Cashing In On My Grave

Summary

I was ironing my husband’s dress shirts when a crumpled slip of paper tumbled out of his pocket.

It was a paystub. I smoothed it out, my eyes scanning down the rows of deductions and additions until I hit the seventh line.

Death Benefit — Spouse Deceased — $8,000.00.

Spouse.

Deceased.

I read those two words three times. Mark only had one spouse: me.

But I was alive. My heart was thumping a steady, frantic rhythm against my ribs, and my fingers were still curled around the warm cotton of his sleeve.