The gatekeeper was looking through the huge book that lay across his desk, looking for the newcomer’s name. He looked quizzically at the man before him. “Where exactly have you come from?” He asked.
The newcomer waved a hand with a flourish, a gesture that seemed to denote some sort of royalty. “Somewhere, in Egypt… I think. Why? Does it matter?”
The demon, The High Keeper of the Great Book, The Senior Sentinel for the Gates of Hades, who had always seen himself as one of Lucifer’s favourites, looked aghast. “Of course it matters!” He shuffled through more pages, becoming more and more annoyed as he did. “I don’t seem to have a record of…”
He was interrupted by the creak of one of the gigantic gates being pushed open.
The demon stood and bowed as Lucifer approached. He pointed down at the book. “Apologies my Lord, I think we need to pull the miscellaneous file on this one. I… I can’t find him in the book.”
Lucifer looked troubled. “Really?”
The demon bowed again. “Yes, My Greatness.”
Lucifer turned directly to the newcomer. “Where are you from?”
“Egypt, probably.”
Lucifer said, “Probably?”
The man was becoming annoyed. “Look what is all this about? What’s so bloody important about where I came from?”
The demon cowered and Lucifer stiffened, saying “We’ll asked the questions, if you don’t mind. What where you doing in Egypt?”
The man shrugged. “I was on holiday.”
“You were on holiday in Egypt; just a holiday.”
“Probably Egypt, although it may have been Libya.”
Lucifer braced. “Libya?”
“Libya, yes, why not? It’s next door isn’t it? I’m getting just a little bit tired of all this. If you people can’t keep proper records, you’re bound to have this sort of trouble. Just find somewhere cool for me to sit down and I’ll wait for you people to get your act together.”
The demon said, “We don’t have anywhere cool down here,” then bit his lip and sat back down.
Lucifer was enraged by the man’s impudence. He turned to the demon. “Pull the file.”
The demon nodded and summoned a black angel. He gave him his orders. Seeing that the Great Master was present, it flew up and away at great speed, returning quickly with a thick file. He dropped it on the demon’s desk, bowed several times and flew off again.
The demon opened it up and began sifting through paperwork. “Let’s see now. You have to have something… Yes! Here we are. There seems to be an update here that was missed. He’s an undercover government agent, and…”
The newcomer just stood grinning.
Lucifer bristled again. “And?”
“And he’s not one of ours.”
“He’s not?” Lucifer cried.
“No. Your Most Worshipful One. It would appear that Mephistopheles lost this man’s soul recently in a card game to a highly placed American politician.”
Lucifer sighed. “Mephistopheles, gambling again. I might have known.”
The man chuckled.
Lucifer shouted, “OK! OK! Let him go.”
The man smiled, turned, and went back the way he came.