Fresh Death Alert

In a dream there is a calendar item that repeats on my phone.

I log in with my ID and password on a government website to see whether my father has died yet. The government doesn’t offer alerts for fresh deaths. Not yet. That would be tasteless, even for the government. With each log in, I see a family tree of sorts, leading all the way to… who? Who are all these people? Supposedly relatives, names I hadn’t heard mixed with those I had. Part of my ancestry.

Next to my mother’s name it reads: deceased.

Next to my father’s: alive.

I log off, keeping the calendar item intact. No need for action to process legal documents to clear my name of all… off of all relations.

edit: no more.