5:45 PM
Tick.
A circle of hands clasping, a circle of hearts pounding.
Tock.
Faces alight heavenward, lips loosed in wide smiles.
Tick.
Whispering sun, neatly trimmed field, rows of porches.
Tock.
“Today we reap what we sow! Today we await our final award!”
Tick. (5:50)
“All of our homes sacrificed for the greater Home. All of our dreams sacrificed for the one, true Dream.”
Tock.
“Enjoy this moment brothers and sisters, this moment of anticipation. There won’t be any left once we leave.”
Tick.
“You know what I’m going to say to that great Gatekeeper when we see him? Thank you. Thank you for finalizing your kingdom. For all the good and freedom you’ve given us, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Tock.
A man sits on steps facing the crowd. Smoke lazes from his pinched cigarette.
Tick.
“You there! Yes you! Even at the final hour, there is still time for redemption! Repent! Join us!”
Tock. (5:55)
The man stares, blank, raising the cigarette to his lips, forearms cooked pink in the sun.
Tick.
“Brother, now is not the time for apathy! Our Redeemer saves even the foulest of heart!
Tock.
The man continues to stare. Gnats gird the circle of faces.
Tick.
“Very well. The records above will note our final act for humanity. Yours, I’m afraid, will wring your neck, a millstone for the lake of sulfur.”
Tock.
“Goodbye my man. I pray your day of reckoning be swift, swifter than the portents to come. Now is the time.”
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The circle breaks, time falls onto pursed lips, faces fall.
Tock. Tock. Tock.
Silence broken by wheezing laughter.
