[A Party for Death.]
The Mayor held a party for Death. Actually, he didn't really intend for Death to be the guest of honor when he came up with the idea, but he mentioned the party to Death over lunch one Tuesday, and Death is the kind of guy who loves to be the life of a party. Death said that he would be happy to attend.
The Mayor planned the party, and he invited everyone he knew (and some people that he didn't). The Mayor didn't just invite people from Big City. He went to all of the surrounding cities and towns and dropped off invitations. If he couldn’t make it himself, he would send an alderman.
The Mayor decided to hold the party in Farawayville, a small town that was nowhere near Big City. He remembered going to a party there with his Dad (they were invited by the Mayor of Farawayville) and the party had mostly gone really well right up to the end, which wasn't so great, possibly because everyone had left too early (or so the Mayor thought). Anyhow, the Mayor decided to hold another party in Farawayville. The Mayor of Farawayville wasn't really interested, because the last party had left a serious mess, and Death had passed out on a park bench, and then he kept coming back, muttering something about having left his jacket.
The Mayor of Big City was not swayed by any of this. He told everyone else that the Mayor of Farawayville had promised certain things at the end of the last party, and that he hadn't carried through on what he had said, and that the Mayor of Farawayville was a party crasher anyways, and that was why Farawayville ought to host the party. Not everyone agreed, or even followed the argument, but that didn't faze the Mayor of Big City, because he was already busy with scissors, and glue, and markers, and glittery paper, making invitations to the party.
The Mayor was a pretty wily guy, so the invitations didn't just say "Party for Death! Refreshments to be served!" People just won't go for that sort of thing, unless the band is really good. So the invitations suggested that the party would have a Liberty theme, or a Truth theme, or a Responsible Government theme, and that there would be dancing and flowers. That sounded great to some people, especially people in Big City, where people had been buying party favors for years just in case.
Some people noticed that there was fine print on the bottom of the invitation that said, "Guest of Honor, Death". This made them a little uneasy, as they had been to parties held for Death before, and things had not gone well. They asked the Mayor if inviting Death was really a good idea, but the Mayor said something about the caterer and the pony rides, and never really answered the question.
Other people wondered how much this would cost, and the Mayor said he'd get back to them once the guest list was finalized.
Still other people said that they were against parties when Death was invited, and that the Mayor might consider instead a nice afternoon tea, with crumpets. The Mayor said that he respected their opinion, but that he was a party guy, and party guys don’t go in for afternoon tea.
Finally the day came when the Mayor felt that he had waited long enough, and that he was going to have his party, and that he really didn't care who stayed home and who showed up. He told everyone that the party would be held in two days.
Sure enough, two days later the party started and Death showed up right on schedule. Many of the party goers had never been to a party with Death before. Some of them had met Death at hospitals, or over at their grandparents'. But Death kind of gets out of hand at parties when everyone is watching, so very few people had ever seen him like this.
In fact, it looked like Death was about to really get out of hand, but the Mayor said that everyone had come to party, and that's what they were going to do, no matter how much furniture got broken. Death started dancing on a table, and said that he would very much like this party to continue as long as possible. His speech was slurred, and it was clear that he had had too much to drink.
People started to talk about Death, and about Death's behavior at the party, but the Mayor came over (or sent an alderman) and told them to talk about the great cheese platter and the salsa music instead, otherwise they would have to leave. Despite the mess that Death was making, no one wanted to be kicked out of the party, so that's what people talked about. Death didn’t care what anybody said, or didn’t say, because he had just started a conga line.
And the party continued.
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2003
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© 2003 Karl Bailey.