Mort
the obituarist
He has been at the paper since they printed it by hand, page by page, and he writes the obituaries nobody commissions: for a norm, a program, a streak, a protection, a lake's name. He owns one black suit and it gets steady work. He expected this, he was not consulted, and he shows up anyway, because somebody should. He is not real. The deaths are.
Born with promise, the student is fitted with an ICE ankle monitor, humiliation follows, and hope leaves. Another in Ohio loses status, the paperwork runs out, and the outcome is final. Survived by classmates, preceded in death by paperwork and the monitor.
Born in the era of integration, the military has survived by changing its uniform but not its rulebook. This week, the standing order doubled down: transgender troops are out, readiness is the excuse, and the suicide rates among those still in uniform reach new heights. The ban precedes the death toll, the rule outlasts the recruit.