Page 65 - Musings 2022

they opened the door to their bedroom. We then ran down to the kitchen, only to open the fridge

to a nasty smell of expired food. We quickly threw everything out and made an extensive list
to buy all the treats we’d been craving. Mom told me to go to Target and get everything, and I

don’t think I have ever been that happy to run an errand!

I strapped on Dad’s dusty old sneakers (cause my sneakers from five years ago didn’t fit me
anymore), and I opened the front door and then it struck me. The pre-coronavirus world was

no more. As I saw people walking down the street, I was shocked. The outside world that I
remembered was nothing like this. Everyone was wearing a lab coat-like garment, and their

faces were masked by self-contained breathing apparatus kits, like what firefighters used. I felt

odd without one. All I had with me was a surgical mask, so I put that on and started making
my way down the street. As I was walking, I was amazed at how much everything had changed.

The buttons at the traffic lights had become holographic so that no one had to touch them.
There was also a hand sanitizer dispenser at every traffic light, which used motion sensors to

dispense the sanitizer. I had passed petrol pumps that people did not operate but instead sensed
when a car was near, used voice commands to determine what kind of fuel to put automatically

and automatically filled up the vehicles. It was nothing short of spectacular. I also saw that

there were shields covering strollers and would electrocute anyone who tried to touch the baby.
I was looking to find normalcy in this new world that seemed almost alien to me. I thought I

had seen the back of a police officer’s uniform and called out to him, only to be greeted by a

robot that reminded me a lot of Eva from WALLE.

After being stared at by so many people, I felt relieved when I saw a sign at the end of the road

that said “Get SCBA kit here!” and I followed the path.

At the end of this path, there was a robot who promptly handed me an SCBA kit. I found a
mask for Mom, Dad and the girls, so I picked those up and started making my way to Target.

The only thing normal about this post-coronavirus world is that Target is where it used to be.

When I reached Target, I couldn’t believe my eyes - there was no big fight in the parking lot
for space. Believe it or not, I could see empty parking spaces!

As I walked toward the store entrance, all I hoped for was that nothing much had changed about
the store. Well, I was in for a surprise, because I stepped in and it was like walking into a new

world altogether. There were queues to use computers to input orders that robots would then

bring over to you to prevent lots of people from touching the items. I couldn’t believe this was
the Target that I’d come to every weekend with my dad before the lockdown. As I was standing

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