Ernesto didn't need to read the newspaper or listen to the radio. Real life was like the Internet for him. This is what went through him as he poured himself a bowl of Captain Crunch:
- The grocer who bagged the cereal liked to groom cats and she wanted to do so professionally, but the supermarket didn't let workers unionize and demand a fair wage.
- The milk bowl was made in China. (Ernesto didn't understand Chinese, but he felt a factory worker's enjoyment when she watched a Hong Kong kung fu movie on what appeared to be a date with the kind factory manager.)
- The organic milk was delicious, and the cow who had provided it could not understand why the small humans who came at night in a big spaceship were quietly taking pieces of other cows' lips and ears while they slept.
And on and on the stories went, a never-ending parade of life moments that weren't his and didn't necessarily want to find out about. However, they lost vividness as Ernesto grew used to them. It was hard to get used to his constant migraine headaches. They were annoying. It was hard to deal with the psychological issues of millions of beings he came into direct or indirect contact with, but it was even harder to reconcile the fact that the corner store was all out of orange juice. Some frat boys had bought it all up in their misguided attempt to make the world's largest screwdriver. But of course, Ernesto should have known that.
Off to the supermarket.
