Register a Death

I've decided to try to stop judging the extent to which things are good or bad. Many things just "are". 

There are lists but they're incomplete. I'm cultivating a "numb" attitude, just so I can understand and get by. There's an information pool that may deepen or just drain away. It's a slowly evolving learning process. Apropos next to nothing.

When you register a death, you make an online appointment. You pay a small fee with a card and get an order number. At the allotted time, a person with a kindly voice and pleasant manner asks you a number of questions.

You’re already ready with the answers because the first email told you what to expect. So you answer them. Your answers are now in the system. 

You get another order number. This number allows you to cancel various things that the deceased may have had: pensions, passports, benefits and so on. Their life now sits in some digital archive but in what I imagine to be, a dead file.

You look at a faded and creased photo of their younger self.

Perhaps they had a cheeky tattoo, a certain lilt in their voice or a liking for spicy food. Maybe they held onto a deep and silent fear of the pressure of life itself but were never able to tell anyone how they really felt. None of that matters now. 

All the documents you need can be downloaded quickly.

I’m old enough to recall a time when registrars had ink pens, wrote names and dates in fine script on stiff paper. They formed the words skilfully and in silence, you only heard the scratch of the pen. They blew on the wet ink and handed over the certificate or document. Eye contact, a few quiet words and a handshake to signify that the business had been completed. There was that abstract human treasure that is called dignity.

Now everybody can know when the dead are really dead. An email confirmation will arrive from the other side.

However the living are a little less sure of themselves.

A fully automated service lurks around the next corner. Please retain your order number.

Thank you for booking an appointment.