Greeting the Party

Ron Koppelberger

Greeting The Party

Invested by the yells and guffaws of an endless parade in silk and tuxedo tuft the greeter shook hands and posed for pictures with the new arrivals, the partiers, the attendees of the bash.
Eventually the line of people waiting for entrance dwindled to a handful. “Evening Mam. Evening Sir.” he said to the couple. The man spit on the sidewalk as the young woman giggled and shook her hair with the back of her hand. The man mumbled something and the woman said,
“Funny Ruff, Funny.”
He waved the couple by and the last in line stood in front of him waiting for approval. The greeter sighed and said, “ We’ve been waiting all evening for you.” The last nodded and pushed by hurried and a bit impatient. The greeter paused for a moment as the spectral presence of the man, dressed in white, holding an hourglass in one hand and a bell in the other moved into the crowd.
The greeter knew the party was over. The hourglass signaled the end of time and the bell a call to the hour of sleep. The man had been late, they had all been living on borrowed time as the keeper of a seconds breath and the souls hearth found the party unaware and desiring destiny.