The Story

This was a story that I wrote a few years ago. I hope that you enjoy it.

It was early, but nevertheless, Bob woke totally refreshed. He had taken Friday off and

now it was Saturday, so he could again continue on the epic voyage of getting his book

published. He had already finished 200 pages and he still had a lot to write.

He sat down at his desk and flicked on the computer and pulled out the quantity of

notebooks that he had written everything in. He entered his story and looked at the page

number. It gave him a little charge, 215 pages done. He had really expected to only

complete 150 until he ran out of ideas. So much for that, Bob thought happily.

Bob worked the entire day through and was astonished to see that it was 8

o’clock. It seems that he had been so absorbed his writing, that he’d missed breakfast,

lunch, supper, and he missed calling his mom, which he did every day.

“ Well, it’s way to late to call mom now.” Bob said to his big orange tabby cat,

who had taken up residence on the printer.

Bob read over what he had written, and was in ecstasy. Another twenty pages and

some of the best writing he had ever done. He saved the document and went into the

kitchen, and opened the refrigerator, selecting an apple and made his way through the

junk, to get to his living room. The house he was surprised at seeing was pretty messy.

Well, I have been spending every waking hour either at the computer or at work, he

thought. Bob began the long and torturous effort of cleaning up his house, only getting

the living room minimally cleaned by 10 o’clock.

“ It’s too late to finish cleaning today. I’ll do it tomorrow.” Bob said with a sigh.

Tom, the cat, had other ideas. Seeing that Bob wasn’t at the computer, maybe he

would fill up the waning food reserves in the food bowl, maybe even give Tom some

milk. Tom meowed and squalled until Bob came over to see what was up. It just so

happened that Tom’s food bowl was right beside the front door. Bob thought Tom wanted

to go out, so he picked him up dropped him on the front porch. Tom, thoroughly

unhappy, spent the night out in the rain.

Bob went to bed and then was dead to the world the entire night.

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The next day, Bob awoke to see Tom sitting on his bedroom windowsill, looking

in, his fur drenched. Tom was howling harshly and Bob sprang out of bed to let him back

in. Tom was an inside cat and hated being wet, even more that not eating, being that he

was a chubby cat. After letting Tom back in and drying him off, Bob brushed his teeth,

ate breakfast and traveled back to the computer.

Grateful for being let back in, Tom curled up on Bob’s lap and fell to sleep with

the sound of keys clicked in his ears.

Bob worked away his Sunday, typing until his fingers were sore. He got another

twenty five pages typed and finished a lot later than he wanted to. he went to sleep and

dreamed about his completed story being on the bestseller list. The rest of the week went

by in a blur, Bob itching to get back to his computer. Then, the sun rose in all its glorious

splendor. Saturday. Bob rushed to the computer and words poured onto the pages.

Bob’s life was like this for almost three months. Then, on a rainy Saturday in

April, Bob wrote those two wonderful words. The End. Bob then reread his story,

proofreading it. He especially liked the beginning.

The water was calm, so still, it looked like glass, but the creature below waited.

The beginning always gave him a chill. It was a really good hook line.

“ Finally, I won’t have to work at that stupid computer company,” Bob said to

Tom who was completely oblivious to his ecstasy. Bob put the manuscript in a manila

envelope and went to the post office. After mailing his package, he practically skipped

back to his car and drove home, a gleam in his eye.

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Almost two weeks later, Bob received what to him looked like a very professional

letter from the publishing company. It was a letter from his agent telling him that the

publishing company he’d sent his manuscript to had agreed to publish his story and pay

him royalties. His agent also said that the book would be on the bookstore shelves in a

month.

Bob took his letter and framed it. He hung it over the computer desk, where it

could be seen by anybody who happened to come over to visit. Then he waited. Almost

exactly a month later, he received his first check.

Bob sat in his boss’s office, requesting vacation time.

“ Come on Artie,” Bob said pleadingly. “ I’ve worked without a vacation for two

years. I think I deserve it.”

“ Okay,” Artie replied, “ You get two weeks off. Get going and have a nice time.”

Bob launched himself out of the office and sprinted over to his best friend’s

cubicle.

“ Hey, I’m going on vacation, and I was wondering if you could take care of Tom

for me.”

“ Sure man, Have a nice vacation.”

Bob left the office that day, a bounce in his step.

Once he got home, Bob went on the Internet and searched for a vacation to

remember. He looked and looked, until he found a white water rafting trip.

“ Ha!” He said to a lounging Tom, “ This is perfect.”

He immediately booked the trip, which was a week away, and set to getting his

affairs in order. He cleaned his house, more than in the entire five years in which he had

owned it. Tom knew something was up, as he was following Bob everywhere he went,

until Bob got out the vacuum cleaner. Tom’s tail bristled and the poor cat bolted for the

bedroom, where he proceeded to bury himself as far under the bed as possible. There he

stayed until the vacuuming was done.

Then, more quickly than Bob could have hoped, the day he was to leave on his

trip arrived. The sun awoke and the day started out perfect. Bob gave Tom, a huge

squeeze, a handful of treats and closed the door behind him. On his way to the airport,

Bob stopped back at the office and gave the keys to his house to his best friend. Then he

got to the sprawling airport and proceed to have a vacation he would never forget.

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Late that night, Bob arrived at the destination. Mombasa. There was a room at

the best hotel in the city, waiting for him. Bob sloughed into the hotel and up the stairs to

his room. It was small and not the cleanest place in the world, but after having spent

twenty hours on an airplane, it was like a palace. He collapsed on the bed and felt

promptly to sleep.

The next day, Bob joined the other rafting adventurers on a rickety old tour bus

and they headed off to the “White-water heaven” as the Internet put it. They arrived and

stood there looking dumbstruck at the muddy stream that was lazily flowing past.

“ Where’s the “ White-water heaven?” one of the tourists, a rich dentist by the

name of James asked. “ The Internet showed a picture of white water. What’s this,

somebody’s spring?”

“ Uh...” The tour guide looked confused, “ This is the river.”

“ I want my money back,” James, the dentist, said, “ I paid almost a thousand

dollars to be here.”

“ Well, the river gets swifter farther down.” The guide said quickly. “ Tourists

usually start here and work their way down.”

The dentist did not look at all convinced, but he got in the rubber aft anyway and

picked up a paddle. They all soon joined him and they shoved off. They floated lazily

along, until they rounded a bend and saw that the river disappeared. The tourists, guide,

raft, and paddles plunged over the waterfall. They bobbed again at the surface, the raft

about six inches farther down in the water, due to the twenty gallons of muddy brown

river water that now swirled in the bottom. Bob was soaked, but ecstatic. This is what he

had come here for, not that brown sludge above them, that now cascaded down the

waterfall.

The relived guide said proudly, “See, I told you.”

The group paddled along in the swift current, bucketful’s of water pouring over

the sides as Bob and the dentist volunteered to scoop out the water inside the boat.

The water slowly became calm, almost glass like as they drifted farther away from

the waterfall, now only a faint speck in the distance. The boat continued to go along

calmly until they all felt a jolt.

“ What was that?” Bob asked apprehensively.

“ Oh, just a rock,” The guide replied.

Bob thought the guide looked anxious, but didn’t say anything.

At that exact moment, Bob looked out over the side and saw two gray ears

bobbing towards them. He was about to say something to the guide when the ears leaped

out of the water at the boat. It just so happens that the ears were connected to a large and

thoroughly unhappy male hippopotamus. The hippo landed right in the middle of the raft,

making both ends fold in towards each other. Bob was rocketed off his seat and landed

with a splash in the water. He came up gasping and looked to see another set of ears

moving towards him. He doggiepaddled as fast as he could, and scrambled out of the

water on top of the first hippo. By now, the entire herd of hippos were roaring and

splashing around the decimated rubber raft. Bob found a paddle and began beating one

over the head. This just made it angrier and so Bob quickly stopped. Finally, the hippos

stopped attacking the raft and made their way back to shore. Bob looked around at his

companions. The dentist had a broken arm where a hippo had sat on it when he had been

at the bottom. Everybody else had fared better, except the guide who had a huge bruise on

his side where a hippo had kicked him. They flopped ashore at the end of the trip, where

the tour bus was waiting. Every one of the tourists, except Bob sued the whitewater

rafting company. Bob’s point of view was that he wasn’t hurt and actually, he thought

that was one of the most exciting vacations he had ever gone on.

Bob finished his two week vacation, by renting a kayak and paddling down the

same river, except he bypassed the hippos.

Bob arrived back in the states, with a suntan and a kayak. It seems that he had

enjoyed the kayaking trip so much, that he bought a kayak for himself. He wrote a book

about his adventure and retired almost as rich as James, the dentist.