Sunday, May 31, 2020

Few people in the supermarket are wearing masks today. The guard is. As I come in, he dutifully scans my forehead. But many of the workers and most of the customers either have taken them off or are wearing them below their chins. Many who are covering their mouths aren’t covering their noses. People in charge have warned us about getting complacent. It doesn’t look like the people on the street are listening. A lot more joggers than usual are out tonight. It’s neither too hot nor too cool to run. Some of them have masks on. Some do not. About a block away from me on the pedestrian street, a small long-tailed rodent emerges from the bushes. I see it in silhouette. I don’t know what it is. It suddenly stops in the middle of the road. Two joggers are headed toward it from opposite directions. It turns toward one, then the other, then looks ahead again to where it had been headed. A cat has appeared there, watching it. It spins around and heads back into the bushes. The cat doesn’t move. The joggers nod as they pass each other and continue on their way.