The Affective Welfare Act had passed six years ago. The standard grief permit was issued at registration of death and ran for twelve months. If the permit expired and the grief had not resolved, the applicant could apply for an extension. The extension application was seventeen pages. The form was the same regardless of who had died or how.
Sona had been on page nine since Thursday. She had made coffee, drunk the coffee, washed the cup, and returned to the table. The form asked for supporting documentation on pages eleven through fourteen. She had not yet reached the documentation section. Page nine was Section 7.
Section 7 was titled: Current grief experience. The instructions read: Describe the current experience of grief in your own words. Maximum fifty words. Use the space provided.
She had read this several times.
She picked up the pen. She wrote: I still expect him to call on Sunday. She counted. Seven words. She continued: I bought his brand of coffee by accident last week and did not notice until I was home.
She counted the total. Twenty-four words. She was within the limit. The second sentence had gone past the ruled line on the form, past the boundary of the provided space, ending on the white margin.
She did not rewrite it. She did not cross it out.
She turned to page ten.