The Masks Part 2

I called a bunch of people that I knew. The closest person that was near Taipei... unfortunately ... that was Haruna. I had numerous relatives in Taipei, but I didn't want to call them as this was just too embarrassing.

...

"YOU WHAT??" yelled Haruna in shocked.

"Yeah I lost my mask, and now I can't go into a shop to buy more masks." I replied. "Can you just drop by Daan Station and bring me some? I have an appointment in 2 hours."

"John, when we walk outside everyday, we bring a STACK of masks. I can't (her pronounciation of the word can't sounds like the first syllable in in the word "continent') believe you were so idiotic as to just being ONE MASK WHEN YOU GO OUTSIDE IN TAIWAN." she yelled at me angrily.

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! I GOT IT! GOT IT! Can you just bring me the damn masks!" I asked annoyingly.　

Haruna sighed. "I'm in Taoyuan now. I'll leave in 5 minutes and meet you at Daan station in about 1 hour."

She hangs up the phone without saying anything.

I'm standing outside of the a drug store, maskless. People stare at me as they walk by.

In December, the Taipei government has relaxed mask restrictions for most of the country, but most shops and indoor venues are still very strict about their regulations. As I just found out the hard way, once you don't have a mask, you are effectively a "pariah", an outcast of society.

I start thinking about how to rectify this situation. Hmmm.... how would I handle this in the US?

If this happened in the US, I suppose I would explain to someone that was walking into the shop the situation, and then see if they would buy some masks for me....

I took my mask off for literally two seconds to take this selfie ... and immediately got called out to "put my mask back on"...

I guess it's worth a shot.

I see a younger guy walking into the drugstore and approach him.

"先生 不好意思 [Excuse me ... could I ask]" ... The guy looks at my maskless face in utter terror and runs off.

Well that was a disaster. Let's try approaching someone a bit older...

I see an older guy walking into the shop...

"先生，先生 。。。 [Excuse me ... ]"

Once again that guy looks at my "maskless" face in utter terror and runs off.

I stand by the outside flabbergasted...

In the distance, I heard some kid asking his mom about me.

"媽媽，那個人沒有口罩， 他是不是一個殭屍啊 [Mommy. That man doesn't have a mask. Is he a zombie]?"

This went on for a few more minutes... until finally someone finally said something to me.

“先生 [Sir?]"

Finally, I thought to myself. Someone actually wanting to help!

"是的！[Yes？]" I turned around. It was two cops.

"我們可不可以看您的身分證？ [Can we see your ID, please?]"