Pandemic

“He felt possessed. The next cart was all toilet paper. The cart after that was more canned goods, also frozen meat and aspirin, garbage bags, bleach, duct tape” (Mandel 23). I chose this quote because it reminds me of my dad going out and buying everything we would need in bulk from Sam’s Club or Costco. I also remember telling my dad to stop buying toilet paper when we did not need more. How did he fit that much stuff into his car, in any case? Maybe I missed a part where it explained that he had a big truck. It makes me wonder how long it will be until Jeevan runs out of supplies. How come Jeevan has not gotten sick yet? 

“No more films, except rarely, except with a generator drowning out half the dialogue, and only then for the first little while until the fuel for the generators ran out, because automobile gas goes stale after two or three years” (Mandel 31). I have never thought that automobile gas would ever go “stale.” Reading through chapter six feels like a slippery slope of thinking about everything that could be gone if we have a severe pandemic again. I also do not think I am apocalypse-proof. No pharmaceuticals = no inhaler and meds for Miranda = Miranda dies. 

Before the Covid pandemic, I planned on attending college in California. I had a 3.8/3.9 weighted GPA, went to work, did synchronized swimming, and I did not ever really care about getting sick. However, my world went upside down when Covid-19 hit, and I was in a dark place. I ended up taking a gap year longer than a year. Everything I planned out was essentially ruined. I would miss my hot showers and normalcy if this pandemic were as bad as the Georgian Flu.  

He had an ex-wife or girlfriend named Miranda, that was in Malaysia. That line implies that this will be one of the last times Miranda can call people on her phone. After that, it will return to how it used to be: only by mouth.