Short story: The Waiting List

[BretHart]

He had been on the waiting list for eleven months. Every few weeks an email arrived to say his position had not changed.

He printed these emails and filed them in a folder.

His wife asked why he printed them.

'Evidence,' he said.

Evidence of what, she did not ask, because they had been married long enough for her to understand that some questions were about the asking and not the answer.

On a Thursday in June he received a different email. Access granted.

He sat at his desk for a long time without opening the app.

His wife found him there an hour later. 'What is it?' she said.

'I am in,' he said.

She did not ask what he was in. She made them both a cup of tea

[HitmanMatt53]

The folder of printed emails is the character. Everything about who he is lives in that detail

[Hollow Tiger]

Evidence of what, she did not ask is the best line in a very compact piece. That sentence contains an entire marriage

[Rob98]

The anti-climax of waiting so long that the arrival of the thing you waited for requires sitting quietly rather than celebration is extremely human and very well observed

[Cass_9]

She made them both a cup of tea is the ending this piece earned. Perfect

[Phil95]

Eleven months on a waiting list and then an hour sitting with the app unopened. The dread of the thing you wanted arriving is a genuinely specific feeling