Salem paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before starting, “As I’ve mentioned to some of you briefly before inviting you, over the past couple of nights, I’ve noticed a handful of The Signs, those spoken of in The Covenant. However, before I speak to the more recent Signs I’ve seen, I wanted to mention something that happened before all of this.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure if this first thing is related,” he continued, pacing. “Sudden changes in behavior can be a Sign, but it’s not foolproof, and we all know humans have their quirks. The Covenant even warns not to look too hard into these sudden shifts, as humans are simply erratic: known for sudden, loud outbursts; constant obsessions with various inanimate objects; and of course, prolonged disappearances at what seem to be regularly scheduled intervals.”
“Alas, it is a change to that last, strange habit that today is bringing me concern. Almost a year ago now, Sarah stopped leaving every day. Every day, for my entire life, her morning would begin with her repulsive noise box screaming. She’d swat at it until it stopped, and then she would do what I suppose the humans would call ‘grooming’ before leaving the house, saying she had to ‘the office,’ whatever that is. She used to leave and return so consistently that I could set my nap schedule to her, but earlier last year, when the snow was still falling outside, she just… stopped. Instead of leaving for this office, she now just spends hours upon hours talking to a light box she calls a computer. It’s bizarre.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Taylor started doing that last year too,” chimed in young Sir Reginald. “And Kim is talking to the computer too, instead of leaving for school. They call it Virtual, isn’t that right dad?”
“Perfectly correct, son,” responded Sir Reginald Sr. “They’re all doing the Virtual now – it’s On the Line, as they say. It’s all the Taylors seem to talk about these days. That and something called a ‘pandemic,’ though I’m not quite sure what that word means. Something about humans getting sick, I think?”
“Interesting,” Salem mused. “I think I’ve heard Sarah say that word too.”
“You’re right, Sir Reginald,” Mittens added somberly. “Marian’s talked to me about the pandemic. She’s been talking to me a lot recently – I think on account of the loneliness. The humans are experiencing a plague, worse than anything they’ve encountered in recent years. I’m not sure why they’ve decided plague needs a new word, but that’s humans for you. Apparently, some of Marian’s friends have died from it, so she’s quite worried about it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Boris whined earnestly.
Mittens’ hard visage dropped for a moment. “Thank you, Boris. Sir Reginald was right. You really are a good boy.”
Boris’ heart swelled as his stump of a tail wagged so furiously it shook the furnishings.
“It’s been quite hard on her,” Mittens continued. “Especially because the humans, ever thinking they’re clever, have apparently just noticed that if you stay away from sick people, you don’t get sick. So their brilliant plan to stop the plague is to cut off contact with other humans entirely – or, well, as much as possible. Of course, they’re far too social for that kind of thing, so it hasn’t been working very well. At least that’s what Marian tells me.”
“That would explain a lot,” said Salem. “Shortly after this Virtual stuff started, I started noticing her mood slipping. Normally, she’s so cheerful and loving, but within a month or two of Virtual, her smile started fading. She wasn’t laughing as much, and she started giving me more love and affection than normal. I enjoyed the attention at first, but it wasn’t long before I started realizing something was wrong. She hasn’t had any friends over, hasn’t had any family over, and she barely leaves the house. She just sits in front of that computer, sometimes poking it, sometimes talking to it, but mostly just staring at it.”
“Hmm, well sudden mood shifts are definitely a Sign,” said Cricket. “But normally they’d be more sudden than gradual. It sounds like she might just be feeling depressed. Long term isolation can do that to humans. They’re a very social species. Although...” Cricket trailed off.
“Although what?” asked Salem.
“When did you say this ‘pandemic’ started?”
“Last year, almost a full year ago. Why do you ask?”
“Hmm… it just seems like there’s been a fairly drastic increase in attempted breaches over the past year. I suppose it could be that I’ve just gained some notoriety in my trade, and I’m getting called in more often, but… well, I think Mittens is more familiar with our history than I, but if I recall correctly, haven’t there been incidents of plagues accompanying wide scale breach attempts in the past?”
“Indeed,” answered Mittens. “The incident in Egypt was followed shortly by what we historians refer to as ‘The First Close Call,’ and then of course, ‘The Closest Call’ coincided with that awful plague in Europe. Many a great mouser fell in those days.”
The cats stared silently and somberly at each other for a few seconds, mourning the fallen.