Monday, May 25, 2020

Lockdown, Part Nine - The House with the Tiger Skin Rug

Government curfew, Day 62

Somehow Elise found herself on a WhatsApp group for our neighborhood which included our Sri Lankan neighbors. When the stores were more closed than they are now, the neighbors would share the news when a fruit or vegetable vendor, fish truck, or (even better) ice cream truck was on the street. 

The group has taken on other shapes, too, evolving into a neighborhood watch of sorts. Panhandlers routinely ring our doorbell, asking for handouts. The group warns us of the “druggies” swarming the neighborhood. The group also told us to be careful of people coming to your door and offering to sell you face masks. They would then ask you to put the mask on to check for fit, claiming the masks were lined with chloroform or some other sleeping gas, and would make you pass out. The mask salesman would then rob you blind. According to the group, anyway. 

Recently, Elise shared the following exchange with me: 











A really strange request, indeed. I think the funniest/weirdest part is, on some level, this woman had fully expected her great aunt to have continued to live in the house after this new family moved in. 

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