Bob and Larry - Rewind

So the last episode of Bob and Larry was pretty... weak. I think the problem was that Bob is just not very interesting without Larry. I was trying to create a situation where they could get together again, but it never materialized, and before I knew it Bob's house was being destroyed by a tornado. So NOT the direction I was aiming. So just forget it ever happened. Here we go again. Perhaps a bit from Larry's perspective this time?





Larry got to the office precisely thirty minutes early, as usual. He parked in the same parking spot, third to last in the row next to the spindly weeping willow tree. He sat in his car with eyes closed for a moment, listening to the ticking of the engine and breathing deeply. A broad smile spread across his face and his shoulders relaxed.

"Time to face the day Larry!" He said, and opened the door and stepped out, stretching his legs and back muscles after the long commute. Reaching back in he popped the trunk and then locked and closed the door. Walking around to the back of the car he pulled his backpack and a red six-pack cooler from the trunk. He placed the backpack carefully on his back, even adjusting and buckling the waist strap before picking up the cooler and setting off towards the building. As he passed the weeping willow, he reached out his free hand and slapped the rough bark affectionately.

"Good Morning Old Man Willow!" he said, smiling up into the drooping branches. "Keep a good watch on my car, as usual!" Larry saw the bemused stares of other employees in the parking lot and waved cheerily. When he reached the door he waved his id card in front of the reader which beeped green, unlatching the lock. He pulled the door open with one finger and stepped inside.
"Good Morning Larry!" the receptionist said. Larry stood just inside the door for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim lobby after the bright morning sunshine.
"The lovely lady Lana!" he responded with a wide grin. "And how are those kitties doing today?" He asked as he walked across the floor to the reception desk. Lana's face flushed with happiness as she began gushing on about the latest additions to her collection of cats. Larry listened intently, asking questions and making appropriate noises to express his utter love of all things feline until Lana had to answer the phone. "Give them all a hug for me!" he mouthed to her as he walked away and she winked and nodded back.
Past the reception desk the cubicle farm began. Larry's cube was two-thirds of the way back, on the side opposite the windows. He could see outside only if he stood up and craned his neck around the support pillar, but he was fond of bragging about his "cube with a view" to anyone who cared to listen.
As he worked his way through the cube farm, he waved and greeted everyone warmly. Some responded in kind, others seemed to merely tolerate his cheerfulness, but nobody seemed to be seriously annoyed. When he got to his cube, he reached down and typed his login information with one hand, before even setting anything down. It took upwards of five minutes for the cranky old box to perform it's login routine, and Larry went about the business of starting his day while he waited for it. The cooler was placed precisely beneath the desk next to the laptop bag that he never used to take his computer home in. Next to the lunch box went the backpack. Being summertime, there was no jacket to hang on the hook just outside the cubicle but even so, Larry reached one hand out to caress the brass hook as he walked past on his way to the break area for coffee.
More cheerful greetings and brief conversations with those he met on his way and then at the exact moment that the hourglass next to his mouse pointer disappeared, Larry sat down at his desk and placed his steaming cup of coffee on the coaster just to the right of his mousepad. He had just opened his e-mail program when his eye caught the motion of the office door opening. He glanced up and the smile on his face froze for a second as he recognized the person who had just arrived at the office. Larry bowed his head over his keyboard for a moment, and took a couple of deep breaths. His lips moved silently for a moment, and then when he raised his head the genuinely friendly smile had returned and he stood and walked out of the cube, striding purposefully towards the man he had just seen entering the office.
"Good Morning Bob!" Larry's friendly voice rang out across the cubicle dividers. Bob's face reddened almost imperceptibly and his pace quickened. Larry caught up to him just as he arrived at the doorway to an office looking out over the cubicle area. Bob had his key out but Larry stepped in front of him and started talking about the hockey game. Bob stared blankly at a spot three feet behind Larry's chest while Larry prattled on, eventually asking Bob if he wanted him to get some tickets for the next game. The occupants of the nearby cubes watched eagerly, wondering what, if anything Bob would say. Bob never said anything to anyone except the Director. Occasionally someone would get an e-mail from him, but as yet, nobody had any idea what his voice sounded like. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Bob gestured towards his door with the key, ending the impasse. Larry stepped back so that Bob could open his office.
"Yeah, you're right Bob, back to the ole' grindstone! Have a great day!" Larry said and aimed a friendly slap at Bob's back. Bob sidestepped the hand and slipped through the door into his office and slammed the door.
Larry stood there for a few seconds, the friendly smile still on his face but looking somehow strained and out of place. Then, turning Larry walked quietly back to his cubicle and sat down in front of his computer. Once again, he bowed his head over his keyboard and breathed deeply for a few seconds while his lips moved silently. Then, with a small shake of his head he straightened up and reached for his coffee.

© 2009 Tyler Willson. All rights reserved

Bob without Larry for once...

A short episode of Bob and Larry today... I am not entirely sure where this is going, only that I want Bob and Larry to have an adventure of some sort together. In case you want to read the previous episodes...

Bob and Larry Part 1

Bob and Larry Part 2

Sunday dawned gray and colorless. Bob awoke refreshed. The fresh air and exercise from yesterday must have been good for him. He rolled out of bed and began his morning routine. After selecting his morning playlist on his MP3 player, got in the shower. After showering and shaving he sat down to breakfast. As he ate he scanned a few news sites on his laptop. Although he read several, the link on his shortcut list always pointed to the Tech section. Any other news bored him with its irrelevance to his world.

As he scrubbed his dishes off in the sink afterwards, Bob noticed the first few sprinkles of rain splattering across the kitchen window. Worry briefly flickered across his face but he quickly shoved it out of his mind.

When the power went out, Bob was immersed in a thick book of obscure technical knowledge. The sudden sound startled him back to the present and he realized that rain was pounding furiously on the windows and that the trees outside were whipping wildly in the wind. The sudden silence in the house felt thick and ominous, and what little light there was coming through the windows was sickly and yellow. Bob looked out nervously and watched pieces of a neighbor's roof fly past. The roar of the wind increased and now he could hear other pieces of debris hitting the outside of his house, then the sound of glass shattering. Bob jumped and ran away from the window, not sure what to do. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered hearing something about taking shelter in a bathtub, so he sprinted down the hall to the bathroom. With no external windows and no electricity, the room was pitch black and in his haste, Bob collided with the toilet and fell writhing in pain on the floor. As he lay there he heard a new sound, like a giant beast growling in fury as the timbers of his house began to fail under the strain. Bob scrabbled to climb into the bathtub and huddled on the bottom, shaking with terror as his house disintegrated around him.

© 2009 Tyler Willson. All rights reserved

Bob and Larry, continued...

The Assignment: Take a character you've used before (preferably a part of an ongoing project) and give them a day off.  That is a little break from the story line to lay back a bit, maybe collect their thoughts, and just take it easy.

Part One of Bob and Larry

Days off were pure hell. Bob saw himself with two choices: stay cooped up at home and be miserable, or go out and be miserable. He was really only comfortable in his office with his head buried in lines of code. Making his electronic slaves do ever more fantastic tricks by imagining newer and more novel ways to manipulate memory space, processor time, and bandwidth. His manager had long ago banned him from working from home. He thought it was unhealthy for Bob to spend every hour of every weekend working. Plus, the testing department just couldn't keep up with him.

Bob sighed and sat on the bottom step staring at his shoes, positioned neatly on the doormat. He had intended to go for a drive in the country, find a deserted country road where he could just drive for hours and be out of the house and alone. He clutched a Google map in one hand with directions to just such a road. And yet, he remained there on the bottom step, indecisively staring at his shoes.

Closing his eyes, he put his head between his knees and took a few long, slow breaths. Then, he resolutely stood up and walked to the door. Slipping on his shoes, he opened the door and stepped outside. The bright morning sun glared in his eyes, and he squinted up and down the road in both directions. When he was satisfied that nobody was coming, he locked the door and walked quickly down the stairs. He was fumbling to get his key in the car door when he was startled by a voice.

"Well Bob! Fancy meeting you here! I thought I knew everyone in the neighborhood, and yet I had no idea that someone from my office lived just down the street!"

Larry. His friendly smile as wide as ever and his happy face sweaty with the exertion of an early morning jog. Bob froze, staring at his own reflection in the window.

"Where you off to so early in the morning? Got a hot date or something? Good looking guy like you probably has to beat them off with a stick huh?" Larry guffawed at his own joke, but Bob started frantically jiggling the car keys in the lock. 

"You got a sticky keyhole there Bob? I got some WD-40 in my garage that'll fix that right up. You know what they say about that Bob? If it moves and it should stay still, use duct tape. If it stays still and it should move, use WD-40! Right Bob? Right?" Bob finally got the door unlocked, and wrenched the door open. He slid into the seat and slammed the door on Larry's self-amused laughter. His hands were shaking so badly that he had to fumble with the ignition too, but Larry still stood there, watching him and rambling on as if Bob was not behind a glass and sheet metal wall. Finally the ignition switch turned, the engine purred to life, and without another look at Larry, Bob pulled the gearshift into reverse and backed out of the driveway. As he drove off, he risked one glance at the rearview mirror to see that Larry was still standing there at the end of his driveway watching him drive off. One hand raised briefly in a farewell wave, and Bob flinched and pushed even harder on the gas pedal.

Hours later, he had finally found a place to relax. Although Bob was not a big fan of nature per se, at least he was alone and he had a good viewpoint so that he could see if anyone was approaching. It was a small state park at the site of some inconsequential Civil War battle, and after following a trail for a mile or two, Bob had found a scenic overlook at the top of a bald hill. He sat there in the afternoon sun, actually enjoying the warmth of it on his face. He forgot for a second his disgust at the filthiness of the wooden bench he was sitting on, as he reveled in the enjoyment of the pure aloneness he felt. No sound but the distant calls of birds reached his ears. Bob sat in that same spot for almost four hours, until he noticed that the sun was nearing the western hills. The thought of finding his way back along the trail in the dark petrified him and he sprinted almost the entire distance back to his car. He arrived back at the car just as the sun disappeared and pulled into his driveway long after dark.

Not bad, Bob decided, as far as days off go.

© 2009 Tyler Willson. All rights reserved