I took my daughter to the mall the other day. The family drove to Traverse city and while my wife shopped at the Target store, I decided our oldest daughter should see species that is going extinct, the mall. I wanted to see how many stores had closed and house soon the final death throws would be seen in this particular animal. Target was crowded, social distancing, optional.

In the mall, there was vast space to move and breathe. Shops had signs posted about the number limit on customers. Victoria’s Secret had a robe across their mall entrance telling customers to use the outside entrance to shop. The real kicker came when we reached the end of the mall where a small playground was set up. The entrance was closed off with a gate and signs were posted the entire 360 degrees around it saying it was closed due to Michigan orders from the Governor. My daughter climbed over the wall and started to make her way to the fiberglass tree with a slide. Two middle aged, beer gutted, old men watched from tables as my daughter defied orders like the rebel that she is. She was the only kid in eye sight, who was she harming? As I noticed more people watching I called her over and pulled her out to hear a wail and scream as she yelled that she wanted to play on the tree. I explained to her that the lady in charge was an asshole and that she couldn’t play on it because of that.

We made our way to the food court where there was a different Covid-19 world happening. Electric cars that kids ride in were open. The type that rocks back and forth making a kid think they are driving, for a dollar a ride you could do that. The photo booths to take stupid pictures that you regret later, those were open. The carousel that you could ride for a dollar, turns out that was open as well. The carts that you could rent to haul your kid around it, parked right in front of the security office, for some reason that was shut down. A sign was posted over the paying system that they could not be used. However, before leaving, I spotted a woman pushing her kid through the mall with one of those carts. Either she could not read or did not give a crap. Actually, thinking about it now, good for you lady, you keep on with your bad self.

As I waited for my wife, Zoey climbed all over the cars pretending to drive. Other kids came over and they chatted from their cars like adults at the stop light. When I bought some food from the Chinese place, I had trouble finding a table that wasn’t covered in food and muck. The Carousel was open after our meal and Zoey was able to ride on a horse. Each horse was marked as used and wiped down afterwards. Beside American Eagle who took customer’s temperatures before entering, this was the only part of the mall following protocol. Zoey threw a fit when the ride was over and we waited in the entrance for my wife.

Not once did the cars get wiped down while we were in the food court. None of the photo booths were cleaned after they were used. Security walked past people not wearing mask and said nothing. The mall was a strange bizzarro world of backwards policy and lack of procedure that left my head hurting.

One of our first stops in the mall was the arcade. This was a little corner shop with two entrances. Both of them had signs asking people to scan their phones in before entering for contact tracing incase there was an outbreak. I ignored it and walked inside. Zoey rode on the small carousel that was in there, pretended to play Pacman and we walked out not seeing another person in the area.

My only regret upon leaving was not letting her play on that fiberglass tree. I have read the stories about dads being arrested for playing at a park with their kids. What was the worse that could happen? We get kicked out?  If you asked me six months ago if covid-19 was a hoax I would have laughed and said those people are stupid. Now, with hearing the people in charge consistently say or do things that under mind everything they have been saying about the virus I have to consider, maybe all of this is just a hoax for an evil purpose.

Lately there has been talk about how the flu virus has somehow disappeared this season. I call complete BS on that. Hospitals have not been testing for it and anyone who has flu like symptoms are diagnosed with Covid-19 even without a test being done. Lab technicians have reported finding Strains A and B of the Flu in Covid-19 test but not the Coronavirus that had been confirmed before. Dr. Fauci has been pushing the idea of double masking not because of the science but because it is “common sense.” Political leaders hold large gathers at places like the French Laundry spending hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars doing the same thing no one else has been allowed to do for the past year. Then we learn that the WHO discovered that the virus did not originate in China but they also never checked out the lab that some people question the virus might have escaped from. When it comes to Covid-19 none of the dots line up. We are looking at different puzzles from different books and no matter how you over lap them nothing connects. If this is a hoax it is the worse thought out, brainless attempt and changing society that they could have come up with. After all the back and forth, all the denial, lack of confirmation about anything I can only conclude that this whole ordeal is based on BS. It’s only common sense and if the doctor in charge can create policy using common sense over science why can’t the rest of us?