The Penguin

I'm back, folks! With a fairly long post, no less. Since we last spoke (or you last read...or I last wrote...it's confusing), the COVID-19 crisis has impacted like a smallish asteroid, not a dinosaur-killer but definitely big enough to fuck some shit up. The US now has the highest number of infected people; Italy is in panic mode; hospitals are overflowing, people are dying, and all over the world, human beings exist in a state of low-level dread. Shopowners and distributors are staring out their windows, past the empty shelves to the deserted streets outside, wondering if and when it will all go back to normal, and if their livelihood will survive. Out here in Michigan, the governor ordered a 3-week shutdown starting March 23rd. My shop makes auto parts, so I guess we're "semi-essential workers", but since our distributors are shutting down we took a 2-week furlough (my fiancée is an "essential" gas attendant, bless her heart, so she gets to sit behin