Bubbles and Giuseppe sat themselves up in front of their favorite window. The sun was at the perfect angle, toasting their faces. They were conducting their annual evaluations. It had been exactly 365 days since the pandemic induced lockdown started, and there was much to discuss. Both had serious eyes, paws crossed; it was business.

No, the evaluation wasn’t for an actual business they owned, nor anything of the sort. It was for their humans.

2020 was most certainly an odd year. There were so many irregularities and… change. Bubbles was the first to notice and brought it up with Giuseppe. Every year around March the humans would go away for a bit; Bubbles and Giuseppe would go over to their cousin’s. They had their suitcases packed and ready for almost a week, and suddenly, everything was put away. They didn’t leave, and Bubbles was visibly confused. Giuseppe had been living with the humans for quite some time longer than Bubbles. He explained to him that sometimes plans change unexpectedly.  

Then, things got weird. Usually, the humans are both out from the morning to night, with the exception of two days, but now one of then stays home all the time. Giuseppe didn’t like that much. When they were home, him and Bubbles weren’t allowed to go onto the tabletops. When they weren’t home, he would climb onto the centerpiece and take a nap through the afternoon. Since then, he has to take his naps in his bed. It just doesn’t feel right.

Bubbles was more excited than Giuseppe that the humans stayed home. He loved playing with them and sitting snuggled up together watching a movie. When the first human stayed home, he was so ecstatic he couldn’t help but wake up an extra thirty minutes every morning.

Not long after, the second human also started to stay home. Except she seemed a little sad. Bubbles and Giuseppe could tell that she had a hard time waking up; she made it clear that she was not a fan of Bubble’s face slapping at 6AM. Though she wasn’t an early bird, she played with them all the time throughout the day. The other human was too busy on his computer.

Giuseppe recalls that for a period of time, there was a lot of noise coming from outside. Sirens would blare at any given hour of the day; fireworks would pop until the sunrise; it was chaotic out there. Maybe that’s why the humans didn’t leave at all.

Bubbles had other concerns. He noticed that he wasn’t being fed the same amount every day. Sometimes it would be less, more, an hour early, or late! He also noticed that his humans were eating more! Never has he seen so many shiny bags of snacks and the fridge filled to the brim.

            The humans also had a plethora of toilet paper, which Bubbles and Giuseppe didn’t mind. One day, while the humans went out to restock their fridge, Bubbles climbed onto the shelf and knocked the whole pallet of toilet paper down. They had a blast throwing the roll around and chasing it!

            Those were some of the things that they remembered most. Though their schedule was thrown out of cue so much, they agreed that all the extra time spent with the humans was great.