Contents

Chapter 1
A fictionalized account of current events

The COVID-19 outbreak continues in my dreams...

After weeks turned into months of government mandated isolation due to the rapidly spreading novel corona virus, the North American continent continued to struggle in adapting to new ways of life, work and shopping. A new field of work has emerged: the errand running bounty hunter. Citizens who are on quarantine or afraid of leaving their homes and contracting the deadly virus hire outfitted bounty hunters to retrieve their shopping requests. This new self-employed workforce fills the government’s need for keeping people in their homes and decreasing unemployment with creating a new job market.

It was early Spring when news of the novel corona virus struck globally. At first we weren’t clear if it would cross continents. Travel continued for business even when recreation slowed. College students prepared for Spring Break. The World Health Organization escalated the virus spread to epidemic level and notified news agencies the novel virus was spreading at a rate not normally seen for the geographic areas affected.

The college information technology offices started to come up with a strategy for when the need might arise to offer up classes virtually, with students in campus housing and faculty in offices. Within a few weeks, major universities started extending Spring break and not welcoming students back after. Planning took place for the remainder of the semester to be offered online, and soon faculty would also be barred from campus.

Pay for the errand hunters ranges depending on the difficulty of the supply request, geographic location and whether or not the customer is on home bound by choice” or because government testing was conducted on their household that came through positive for the virus. Houses under quarantine receive a geohash for neighbors and errand hunters to identify them via government website. Looking out into the streets on a weekday, you can watch the mask and gun clad figures move about your once cheerful neighborhood on bikes, rollerblades, skates and skateboards.

I consider my choice to continue working on getting library resources online to spread knowledge during the virus apocalypse or add to my jobs as an errand hunter. It’s always good to have another side gig. What if libraries really do become unnecessary in the post-virus internet wild west and lack of physical locations? I’d much rather be a hunter, than have to hire a hunter. So I eventually start working on my gear (5 second sketch below).

As the errand hunters developed into a bustling industry a couple of things became clear. Movement up and down sidewalks and away from entryways to homes needed to be an expedited process. The less time a hunter spends on any property, the more they can guarantee that quarantine hasn’t been breached and that any other merchandise they’re carrying isn’t compromised. Roller blades and skates have turned out to be the easiest method for this. Bicycles, skateboards and mopeds all require getting on and off the transportation and they mandate the use of your hands at some point, which further complicates risk of infection. With wheels on your feet, as long as there is no need to take them on or off, your transportation is always with you, on and ready to go. Wheeled foot gear enables nimble navigation of all neighborhood travel ways, hands free and without the cost of fuel. While during the virus spread oil prices have driven gas costs down, there are expectations that supply is truly finite and can’t be counted on. Those with full tanks of gas leave them that way, and avoid using unless completely necessary.

1.1 Soundtrack

• Chelou Out of sight at 2:32
  
• Parachute Youth Can’t Get Better Than This
  

1.2 Images

• This is where I will add my image for the chapter.
  
• Still need to figure out the image package.
  

Chapter 2
Abandoning fiction

March 31, 2020

I started this as a work of fiction, based on a dream. The events unfolding require no fictionalization. I’ll proceed accordingly.

By the end of March all retail establishments are required to have plastic shields between staff and patrons. On the last day of the month we attempted take out for dinner. Each and every restaurant in town was closed down, either indefinitely or for construction to meet the new requirements set by the Governor.

I went out to buy liquor. The staff wore gloves and were behind a plastic shield with a gap at the bottom for the register’s barcode scanner. I positioned each bottle so she could scan them, and then used my card in the machine. No bag was offered.

… and here it ends.

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