Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 17, 2020

Hard not to love Alice.

So now, catching a bus? Did mommy take away his keys?

I think those are the kids he dropped in the snowbank.

It’s like they don’t even exist. Reminds me of “Another day in paradise” by Phil Collins.

Why is he getting on a bus if he drives a car?

And that guy claimed to grow up in New England? Right. Sure. THIS New Englander would figure on — wait for it — DIGGING THE DAMN THINGS OUT if he dropped his keys in a snowbank. Ain’t rocket science.

I used to bicycle to and from work around the calendar. Shortly after I began doing that, I dropped my bike lock key into a snowbank. I found it; but immediately thereafter I began wearing ALL my keys on a cord attached to my belt!

So do Alice and her friend also have extreme dementia to not have the sense to go to the shelter?

If he dropped his keys in a snowbank, how did he get BACK into his car? Surely he locked it before trudging toward his home. Perhaps it was a convertible and he had left the top down.

Is a comeback in store for Phil Ventura?

Written back in the days before cell phones and we had to look for dropped keys in the dark.

And at this very moment, we have a viral contamination with people being told not to congregate and to stay inside if possible. That works well if you have a house or regular shelter of some type. But what if you’re homeless and living on the street, dependent on social care services to survive. Already existing with virtually nothing and then told “it’s best if you stay away”.

And that is what San Francisco and NYC are struggling with right now.