"I was bitten must have been the devil"

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Bob's Nightmare

This is Bob (well, not really but for this story Michael Douglas will play the role of Bob).  Bob loves America, and baseball, and apple pie. Bob is a staunch Republican who lives in a nice New Jersey suburb and commutes to New York City. Bob has a high credit rating and pays his taxes, he has a great investment portfolio, excellent insurance benefits, and an amazing retirement plan. Bob is doing pretty well for himself, good for Bob, he is an American success story.

One thing Bob doesn't comprehend though is why he needs to pay higher taxes so people who don't have life as good as him can have insurance for their families. He boasts to his friends " I worked hard, and got a good job, is it my fault these people don't have insurance? They didn't work hard and don't have good jobs, that's not my fault".

One afternoon he is talking with his coworkers about this at the Corner Deli, the girl behind the counter over hears his gripes about insurance and says to him "I beg to differ, I work 50 hours a week, on my feet all day. Cutting meat, making salads, unloading trucks and the owner of this deli doesn't offer insurance, I work just as hard as you do sir, but I got pregnant at 16 and had to drop out of high school, this is the best job I can get, so yes, I need insurance that is provided by the taxpayers". Bob replies " well, it is not my fault or anyone else's fault that your life is messed up, you should have put the kid up for adoption and gone to college and gotten a better job". The woman now very upset says, "we can't ALL have good jobs, sir, and a hex on you for your attitude".

By the next morning Bob had forgotten all about the ordeal, he headed out in the morning and stopped at his favorite coffee spot, but something was wrong. There were no employees. On the counter was now a coffee machine, coffee and mugs, with a sign next to it that read 'make your coffee, clean your cup and move on'. Bob was puzzled, where were the workers? He backed out of the cafe and took his train to the city. When he got off the train he noticed hundreds of cabs lined up with nobody in the driver seats, when he walked up to a cab there were keys on the seat and a note 'drive yourself to work'. Bob checked his watch, he was running late and the world was going crazy. He walked the 10 blocks to work and when he arrived he noticed that the floors hadn't been mopped and the trash wasn't taken out. He ran into the bathroom in a cold sweat and found his boss, the CEO, scrubbing the toilets. "What in the name of God are you doing!?" exclaimed Bob, the puzzled boss looked and him and said "well, there are no more jobs that don't offer insurance, so we must do all the work ourselves from now on.". Bob ran from the building looking around, everywhere he looked people were doing menial jobs. People in business suits unloading trucks, washing toilets at McDonalds, and the deli? Quickly, Bob ran to the deli and found the woman who had hexed him yesterday. "What's going on? what have you done?"  "Well, you see Bob, everyone has to do things for themselves now, any job that doesn't offer insurance or where it costs too much for the employee to afford has been eliminated. See, there are jobs that do offer insurance, but they charge the employee so much for it, that they need state assistance, but that is gone now and now everyone goes to college and gets good jobs like you, the only problem is now there is no one to do the little things that make your day easier".

Bob runs from the deli screaming, and a man in a business suit driving a taxi hits and kills him.

Bob wakes up in a sweat, gets dressed and goes right to the corner deli. He walks up to the lady who is checking inventory coming off of a truck and says "I'm an proud American and I'm proud to be able to help another  American like you, thank you for what you do."

The End

11 comments:

  1. This sounds exactly like the premise of the novel I want to write. Atlas Flinched, or something. ; )

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  2. Good yarn. But, sell the Republican bagger right on that. Take from the poor and give to the rich - that is what Jesus taught.

    Well, perhaps not...


    Sarge

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  3. Kev- Sorry about that ;) my inspiration actually comes from early Stephen King novels that take place in the extremely conservative and very bleak future, ie. The Long Walk, The Running Man, etc.

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  4. Sarge- I doubt that story would ever change the mind of a bagger. They think every person who needs assistance for insurance is a drug dealing, uneducated, African American.

    This is not the case. I am one who uses the state insurance for my children because I cannot afford the horrible insurance plan that my work offers.
    I pay $80 a week for just the wife and I and that covers nothing. There is a $3,500 deductible for all procedures, test and whatnot's. If the kids were on the same plan it would be $120 a week so they are on HUSKY as well as my wife (while she's pregnant). I work long hours outside all day, and cannot afford the weekly rate, plus with that killer deductible I basically have to cover all of the medical bills myself. It's a crime, I'd be better off having no insurance at all, but then, I'd have a hard time finding a doctor to see me, so the $80 a week is basically what I pay for a smoke screen into making the doctors believe I have insurance when I really don't.
    How's that for fair?

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  5. you get Life insurance over 50 policy instantly because many profit of this policy like money problem, health problem, physical problem, disease problem all problems solve this policy.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Well Red Mosquito, I think you are being spammed by meaina, who appears not to see the flaw in logic that if you complain of being stretched thin to afford health insurance you are therefore in the market to buy life insurance.

    OK, not to pick on your commenters, and by my uncharitable opening I hope you don't think I dropped by to throw dirt on contemporary storytelling. On the contrary I liked it, it has some suspense, like would Bob ever grow an empathy brain cell. It had character development, creative. Very nice. I think I could dance to it. Not sure is it fantasy, scifi, or a parable but I liked it.

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  8. Fringe- Thanks, I actually like to write short stories occasionally with a Twilight Zone type spin.

    I have no idea where this insurance spammer came from. Maybe the Right has insurance complaints on Google Alert and automatically tries to sell insurance when they hear of someone complaining about it.

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  9. The Right. I am more to the Right of Center than Left of Center. I understand the need for better insurance coverage FOR ALL...however, we are not big money rakers and we have the choice of high priced insurance with co-pay and no deductible or low priced insurance with a high deductible and no co-pay becuz of the high deductible. We chose the latter. I figured I was paying so much out-of-pocket anyway for meds on top of what was being taken out of the paycheck for the insurance coverage I might just as well pick the low cost/high deductible. The only 'good' thing is it will save us from utter ruin if there is a high priced medical procedure that comes up. I don't like any of it but I was not thrilled with the choice that Obama care gives either. I am a conservative but I am not rich.

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  10. Nancy, Bob is not a representative of all Republicans, I know there are blue collar conservatives out there who know that people need help. Consider Bob like Ebenezer Scrooge, an elitist, who believes that our problems are not his responsibility. Bob doesn't realize that if we want America to be strong, we need to help the weak stand on their own two feet. Now, I don't like handing out benefits to those that choose not to work and are a drain on our society any more than Bob does, but being a good person means seeing the difference between an inner city delinquent who'd rather live off state assistance than work and a hard working person like the woman in the deli.
    Bob is a person who sees the woman and the leech as all the same person. He carries the Republican elitist attitude of "you should have gotten a job like me", the story was just to point out to those that think like that that we cannot all have high paying jobs, because, who will take the trash out?
    Thanks for your comments.

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  11. Bryan,
    I wonder how the Bobs of the world would fare if they were suddenly thrust into the shoes of those whom they disparage. At any rate, good storytelling.

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