2023 Father Time & The Grim Reaper

For millennia, five minutes to midnight on December 31st is the only time of the year that Death and Father Time's path cross, a place where the past hands over the baton to the future, and they use that time to discuss the year which has just gone before going their separate ways for the next twelve months and this year the old man was already waiting and had his 2024 sash in his hand ready to replace the battered looking 2023 one currently across his chest.  
Holding up his timer to show Death just a few grains left to trickle through the top bulb he greeted him with 'You're cutting it fine'.
Death laid his scythe against the arm of the wooden bench and stretched before taking a seat next to his friend and giving him a friendly pat on the leg.
'Been busy?' asked Time and Death nodded his shrouded head and replied: 'They are humans, of course i've been busy, always am. Heaven knows what i would do if they ever actually stopped believing that inside every living person with a different view to them is a dead person with a different view waiting to get out'.
'I guess Ukraine and the Middle East has kept you busy' remarked Time who tried his best to keep up with the affairs of man as he made sure the calendar proceeded as it was meant to each day.
'Yep, went quiet for a while there and then whammo. Tell you what, say what you want about the Israeli's but they do tend to kill entire families in their house in one go which makes me job easier, much simpler to usher them all into the afterlife as a large group if they are all in one room'.
'I suppose it is, not much fun for the family though' said Time and Death shrugged and said that it wasn't his problem, 'I just show them the way to whichever afterlife they were expecting to be destined for'.
'Ah, the human life span is so short' uttered Time shaking his head. He had been doing the same job of chasing away the old year and making sure the new year began for eons, 'Yep' agreed Death, 'and some are shorter than others which reminds me, i got that bloke from that show you liked this year, Chandler was it?
'Matthew Perry' said Time, 'Did he not like that' smiled Time whose impression was lost on Death who just said 'doubt it, they never do much although that Pee Wee Herman chap was bouncing around like a lunatic asking if there was a cinema where he was going. Don't know what that was about'.
Time looked at his timer and saw it was a minute to midnight and stood up, removed his 2023 sash and pulled the 2024 one over his head and flattened it against his chest.
'Does 2024 look any better than 2023 for them down there' asked Time watching Death flip the page of his notebook to a new page.
'Hmmm...not for him' said Death, '...or her, or any of them them' he said holding up his book.
'If he knew he was going to die so soon, he would probably have led a better life' said Time pointing to a name written in bold type under June 24.
'If he knew how he was going to die he probably wouldn't have lived at all' said Death adding 'i fully expect his last words to be Arrgghhh....'
Time laughed and stood up saying 'Oh well, it's almost midnight so same time next year old friend' and waved farewell as he stepped through the archway and officially launched what the humans called 2024 but to him was the year 4.543 billion.  
Death stood alone for a few minutes, it was sometimes good to give the humans a few minutes to whirl through their tiny crowded lives, filling their days with the sheer effort of living and proving that there is nothing really damn stupid that humans won’t do, luckily for him.
Picking up his scythe, he checked his notes and set off for his first appointment whistling 'Only The Good Die Young'.