Part 1: Chapter 3

Groceries, Jack in the Box, Pink Hair

Saturday, March 21, 2020

	Am desperate to be outside the house and ravenous to see what’s happening in the rest of the world. Without a doubt, highlight of the week was today’s grocery trip to my local Hispanic market, Vallarta. Was genuinely interested in every little thing outside my house. Would anyone be getting their oil changed at Valvoline? Who is taking care of the animals at Petco? Which restaurants have "We Deliver" signs in their windows? What are the homeless doing right now?
	The parking lot at the Whittier Quad was mostly empty except for the grocery and drug stores. Michael's Crafts store was shuttered. Ross Dress for Less had signs in the windows saying “Temporarily Closed.”
	Vallarta itself has undergone several changes. The secondary exit near the liquor shelves is boarded up and blocked by 8-foot-tall pallets of water bottles. This makes it so everyone must funnel in and out of the store through one entrance, where the older sullen-looking security guard has been replaced by what I can only describe as a Hun. Is he there to stop COVID-19 if it shows up in the flesh?