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Remember Bob - Chapter I

by Alex in Toulouse Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 10:12:23 AM EST

Ok, let's see if I can still pull this off, now that I have Agnès' blessing. It will be a short story.

I noted Migeru's post about Falling Down, with Michael Douglas. I hadn't thought of an actual ressemblance, but the gun and psycho/grudge part are definitely there. (great movie too!)

Previous entries:

Remember Bob - Prologue


Chapter 1
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Buying the gun had been yet another annoying chapter in Bob's life. The store had been pretty busy, and Bob had unassumingly lined up in the queue. When it had been his turn to come up to the desk, the clerk had looked over his shoulder and said "next please". Boiling with anger, his average ears and average cheeks turning red, Bob had then muttered to himself, while reading the clerk's name tag: "Bar-na-bas, you just made my list". Bob had then only needed to slam the gun on the desk to get the startled clerk's attention, but it was nevertheless a humiliating experience. Even after that, while handling the payment, and registering the gun, the clerk had never taken his eyes off the desk and the paperwork, seeming utterly oblivious to Bob.

But anyhow, that was all over now. Bob had a gun, and things would now be different.

It was a double-barrel Winchester, and Bob grew instantly attached to it. He gave it a functional name: "Winch", and a dedicated resting place near his sofa. Winch would be an important part of Bob's plan, as Bob was counting on it to get the attention he deserved. A plan which he admittedly recognized as being ambitious, but which he also knew to be fundamentally flawed. His plan's main flaw stemmed from the fact that Acute Memory Syndrome victims were not only serious grudge holders, but also the world's worst procrastinators. There were just so many memories for Bob to choose from that he was never sure he had picked them in the right order. Should he stick to the current plan, or should he now start off with Barnabas, that little tweep at the gun store? At some point Bob was just going to have to trust his choices.

And thus, on this very evening that he had bought the gun, Bob declared that Day 1 of his plan was now officially in motion. But since it was now dark outside, he decided to put off his first planned action until the next morning. He lounged down on his sofa, gave Winch a quick complicit look, grabbed his remote, and turned on the TV.

TV was always a very intense experience for Bob. Even the worst soap commercials would all get hard-wired into him. He knew soap brand names by the hundred. Lime-flavored soaps, delicate-skin soaps, anti-bacterial soaps ... he knew them all. He knew decades of slogans on the benefits of scrubbing hard or scrubbing soft.

He zapped. Newsflash: Ten civilians dead in Baghdad. Zap. President Pufus meeting his cabinet, looking bored. Zap. Ruppert Crostini-Smythe flashing his Antarctic-white teeth at a financial talk show. "Yeah yeah, flash those ugly teeth while you still have them", muttered Bob. Crostini-Smythe was a man Bob had written nine letters to, never getting a single reply. Not even a single acknowledgement. Ruppert would pay like all the others, in due time. Bob's fingers struck at the remote control with cold anger. Zap Zap Zap.

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Well done ! I just hope you will issue the forthcoming chapters with more regularity than I have done so far for my series.

Contrary to "serious" diaries, for which topics are not scarce, one has to be in the right mood to write such stuff.

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill
by Agnes a Paris on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 11:18:05 AM EST
I think Bob had better not alienate (or kill) the gun-shop guy.  He's going to need more ammo at some point.
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 12:32:57 PM EST
Aha but that depends on what he plans on doing with this gun :))
by Alex in Toulouse on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 12:38:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thats called teasing. :-)
by Fran on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 01:04:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hmmm.

What exactly does one do with a gun, besides shoot it?

I guess one could wave it menacingly.  But it's hard to beat someone to death with a Winchester.  (Not that I know this from personal experience... really.)

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 02:03:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Have you ever been to the Winchester Mystery House?  I don't think it's well known outside of California, but it's sort of amazing.  

For anyone not familiar, it's a house built by the woman who inherited the Winchester fortune.  She thought the money was cursed and, apparently, a psychic told her she had to keep building (I've always wondered if the psychic was related to a contractor or carpenter).  

The house has weird rooms, windows and doors in odd places, and stairways to nowhere.  I always thought it was way more interesting than Hearst Castle.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 03:05:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Never heard of it.  But I've been to the Owl House, which is probably nearly as obscure.  It's amazing enough even today, in the tiny town of Nieu Bethesda, surrounded by miles of nothing but mountains and desert... but to think that Helen Martins did all of that starting around 1945, in ultraconservative South Africa... well.
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 03:42:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That Helen Martins is Miss Helen in Athol Fugard's Road to Mecca, fyi...
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 03:51:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks!  I've just spent way too much time browsing through the site.  How big is the house?  Are all the walls and ceilings done by hand?  It looks amazing!

Here's the wiki link to the Winchester house if you're interested.  I've spent the rest of my morning looking through the blog linked.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 04:07:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's... I dunno, small-town-house sized.  A couple of bedrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchen, and maybe a library?  I remember the ceilings feeling rather low, and it was quite dark inside, all the shutters drawn.  All the walls are sparkly -- they're covered with crushed glass mixed into the paint.  The glass is what eventually blinded her, which is when she took her own life, after she was unable to see the "world" she'd created.

Here's one of my photos of the Camel Yard...

Image hosting by Photobucket

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 04:13:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's a great photo!  Better than the ones on the site, I think.  And the stuff about the book and the blindness wasn't on there, either (unless I skimmed past it somehow).  You should do a diary!  Especially if you have more photos.

BTW, after this huge diversion, good story, Alex!!  I meant to say earlier...

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 04:23:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yeah, you know, I hadn't thought about doing a diary till I went & hunted around for that picture.  I do have a few more.

I hadn't been to the website in ages; they've overhauled it considerably.  It looks a lot nicer, but they do seem to have left out or glossed over a couple of things, including her blindness and suicide.  They also don't spend nearly enough time on Koos Malgas, IMHO.

Hmmm... now when am I going to find the time to write a diary?

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 04:28:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This Bob guy doesn't wear a blue Hawaian shirt at all, now, does he? <worry, worry>
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 03:15:18 PM EST
Apparently it's common for readers to think that a writer only writes about himself (I often wonder if "N." is Agnès)

But let me reassure you, my memory is appalling and I get noticed everywhere I go, particularly when I wear a blue Hawaian shirt ;)

by Alex in Toulouse on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 03:19:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I carry some of each of Bob's characteristics, except owning a gun and watching TV commercials... but I have a problem with my memory: due to sheer mass, it is a mess. Often a memory comes to me I can't place in time (less often in space), even more often I need a refresher on hazy details... a giant library of shadows.

(Alex exposed me ... that makes him No. 21,595 on the list...) </bob>

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Mar 13th, 2006 at 04:12:28 PM EST


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