Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The New Hostess, a Parable /Story


The Story Continues; not only continues but also gets bizarre.  The man found out a short time later that the hostess, who'd been thrown out for her inappropriate behavior, was hired by that very restaurant with the promise of help in finding her another group of diners.
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Epilog:  Now a few months later, the remaining guests at the feast told the new hostess to leave; they threw her out in spite of her protests.  The man and others who'd left the circle returned.  
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There once was a man who frequented the same restaurant for many years.  He met a group of people there to have a weekly feast.  

The table would seat from ten to thirty people and although a few of the attendees were regular, it was not always the same people.  There were new people who were attracted to the group and others who drifted away.  

It was the custom of the group to allow one of the assembled to sit at the head of the table.  That person was to guide the serving and the conversation to be sure that all had enough to eat and a good time.

A new person came to the group and asked to sit at the head of the table.  It seemed that she was nice enough, and well enough mannered that the group agreed to it.  So one fine day there she sat, at the head of the table.

She reported that there had been an incident and two people who were members of the group were poisoned. She told the assembly that they should not be concerned about this, that dinner was about to start and she didn't want any negativity in the room.  

She said that these two were poisoned for good reason and that reason did not concern anyone here.  As for the dead bodies in the room, what difference does it make.  The feast must go on and all would have a good time. 

When the man asked what happened, he was told to mind his own business.  He rightly thought that since he was going to be eating there he would like to know how they were poisoned because he didn't want to suffer the same fate.  

He asked others who were involved and some of the information even came from one of those who had been poisoned, just before he died.  The story the man pieced together was consistent in fact but not in the reasons why they were poisoned.

Since there was some question about the circumstances of their deaths, the man asked to see the menus from some meals that were paid for by the entire group but eaten by just a few while making plans for the feasts.

He asked the custodian of the menus to see the menus. It was part of the custodian's job to keep the menus but he had turned them over to the new hostess at her request.  

She said that no one, not the man or anyone else, was going to be allowed to see them until she was ready to allow it.  She said it would be at least six weeks before anyone could see them and they would be in a new book.  Certainly enough time to alter the menus and delete the poisoned entrees.

This didn't set well with the man; he passed notes to the hostess for an explanation.  The notes came back saying to stop asking.  When he tried to speak with her, she turned her back to him.  

Meanwhile the feast continued.  The hostess monopolized the conversation, her manners were crude.  She wouldn't pass anything on and soon all the food was in front of her. 

She proclaimed that the people shouldn't be concerned, they should be happy because she would see to it that they had their fill soon enough.  It was the dawn of a new day.

The man was hungry and disgusted so he excused himself saying he had some important things to take care of and left. He didn't know what the others were thinking but he knew that time would tell.

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