KISAH Futures Anthology
Her friend nodded in agreement. After shooting the breeze for a few minutes, Jamila uttered a quick goodbye to Mr. Heng and continued on her way home, stopping on the way at the convenience store to pick up hand sanitiser. A lot of the labels read ‘Made in Malaysia’, she noted with pride. The Malaysian economy had really picked up in the last two years, with more companies manufacturing locally. As a whole, the country was surging towards self-sufficiency. She picked up two bottles of sanitiser and paid with her card. The ‘Go Cashless’ initiative was a plan that she appreciated as a health worker, as it greatly reduced disease transmission via cash exchange. The new normal got better day by day. Five minutes later, Jamila let herself into her apartment, and with a flourish, removed her APH and sighed in relief. The helmets were lightweight, but still felt like a burden. As she sanitised her hands, a voice called from the kitchen. “Jamila, is that you?” “Yes mama”, replied Jamila. Sauntering into the kitchen, she found her mother seated at the table, peering at her phone screen. “You know, Jamila, I saw this video on WhatsApp that says that if you leave half an onion in the corner of a room, it will suck out all the virus in the air! Why don’t you try that at work?” Well, some things never changed. Jamila sighed.
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