CUC06

Six: Balloon Bellies - - - - - - - - - - February 25, 2020 Naomi regretted buying a mechanical keyboard for her mother. Mom went from ‘i don’t get it’ to ‘won’t use a membrane board again’, and now the home office was significantly louder. This was a problem for many reasons: one, her parents’ house’s hallway echoed. Two, the office door and the bedroom doors were open because it’d get bloody warm otherwise. Three, it was two-forty-eight in the morning. She groaned, pulled the pillow around her ears, and wished staying on-campus had been an option. The guy that’d sneezed was well-known for allergies, but with the outbreak and lockdown, campus administration wasn’t taking chances. She’d found the doors shut, and a note for everyone to go home. She’d turned up at a bad time too, during a deep-clean of the rooms, when they weren’t letting anyone in. So she had none of her belongings beyond what she’d had in her purse. She’d ended up crashing at her parents’ home, in her