In the flash fiction story Permission, i feel the parent is fearful to give the children left in their family after a sibling dying freedom.  The parent is struggling to continue on with the healthy raising of the children left alive in the family.  The parent seems to be suffocating to some degree the children in the attempt to keep them safe.  The headmistress was supporting the parent with the struggle to let these children move on and hopefully be less harmed by the loss of such an important family member. The headmistress was fully aware that the parent was holding on by a thread the ties to sustain themselves and the family.  The hurt was so close to the surface of the entire story.  Showed to me the "going through the motions" that many times happen when a tragedy takes place.