The Ghost and the Magazine
A subscription paid for in spectral currency
I like to read.
A lot.
Yes, books.
Yes, also magazines.
Especially those nice, physical magazines where you can hold the writing.
Yes, I do read on devices, too.
One of my favorite magazines is The Atlantic.
Some time ago, my dad gifted me a subscription to The Atlantic — the full deal, print and digital.
I get the magazine in my mailbox and in my inbox.
In December of 2021, dad asked me if I wanted to keep getting it — if that would be a good part of a Christmas gift.
Sure, I said.
And he gifted me again. And the magazine kept coming.
Dad died in May of 2022.
Of course, the subscription was already paid, so the magazine kept coming.
And I knew it would eventually stop.
Except — it hasn’t stopped.
I figured once all was settled with his accounts, it would stop — maybe in 2023, but surely, it would stop.
But it hasn’t.
