The sky had been a delicate blue for weeks, the bird song was louder than the cars and a happy family played in the gardens behind the flats. The world looked like a cleaner version than the last. That was until you ventured further than your garden, and then everything got strange. The gaudy screen at the bus stop no longer flashed up tempting beaches advertising holiday deals, they no longer showed a lovely figure in tight fitting jeans they showed state sanctioned PSAs.
“Save lives, stay inside”. Along with a picture of someone in protective clothing.
If you dared get on a bus, you would be the only one, or if there was someone else one would sit at the front, the other at the back. You never gave cash but waved your cash card over the machine until it beeped. There were few other cars on the road.
In town a few shops were open. Only a few people were allowed in at the same time, and there was a new dance, one where everyone stays away. Some people would have gloves, some had scarves around their mouths, others wore masks.
The clothes shops were closed, some had stacked up furniture and no clothes in them. This was prof vanity and endless consumption were meaningless now, we had to make do with our out of fashion but over filled wardrobes. Every trendy haircut was turning into a mess or a buzz cut, identity from the outside was becoming less important than not catching the tiny virus that was. changing the world.
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