Bubbles and Giuseppe sat down next to their favorite window in the apartment living room. They live twenty-eight floors above Fifth Avenue in one of New York’s busiest neighborhoods. Many kinds of people frequented there, workers, shoppers, tourists; from above it looked like armies of ants swarming around.

They both like to observe the streets from the window. Bubbles liked to watch the double-decker buses zip down the block , Giuseppe enjoyed people watching more.

It wasn’t like that now.

Shops used to stay opened until late hours, now every place shut their doors at 10pm. The crowds of people have disappeared with only billboard lights filling the streets. It was a very odd phenomenon, Bubbles and Giuseppe had to discuss.

They perched themselves up on the couch, paws crossed.

“Strange, isn’t it? ” Giuseppe pondered. “Everyone is gone. It looks barren out there.”

“Indeed,” agreed Bubbles. “Where do you think they went?”

“I think everyone stayed home. Ours did.” They synchronously looked over at the two humans. They were sitting by their desks, staring into the light boxes and clacking on the keypads. Normally at this time they weren’t home. They left the apartment in the mornings and usually returned after sundown. Since last March, they’ve stayed in almost every single day. It was bizarre to say the least.

“I think the news said something about a disease going around,” said Giuseppe. He liked to watch television with the humans, and was very happy they the time on it had increased exponentially since they started staying home. They watched the news a lot and Giuseppe had learned quite a lot about their current predicament. “No one is allowed to go out, or rather, it’s a little dangerous.”

Bubbles sighed. She missed going outside. Sometimes the humans would put her in a transparent bookbag and walk around. She hated feeling cooped up. Giuseppe disagreed.

He thought that it’s been a great. “We’ve been receiving so many Amazon packages. We have so many new toys! Since they’ve been home, they built all these new things for us.”

True, Bubbles thought. The had a new tree, scratching post, and even a window hammock! That was her favorite.

Bubbles and Giuseppe didn’t like change. Whatever their routine was, they like to stick to it straight. But this year’s shift in lifestyle wasn’t all too bad. They loved spending more tine with their humans and enjoyed all the new things bought for them.