Hello @stormlight24,
I read this in a certain time and place. I can understand it in terms of what I know and see, in the U.S. We are in a time of pandemic, when premature death is all around me. Unbalanced...wow. We are so askew as a society that school board meetings have become war zones. Health care professionals are retiring early because the stress of their job is too great. We are a nation divided against itself because of a kind of madness that has seized many in our midst.

So, forgive me for giving this lovely story literal meaning. But, as readers, we bring to writing what we know. When I read your story, I bring to it what I know. As is true of your narrator, "I don’t like premature deaths". And so, perhaps, I am feeling a bit off balanced these days myself.

You are a really effective writer. I'm surprised you stayed away for so long.