UP OR DOWN

I’d been in the queue for days. Something about a technical hitch with the soul detection monitor at the main desk. They were having to process people manually.
When I got to the front I saw a large man dressed in a long, flowing white robe, holding an enormous leather-bound ledger.
When my turn came two guards told me to step forward.
The man looked at me, then at the ledger. I saw his fingers scroll down the page and stop.
Without looking up he said, “Stairs to the left.”
As I descended the stairs the heat hit me.

Mike Jackson