The Virus Collaborator

There’s an eatery in Mendocino Village whose owner took pride in preventing his employees, or customers, from wearing face coverings during the long months we’re been facing the novel coronavirus. In the early stages of the pandemic he put up a sign that said he’d apply a $5 surcharge to anyone who came into his cafe wearing a mask. In smaller print, it said he might add a charge to anyone who “bragged” about their vaccination. I’m guessing he had to reprint his sign as things progressed in our reckoning with this disease.

I walked by the place on Monday. (For the record, I’m not going to link to it or say the name. I won’t have to; you’ll see his sign in the window.) Some male country singer was blaring out of the speakers; “I’m proud to be an American.” The sound reverberated a little bit, probably off the walls of the empty cafe. There was a person behind the counter and the Open sign was still up, but there wasn’t anyone inside.

The owner has put up a couple of other signs sharing his “philosophy” on endangering people’s health. It includes the statement that people have the “right to breathe,” (that’s about masks) and people have the right to make up their own minds about things (that’s about getting vaccinated). Apparently this second one is inconsistently applied, since people who made up their own mind and wore a mask were subjected to different treatment in his place, but… oh, well.

He also thinks people “have the right to travel,” which is apparently a reference to tourists.(As in, “tourists without masks, come on in!”) Apparently he likes tourists. You know who else likes tourists, or at least feels that they need tourists? EVERY SINGLE MERCHANT in the village of Mendocino, that’s who.

I stopped to take some photos of his signs, and the phrase “virus collaborator” popped into my head. He’s a virus collaborator. He isn’t like people in Europe who willingly worked with the Nazis, or even the people who stood quietly, pretending to look the other way while Donald Trump attempted to dismantle our democracy. He might not even realize he’s collaborating–but a virus’s mission is to colonize. The novel Covid 19’s mission is to colonize as many humans as it can so it can grow and thrive.

Before you ask, the county has fined him at least once, and maybe twice. Another of his signs is one saying anyone coming into his cafe without permission is trespassing, even if they are government officials. I guess he doesn’t like Public Health very much.

I do have to wonder, if he is so proud to be an American, as his choice of music would indicate, why is he so eager to help an alien invader take us over?

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