Let’s volt in!

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

Our youngest sister gave me the idea for the title of this post when she posted a photo of the five characters of the very popular Japanese anime which aired in 1978 on Philippine TV in reply to another sister’s FB post of all five of us sisters in a video call.

Photo: Voltes V Game
FB account

“Let’s volt in!” was the battlecry of Steve, Big Bert and Little John Armstrong, along with Jamie Robinson and Mark Gordon when they would merge their battleships into a gigantic fighting robot.

Today, we “volted in” on FB messenger to chat. Three of us are in different parts of the country while two are abroad, all staying home in compliance with measures to restrict movement and reduce the chances of exposure to and infection of the corona virus disease (COVID-19).

The idea came from the second to the eldest, who lives in the West Coast, and is considered the techie in the family. Of course, she initiated the call and all we had to do was accept the video call.

It was a first for us. Calls using VoIP technology were usually just between two sisters before this.

It was a riot at first. Our eldest kept disappearing from view, all the while muttering that she could not see any of us. When she finally got it right, we found ourselves speaking to her nose.

Then, we notice that our youngest has makeup on. When the ribbing finally dies down, techie sis tries for some sense of order by asking that we give each other updates starting with the eldest.

Our eldest, a.k.a The Nose, decides to show us her food provisions.  We forget the order of conversing after that. Food does that to those under home quarantine, although techie sis says her problem is toilet paper. At this, her third world sisters laugh.

Since I am entering my third week of quarantine, they ask me how strict the guidelines are under the Luzon lockdown and I tell them that movement is restricted, but that I have a quarantine pass which gets me through the checkpoint right outside our village.

Do I get checked? Of course, I do. Only those with a quarantine pass and wearing a face mask gets through. My second time out, I am asked to return home because I am not wearing one.

Our youngest announces she has already applied for a blue pass which will enable her to enter and leave the city. She lives in a town outside the city which closed its borders just yesterday.

Our second to the youngest, who I will describe as our kitchen wiz, notices that youngest sis is outside the house. The signal is weak inside, our youngest explains then circles her house so we can see it from the outside.  As she pans her camera phone, we see her son sweeping the yard then later, another one who checks who she is talking to because apparently, she is talking too loudly.

This is why she’s taking the call in her basement, kitchen wiz says. She does not want to disturb the rest of the household because in the East Coast, it’s her youngest son’s bedtime and the rest are settling down for the night.

Techie sis says her husband has already complained she is talking too loudly, and he appears in the background as if on cue. My voice gets lost in the babble greeting him. She tells him that if he keeps complaining, she will put him under quarantine. This cracks us up.  

I pan my phone so they can see my daughter eating breakfast, but she is too far away to notice the greetings. Instead, hubby shows up to say hi and his ever-enthusiastic sidekick of a dog almost knocks the phone out of my hand.

Since it’s a Sunday in the Philippines, we talk about attending online masses and techie sis shares that she sometimes is unsure about when to stand or sit down or kneel. Kitchen wiz and I look at each other in disbelief. We sit throughout the mass.

At this point, The Nose, who has been disappearing every now and then, says she needs to finish her laundry.

No one had noticed the time, which passed too quickly because we were laughing and unintentionally cutting each other off in our excitement to be seeing and talking to each other all at once. 

We agree to “volt in” the same time, same day next week and end the call. All, except The Nose, who appears to have a problem turning her camera off.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of March 29, the Philippines has reported 1,418 confirmed corona virus cases, including 42 recoveries and 71 deaths.