By Jianna Heuer
Police Report
Case number: 002957 Today’s Date: 11/12/2023
Reporting Officer: Officer Roger Smith Date of Original Incident: 3/18/2019
Statute: In America, there is a socially appropriate timeline and specific rules for mourning. For the death of a spouse, parent, or child, these being sanctioned grief circumstances, you get one month to mourn at most. One month of taco casseroles, Hallmark sympathy cards, and people checking in with calls, texts, and emails. One month to be openly upset, cry, or rage without judgment. One month to feel supported. Losing a friend or partner outside of marriage or a business does not afford you bolstering from your community.
Charge: Grieving for too long. It’s been almost four years since she died; you are wallowing and in violation of this rule.
Detail of Events: At approximately 8:22 am on March 18, 2019, Bailey’s mother, Sally, was driving high on meth, flew through a stop sign, and a nineteen-year-old female college student going the speed limit of 40mph hit the passenger side door. Fourteen-year-old Bailey, the only other person in the car, was killed instantly.
At 3:42 pm, Bailey’s Aunt Jenna wakes up from a nap to twelve missed calls from her brother Tim, Bailey’s father, who is trying to inform her of this tragedy. Through his tears, she hears his soul crack like an egg, and her heart aches to be able to put his fragile shell back together.
Bailey’s Aunt Jenna and Uncle James board a plane at 6:52 am the following day and fly to Oregon, where the incident occurred, to meet Tim. They are prohibited from attending the funeral or burial. They get one hour to see Bailey before the services begin because even in death, Sally wants to control the amount of time Tim and his family can spend with Bailey. Despite it being clear she is responsible for the car accident, she still has the power to exclude Tim and his family because her mother works for the police department in the small town where they all once lived. This explains why she is not in jail despite her impending DUI charge (among others).
Jenna and James last saw Bailey six years ago for one hour for lunch at Applebee’s on their way to visit Tim in prison, where he was serving time for dealing heroin. Sally told Bailey her father was dead and did not allow his letters through to her. When he got out and begged to see her, she said no. Too ashamed of his life choices, Tim thought she may be right, and though he asked year after year if she was open to Tim seeing Bailey, she continued to say no. She told him he was unfit as a parent, a disappointment, a loser Bailey didn’t need to know. Tim thought that, eventually, she would change her mind, and they could work something out.
Jenna, James, and Tim go to the visitation hour they are allotted to say goodbye to Bailey. This is the first time Tim has seen his daughter in seven years. His sister, who is 5′ 3″, holds her 6′ 2″ brother as they stand beside a child-size coffin and say goodbye to Bailey. Tim takes pictures of her little form wearing a hot pink and black striped dress over black stockings and Mary Janes. Even in death, they can see Bailey’s sparkly personality. Tim weeps, and Jenna feels the weight of him threatening to collapse her. She cried for what he had lost, what he would never have; she was not yet able to deal with her own grief.
They all return to home and work immediately as if the saddest thing that can happen didn’t just happen. Jenna checks in frequently with Tim. Often, he does not respond. Sometimes, he calls her crying in the middle of the day or night and says he can’t go on, the pain is too much, and he wants to be with Bailey, not here in this suffering.
The loss has stayed with Tim’s whole family. Jenna, the primary support for Tim and their mother, is the subject of the current complaint.
Witnesses: Friends, Family, Neighbors, and Co-Workers.
Witnesses report the bereaved is taxing her friends and family with her reaction to this untimely death. They have reported uncontrollable weeping when drunk, irrational anger, and projecting sad, mad, frustrated feelings onto unsuspecting bystanders.
Neighbors report the bereaved smoking cigarettes in their yard at an alarming frequency. Co-workers are sick of the bereaved using mourning as an excuse for lateness or inability to perform job duties.
The general consensus is the bereaved is a bummer to be around every day.
Actions Taken: A summons has been sent to Jenna, citing the following:
You have exceeded your allotted period of grief by three years and eleven months. The state has been lenient given the nature of your loss, but we have received complaints regarding your behavior and general demeanor. People have tried to ignore your grieving by telling you to move on, cheer up, and changing the subject in conversations, but it hasn’t worked.
More decisive action will be taken now. You will be fined today and every day moving forward at $5 a day for actively showing your grief. If, in three months, you have not stopped grieving, you will face one to five years of “dead to us” status for taking up emotional space and resources. Your current state is insufferable and noncompliant with established rules of law.