Pandemic Anecdotes

Chapter 9

24th of July, 2020

After a long day yesterday, nothing seemed fun than a good 'ol Friday. I had been struggling to look for something to do yesterday, and today's the day I am occupied.

I greeted Emma with a 'Good Morning', which is a tradition we do since we first talked online. I finally asked her why does she offer her basketball to me and this is what she replied.

EMMA: Oh, the house is getting renovated within a couple of days and my mom is planning to throw away some of the stuff no longer needed or used in the house.

JONA: And your ball is one of them?

EMMA: Maybe, she had already seen that thing everywhere in the house so it might be her first target to do just that. I had taught of it ahead of time so I hid it under the bed for a while.

That explains it well. So I guess this whole borrowing thing is just to let the ball be saved from being thrown away. I'm happy that I was able to oblige to what she's offering. Anywho, the conversation finished when I suddenly had to help out with the shippings.

Once again, it was a father-and-son bonding. And having it be done by around this time is also perfect for a mall's opening. During the shippings, James gave out a chat to give life updates. He seemed pretty passionate on video games or simply games that require you to shoot your targets. On my line, I simply told him that I do traditional everyday routines like what I always do.

He returned me with an advice before left. Do something different for a while while you're still at home. That's actually kinda nice to hear. Nevertheless, he ended the chats as if the conversation passed through quickly.

Father seemed pretty determined to go to the mall. I guess we are destined to go there after all, ey? Now, we didn't go to the traditional basement parking, instead we went for the tower parking on the 3rd floor rooftop parking space. And let me tell you, it's scorching hot up there when we arrive so our windows had a little tiny gap so that the heat wave can leak itself out.

Down by the mall, KFC is still the lunch, and I took myself an 'Ala King' instead of a regular chicken rice meal to change things up a little, you know? After lunch, we went to Western Union and realized why we are actually there. My aunt (Father's sister) sent out a huge sum of money to pay for the electronics needed for school. Unfortunately, the remittance doesn't have enough cash to give out to Father. So, we left them off for another day to visit.

Meanwhile, just for some reason, I decided to go by the toy store to look for Uno cards (even though we have those). Don't worry, I left emptyhanded so money is saved. But not for long.

I once more visited the little fragrance shop and I bought another 5-in-1 cleaner. Ohh, Jona🤦. Anywho, the trip to the mall seemed okay but at least I didn't get questioned today. When I arrived home, I still have nothing to do and so, I left myself behind the car and let Father go on ahead. As he had already left the site, I proceeded to go to the second seat. In the second seat is a large cloth, and under the cloth is Emma's basketball.

If I had no idea on what I have to do with it, I guess I should've just left it back in the car and leave it there. But I had already locked the car so there's that. And so, I had to play with it somehow. Just simply bounce it anywhere or play catch with myself. At first, I'm kind of nervous to use it since this belonged to a friend. But soon as I started bouncing it, I realized it ain't all that bad. I began throwing it on the wall, and started playing catch all by myself. At times, the ball will land on a garden, and I have to work my way around to get it before the neighbor will see me ruining their little farm.

At the end of the day, playing with Emma's basketball isn't all that bad after all. I guess this is how I'll be spending my boredom quarantine days, I guess?