The Claims of the Absent

Step Inside the Story

The woman had brought last year’s form. She unfolded it carefully, as though the refusal it contained might spill onto the table.

Alma recognized the letterhead she had chosen. At the time, she had had the word beneficiary removed, preferring service user. She remembered spending twenty minutes on that correction and going home with the feeling that she was beginning something.

“This one is no longer valid,” she said.

“That’s what they told me. I have another.”

The woman took out a second sheet, then a third. Her name was Marianne Aubert. Her husband had lost his job picking orders when the warehouse installed arms capable of handling soft fabrics. He had found night shifts monitoring empty homes; she still did alterations, the ones for which customers insisted on speaking to a person. Between them, they earned less than before. Marianne’s mother had lived with them since her residential home closed.

They were asking for help with transfers in the morning. The robot was available. The installation slot was not.

From Chapter One, “An Interim Decision,” in The Claims of the Absent.