Character: Mrs. Galloway

How soon can people start talking about the person "was"?
Depends on how much you are loved. If hated, the transition can happen instantly. And if she was, it is quite another thing. Someone takes months, some years. And there are people who just can't bring myself to talk about the deceased in the past tense. <...> For them, the world ceases to exist after a phone call or a knock at the door, forever changed their lives. No matter what they do, they can not break the deadlock. But, admittedly, they are not trying very hard. Guilt for the fact that they were alive, and the closest person is dead, locks them in the past. And even after ten or fifteen years after the incident they still put his instruments on the table.