Bob always knew he was special -- 9/5/21

 

Bob Always Knew He Was Special

By: Carrie Keiser

Time was running out, he needed to make a decision.  What to do, what to do? Robert Marcus Jones looked out the window and it came to him, he would take the job, move across the country and go for it.

His family wouldn’t be happy with this decision, but coming home wouldn’t be a big deal for him. Bob, as everyone called him, could be home in an instant.  What they didn’t know, but he had know for oh so long, was that if Bob thought of a place he could just go there. He had discovered this one night after being read a story based in Ireland. His mother had been reading him, Brave Margaret An Irish Adventure by Robert D. San Souci. After she tucked him into his bed the night they finished the book, he was thinking about visiting Ireland one day. He closed his eyes to imagine the lush countryside and beautiful sea. When he opened them again, he was standing in the Irish country overlooking the Irish Sea. He was so surprised, he thought he was dreaming. Bob closed his eyes again and thought of his bed, opened them and realized he had returned.  As a five year old, he could hardly believe his own eyes and was sure that had not really happened. 

The next few times something like this happened, he filed it away as a dream or a daydream, and never told another person. When he became a teenager and had gotten into an argument with his parents about whether he could attend a part or not, he stormed off toward his room, thinking of the party and was there by the mailbox of house hosting the party. He walked up the driveway and enjoyed the evening with his friends. He was a good kid and he didn’t make any bad decisions. At the end of the evening, he strolled back down the driveway and thought of his room as he hit the road and the next step put him in the middle of the bedroom just as his mother knocked on the door. He slowly opened the door and she asked him if he had calmed down now and wanted his cold dinner. She had thought he’d been in the room the whole time. He realized that he really had been there and it wasn’t a dream.  

Bob had to watch his thoughts when he was around others so he wouldn’t accidentally end up leaving a room suddenly and cause his family or friends to wonder what was happening. He graduated high school and went on to higher education and never once told his parents about this ability. Bob had visited many places on evenings and weekends when his parents had thought he was camping or asleep in his room. He did wonder if other people could do what he could, but was afraid that if he told someone they would lock him up. He now was faced with this great job opportunity in Maine, but being that he was an only child his parents were not as thrilled with him going so far away. He assured them that he could come home almost every weekend for Sunday dinners. They thought he was crazy, the cost to fly home every week was too high and knew that he wouldn't be able to afford that for long.

He raised his hand, closed his eyes, opened them and knocked on his parents front door.

They didn’t know. Bob always knew he was special.

By: Colleen Holmquist

Bob always knew he was special. At least he’d heard that for as far back as his memory could reach. But was he really? He had no Marvel alter ego, no invitation to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he hadn’t flown to the moon, discovered a cure for cancer, scored a winning touchdown in the Super Bowl; nor was any Helen Keller.

 He had ridden the regular bus to school. He ate whatever he wanted: no lactose intolerance or celiac disease, no nut allergies. He was 5 foot 9 inches tall—which to him seemed rather short, but a quick Google search confirmed that he was average. He felt kinda pudgy so maybe his weight?—exactly 197.9 lbs.  Once again, Google assured him that he was… average. Brown eyes? Nothing special there… hair? Gray. His car? a white Honda Accord…This Google search activity was depressing! Maybe his house? 2301 square feet, lot 8932 square feet. Check. Family size–he never had been able to explain that number—no matter how he did the math it was always 3.01 persons which—yep, you guessed it—exactly the norm, again.

After a few hours of comparing himself to the national averages: he looked at age (38.4 years) education, number of cavities, income, $88,858, time spent watching movies and tv shows etc. 

Bob pushed his chair away from the computer. Methodically, as if all meaning was leaking through his feet into the floorboards, he stood, head drooping and walked to the window. At first, he stared blankly at the grass, then raising his eyes almost imperceptibly, he focused on the sidewalk in front of his yard. Nope nothing there; once more he elevated his vision just a tiny bit and then, transfixed, he observed a car rolling slowly and silently by his house. It stopped at the property line of the adjacent dwelling. Bob’s gaze rested on the vehicle’s green door. He noticed the red side mirrors and the intersecting lines; he saw figures resembling people on the sides. Intrigued, Bob squinted and read, “GoogleMaps street view.” He lifted his eyes to the car’s roof, “I wonder….”

And then…something clicked, “I need to use a different search engine!” he proclaimed. And in that moment his life did a “180.” He could just feel “specialness” infusing his being through the floorboards.

BY: Aaron Leavitt

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but Bob knew deep down he was special. Not just in the “everyone is a special and unique flower” way, something that truly set him apart. Despite that he’d had what could only be described as a spectacularly mundane life. He’d made solidly invisible grades in school, and the same sort of progress at work. Always good enough to make people happy, never quite good enough to really stand out in any way.

He sat there trying to reconcile those two, staring out at the river far below. Here on this bridge was where he often did his best thinking, mind not otherwise engaged, walking to or from work, or in moments like this, pausing to look out at the world at large and contemplate. He’d been here with his thoughts for no more than a half an hour when he heard shouting, which he tried to ignore, then a series of increasingly loud bangs. Bob turned just a moment too late and found himself flung from the bridge. 

Eighty feet, it was a funny thing to think in that moment, but that was how far the drop was, he’d read it somewhere in passing and filed it away. That was what was ahead of him, as he arced away from the bridge, and then quietly came to rest, completely failing to fall like he should have. He stood up, out there, some thirty feet from the railing he’d been flung over a steaming car hanging where he’d been a moment before. Dozens of people with their mouths wide open, completely shocked. Bob decided he was alright, dusted himself off and walked off into the distance through the air. Leaving the rest of the people there with half a story and a mountain of questions.

BY: Hokan & Vanessa Holmquist

Bob always knew he was special.

Thought one day he could be essential.

But he lacked the revenant credentials.

And that drove him quite mental.

August 29, 2021

BY: Myrna Flynn

Bob Always Knew He Was Special

When Bob entered the world, everyone in the birthing room was astounded at how easily he slid out into the midwife's waiting hands. His mother and father knew he was special.

They had not decided what to name him. They looked at each other and exclaimed at the same time, "Bob"! Bob Bob Manderley was the name recorded on his birth certificate. It ws a little strange to give a child middle name as his first name, but it was what they settled on.

All through his growing up years, Bob was sure the reason he was special was because his given name were spelled the same both ways. That was the only thing that he could see was different than his friends.

He was not especially tall or handsome. He was of average height and build. He was neither thin nor fat but there was an aura surrounding him that all could feel. The only things that stood out was the warmness of his smile and the bright twinkle of kindness in his eyes.

Any other child given the same name for both given names might have been teased or laughed at, but Bob was not. Girls and boys felt safe and secure in his presence. No one was jealous or envious of him, until the day that Jake, a new kid at school, whose aura was dark and scary, tried to attack him. Jake approached him with his hands on his hips and spit in Bob's face.

He thought he could break through Bob's barrier of specialness. Bob calmly wiped the spittle off his face, smiled at Jake and enveloped him in a hug. Jake pulled out of the hug, backed away, cowering and cringing in fear. Jake was special also, but his specialness was evil. He stumbled away, turned and ran out of the school. Jake could not stay in contact with goodness.

When Bob became an adult, he decided that his roll in life was to help those who were struggling and thought they were useless and had no purpose in life. Those who felt unwanted, unneeded and unloved.

The profession he chose to become was a doctor of holistic medicine. He treated his patients with natural remedies and understanding.

He finally realized that it was not his name that made him special. It was his empathy and compassion.

BOB ALWAYS KNEW HE WAS SPECIAL

Story Slingers Prompt

8/28/21

Daren Flynn

Bob always knew he was special.

From the day he was born,

His over-proud father, once a day,

Told Bob to toot his horn.

His dad knew, without a doubt,

And told everyone Bob was blessed.

And he encouraged Bob to never

Forget that he was the best.

So Bob grew to believe he

Was better than all his peers

And thought that he deserved to

Be the recipient of everyone's cheers.

But Bob treated everyone so poorly

That they all felt like dirt.

When his companions turned their backs

And didn't cheer, Bob was hurt.

So Bob learned to treat others

As he would like to be.

Now he knows that his friends

Are special too. Do you agree?

Why are things always so complicated, and hard?  That was the questions running through Bob’s mind.  Life was so messy and convoluted.  He didn’t have space for those kinds of questions in his head at the moment.  Bob had been an innocent bystander when someone yelled bomb, and all heck broke loose.  

He was NOT on the bomb squad, in fact, Bob was not al all prepared for what was staring him in the face.  There was a bright flashing light, and a count down clock that was now dow to two minutes.  He had seen enough action movies to know you always cut the red wire, that is what they always shout at the hero.  Bob stared down at the bundle of wires, “yeah cut the red wire!  Great advice, if only I wasn’t color blind!” Bob yelled at the infernal device.  

The clock was relentlessly counting down and there was no help in sight.  Bob offered a quick prayer, sure this was going to be his last day on earth.  When he opened his eyes there was a strange color assaulting his eyes.  In a split second Bob realized he was seeing red!  A red flashing light, angry red numbers quickly ticking off the clock, and a glaringly bright red wire intertwined with all the other wires.

Bob reached with his nail clippers and snipped the red wire, and just like in all his favorite action movies the flashing red light died and the clock stopped with 2 seconds to spare!  He couldn’t believe his luck.  What were the odds.  Grateful to be alive and in one piece his ever present thought of being special was finally realized and , Bob quietly offered a quick prayer of relief and thanksgiving.  Upon opening his eyes again, he expected to see things the way he was used to, but to his happy surprise, Bob still saw red.  It was his new found super power!