OUT OF STOCK!
Well, I cannot read the language, but perhaps it says the same. Empty shelves are testimony to it.
The city has not been receiving fresh supplies for the last few days. It is the corona virus scare obstructing movement. Stock market indices are all going south.
The street urchin is not sure of what’s happening, but things haven’t changed much for him. The epidemic of hunger has never been officially recognised. It never hits the rich, and gives them no valid reason to wear expensive masks, use hand sanitizers and set themselves apart from the hoi polloi.
Reena Saxena 
The rich will always find a way, at least until the plague hits them… but have you read “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Poe?… in the end the disease will come to the rich as well
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Not yet. Will check out the poem by Poe.
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The question to if this is panic or being prudent can only be answered when the crisis (perceived or otherwise) passes. Hindsight is always 20/20. I opt for preparation long before a crisis hits.
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You have a point.
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A little bit of truth in a few words
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Thank you, Michael!
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Well penned.
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Thank you, Susan!
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I wonder how bad it’s actually going to be. The virus, I mean. I didn’t make the connection to the empty shelves and lack of transport. Good thought, Reena.
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Thank you, Linda! The positive side is more work-from-home, more video conferences and less air travel.
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A well-thought-out take on the prompt.
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Thank you, Liz!
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A topical tale of them and us. Well done Reena.
Here’s mine!
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Thank you, Keith!
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Insightful telling. I was reading yesterday about how preventable the Irish Potato Famine was. Over a million and a half died — for greed.
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Very true – the most vulnerable are often those who are least able to protect themselves AND least likely to be informed as they ought to be. As for hardship, everything really IS relative, isn’t it?
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I agree on the relativity. Thank you, Na’ama!
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How very true, this is excellent and I believe we’ll hear a lot more about the virus in these tales!
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Predictions say it will disappear as fast as it came, but reappear at intervals.
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Maybe so, theres a lot of predictors out there
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There are new epidemics, and there are those that are ages-long. The sickness that is hunger, and the sickness to be hardened from curing the sickness that is hunger. A worldwide directive, say a law, that everyone must be fed, that no one goes hungry. That would be a cure, and then maybe we’d strive harder for the rest.
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Equitable distribution is possible without the divides. But will that happen? In our lifetime?
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Excellent and timely. Hopefully not prophetic, but it Wuhan is any indicator it may well be.
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There are more rumors floating now, than predictions based on science or facts. Letz admit we know very little about this new virus.
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China completely shut down a province as big as a quarter of the US with a population of almost 200 million. I distrust everything I’ve heard from official channels because they are politically motivated to downplay the severity. We shall see.
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Poverty is an epidemic that is not spoken about because unfortunately society has become immune to it.
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Bang on! I guess we need those dark backdrops to make us look privileged in comparison.
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As always its the panic reaction and stockpiling that causes the problem, rather than the virus itself. If everyone just kept calm…
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Oh, yeah! We have 29 students barred from school, as they attended the birthday party of a kid, whose parent has been detected with the dreaded word and isolated. Thank you, Iain!
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Yes, rarely anything changes…for rich and for poor. Nicely done.
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People build jokes and memes around it, further reducing the criticality. Thank you so much!
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A powerful plea for social justice, using the epidemic as a strong metaphor for poverty and deprivation.
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Thank you, Penny!
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obey
clean hands
common sense
you should
be doing this
anyways ah!
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Yes, for the homeless and hungry it’s life as usual! Nicely done, Reena.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Thank you, Susan!
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A stark reality for many who are homeless around the world. Their plight is hard, now made worse by their vulnerability to the virus. Thank you for reminding us.
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Thank you, Brenda!
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Good story, Reena and too true, unfortunately. As bad as the coronavirus is, no one comments on the mundane epidemics of dirty drinking water and chronic hunger which kill millions. We have the technology to solve those too, if we only had the collective will.
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You are right about collective will. Solutions about cost and administration emerge from that point.
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Just how I feel too Reena
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Happy to find a partner-in-thinking 🙂
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I hope this gets to the authorities. Well said.
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Thank you so much, Bridget!
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I like the anger of this, Reena
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Thank you!
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Very true – they need constant reminders. Nice one.
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Thank you, Anthony!
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