. I feel much more comfortable talking to anyone in any of my classes. During freshman year and even a good chunk of sophomore year, nobody really knew who I was. Only 3 kids from my grammar school came along with me to Marist, and one of them transferred to St. Gerald’s at the start of 8th grade so I didn’t really know him. I ate lunch by myself and was extremely shy. I saw that everyone not only had a bunch of their old friends from grammar school with them but that they already making new friends, and it made me even more shy and quiet. It sucks that I have to leave behind almost everyone I’ve worked so hard to know over the past four years and basically start on page 1 again. By now I know it’s my natural disposition to just hide in a corner away from everyone else, even though I hate it. It’s very hard to fight it off, to actually go out of my comfort zone and talk to new people. I don’t want to go back to not knowing anyone. Not again. 

So as my life gets less and less interesting, I feel like I have less and less to write about on here. I mean, my first post was about a super hectic journey to get some TP, my second was a continuation and ending of that great, epic, glorious struggle, the third was about my aunt getting sick and my stance on e-Learning, and the fourth was about a quote. I feel like my posts are kind of getting worse while I just wait for something interesting to happen in my life. Everything right now is humming along, and I’m kind of glad for it. It’s way better than things going poorly. The LTD is holding together (barely), our toilet paper stocks are still full, my aunt is getting better (slowly) and Easter break inches ever closer. 

I’m slowly starting to settle in to this new Coronavirus schedule and lifestyle. It still feels strange - like a dream - but I’m slowly coming to terms with this new normality, as unusual as it is. Each day the world seems to get darker and darker, the news bleaker and bleaker, the numbers of infected higher and higher. However, I know that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, as dark and treacherous as the tunnel itself may be. They are now saying that the virus will peak in Illinois on April 20th, meaning that the rate of the numbers of infected will stop rising. There will still be many more infected after that date, but the increase each day will slowly start to dwindle. One of my favorite Winston Churchill quotes applies perfectly: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” 

They are also estimating that the virus will mostly be gone from the USA by mid-July. While this means my senior year is essentially kaput, my chances at starting college in the fall might still emerge intact. The strangest thing to think about is the fact that Friday, March 20th, was more than likely my last day at Marist High School. It’s crazy to imagine, in fact. It didn’t feel like my last day at all, even though I had no idea what it would’ve felt like. From the past three senior classes during my time at Marist, and my last day of 8th grade, it seemed like it would’ve been a lot of fun. Well, the way I see it - I’m lucky to not only not have gotten it myself yet, but to not even know anyone who has gotten it. These are troubling times - companies like General Motors and Ford are fully mobilizing, just as they had once done in 1941 when we entered World War Two, but instead of preparing for war and building Sherman tanks and B-17 bombers, they’re making respirators and components for ICU’s. At the end of the day, there are more important things going on than some teenagers missing a couple high school events. 

Right now I’m thinking of Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day. It’s a song my mom and I would always listen to on the radio when it first came out, when I was very young. It makes me think of how life used to be, especially with the Coronavirus spreading. This whole thing almost feels like a really long bad dream. I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow, and everything will be normal. It’s not a dream though - this is real life. 

What’s worse, my aunt got sick. We got really scared for a day or two, because she thought she had it. Turns out, right now it’s bronchitis, which may or may not be a symptom/precursor to the Coronavirus. It’s scary that there’s such a lack of knowledge on the Coronavirus - all we know for sure is that she’s at a really high risk of getting it. She’s staying completely inside for 14 days straight, which I think will help. In fact, today we’re going to drop off some homemade chicken noodle soup at the front door of her house once I’m finished with e-Learning today. 

Speaking of e-Learning, I’m still getting used to it. It is hard to keep track of everything, now that we don’t meet in person anymore. Some teachers have their assignments due at 8:30 AM each day on the day (A or B) that we have class. This is the most common and easiest to remember in my opinion. Some classes have their assignments due at 8:30 AM as well but not on the day we meet, which is harder to remember. Some classes have their assignments due at the beginning of the mod we meet. Still others have it due at 11:59 PM the night before. And others still are due at a seemingly-random time, like 3:00 PM or 5:00 PM. It’s hard to keep track of everything but I think I’m getting better. 

Welp, it happened. We did it. We hit the jackpot. 

So it turns out the lady at Target yesterday was right. To tell the whole story, my mom and I arrived at Target almost half an hour early. There was already a couple people standing in front of the doors, so we knew we were on to something. We got out of the car and took our place in the ever-growing line. By the time the doors opened, there had to be over 30 people standing outside waiting for those automatic doors to open, to get a chance at obtaining the most elusive of luxuries in 2020 America: toilet paper. My mom had told me that I might’ve needed to run, since she was worried everyone would rush in and take all they had before we could get there. I didn’t think too much of it, because I had assumed people would be courteous enough to NOT rush in like a pack of bloodhounds chasing after a wanted fugitive. 

I was wrong. 

Those automatic doors opened, and a huge rush of people flooded in the store in front of us and whomever was unlucky enough to get trapped in the back. As soon as a few people flew past me, I realized the race was on. I immediately bolted up the stairs, rushing in front of those that had initially passed me. I looked over my shoulder once I was at the top, and saw a sea of people all rushing up the stairs behind me. I dashed towards the back of the store, and as I began to get closer I saw the most glorious prize, right in the middle of the aisle on a pallet. Not only was there toilet paper, seemingly waiting there for me, it was a 30 pack. 30! Enough to last us for a month or more, and still have enough to give to any family members in need!

There were only about 10 or so on the pallet. As we checked out, which was not more than a minute or two after we had first entered the store, I noticed the pallet was already almost empty. We didn’t have too much time to look back on our good fortune however, as already there was a huge line forming behind us. We then headed out the store to bring our bounty home. 

So ever since this Coronavirus thing began, life’s been pretty different for all of us. Perhaps the most shocking thing besides the quarantine is that toilet paper has become quite the rare luxury. My mom and I have been going to stores every single day to look for it, but to no avail. In fact, we’ve been to 9 different stores to look for it. Not a single one had any. Instead, over the course of the Great Toilet Paper Hunt, we found something worse. 

This is my car -  a 1989 Ford LTD. It’s not the newest car on the roads, or the most beautiful (by any stretch of the word) but it still runs, and it always takes us wherever we want to go, though the gas mileage isn’t the greatest. Over the past few weeks however, it’s been particularly bad. It would go through a full tank of gas in about a week. Today I noticed it also had a pretty big puddle underneath the front passenger’s door. In fact, whatever it was, it was leaking out right before my very eyes! I put my glove underneath it so I could try to smell what it was - yep, it was gas. That meant that for the past 3 weeks I was literally leaving a trail of gasoline all over the road, wherever I went. We called our mechanic and (thankfully) he is still doing business, even with the coronavirus going around. We had to get some groceries this morning, and since we had just filled it up to half a tank, my mom and I thought, “Why not?” After all, a 31 year old car held together with Flex Tape and prayers should be able to get us to the store without leaking TOO much gas, right?

Well, I ended up being half right. It wasn’t pouring out all over the street, but it did leak out quite a bit - enough so that there was a clearly visible trail coming in from the street, through the parking lot, and right to where we were parked. One thing was for sure though - Greta Thunberg would NOT be happy. 

Environmental effects aside, we were losing a LOT of money. There had to be a dollar worth of gas just in the parking lot. “We gotta get this fixed fast,” I said. We ended up making it home (though there was still no toilet paper at the store) and we were able to bring it in to the mechanic. Since we knew exactly what was wrong and where it was wrong, it was a pretty quick fix. Turns out, not only had the fuel line rotted out pretty badly in that particular spot, but it was the original fuel line. It had been on that car for 31 years, and it just so happened to finally fall apart now.  At the end of the day, we were $150 poorer (not including the gasoline we lost) but... we did find out some valuable info. We asked an employee at Target when they restock each day, and she was kind enough to let us know that they are stocked with whatever shipments they get first thing in the morning, as soon as they open. So, tomorrow might be our chance for toilet paper. I guess I’ll see.