The Party Upstairs

When two young men showed up asking to book the upstairs dining room for a dinner party, Bartholemew hadn’t thought much of it. Thursdays tended to be quiet, so, at first he was grateful for the reservation. If he had known that they were part of a notorious influencer’s entourage he would have said no, but by the time the group was deep into their wine and arguing loudly, it was too late to do anything but regret the decision and hope he would at least get paid. The host was a carpenter who’d rebranded himself as a new-age guru, and despite his peace-and-love message, was currently being investigated for a very public table-flipping incident earlier in the week. Bart found himself lurking at the bottom of the stairwell praying that there wouldn’t be any violence or damages.

After a kerfuffle involving double dipping, voices had been raised and Bart heard accusations of betrayal flying around. He took the opportunity to creep to the top of the stairs and interrupt in an attempt to calm the scene. Much to his dismay, he saw that the fellow being accused was the one who’d entered with a clinking bag of coins. Despite the influencer’s growing popularity, most of these anti-establishment groups were ill-funded, and Bart was rather concerned about getting paid. If they drove off their money-man, there was a good chance Bart was going to get stuck footing the bill.

It was a time of upheaval in the city, with the populace growing tired of living under the dual yokes of a ruling elite working closely with foreign occupiers. Dissent had been growing for some time, with various gurus like the carpenter-cum-influencer speaking loudly and often about how the status-quo was not sustainable. These rabble-rousers frequently found themselves on the wrong side of the law, and Bart would be lying if he said that didn’t engender some sympathy towards them on his behalf. He, too, felt let down by the powers that be, who wielded their ecclesiastical authority as a facade to generate wealth for the elites. In fact, it was standing up to this system that had led to the recent table-flipping incident and the authorities’ investigation into the group. Bart knew things had to change, he just didn’t know if he had faith in the loud young men upstairs to be the catalysts of revolution.

Back at the bottom of the stairs, Bart was relieved to hear the argument die down before the group raised their voices in song. They continued singing as they came down to the house’s main level. Passing Bart in a procession, one of the men pressed some coins into his hand as they made their way out the door. Bart followed, watching as they turned down the street on their way to The Mount of Olives. After they disappeared from sight, Bart made his way upstairs to begin cleaning up the mess.