(Page 1 of 4) The Forwards Story by Richard Ridyard
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SUMMARY: A short story about the life of Ben.The Forwards Story
By Richard Ridyard
Benjamin woke up on a long hard table, naked except for a thin white sheet of cloth
covering his middle section.
As the pretty lady in the green gown replaced his internal organs and stitched him
back up, she explained to him all about his miraculous rescue from the hole in the
ground he'd been found in yesterday. It had taken his three brothers and favourite
nephew, along with the local priest, to heave him out of the six-foot deep aperture.
He'd also been inexplicably locked in a heavy wooden box by some unknown fiend.
His eyes welled as she told him how his darling wife had cried her eyes out at his
reappearance.
She thought she'd never see him again.
Benjamin dressed in old, familiar clothes and thanked the green-gowned lady for all
her help. He waited patiently outside to be picked up and taken home.
He watched as a stray dog dragged its hind along the pavement, ironically wiping
away some mess that had been there.
He smiled at that.
He was feeling much better already - his ordeal almost forgotten.
Two hefty men, dressed in white, insisted that Benjamin take a seat as they put him
into their van and drove him home to his loving family.
The next few weeks passed without event, and Benjamin was happier than he'd ever
been. He couldn't help but get bored though, being in the house all day long with
nothing but old books, crosswords and television to pass his time. He'd pottered
around in the garden for a while, but found that he had no knack for it. Everything he
planted seemed to wither and die, shrinking into almost nothing in a very short time.
Benjamin decided he had to get himself a job.
He had heard from his friends that the job market was in a bad way. Most of the local
companies were letting people go - especially people of his vintage - but oddly he
found himself work without any great difficulty whatsoever. And it wasn't just any
old job either; it was a very important, managerial job.
Things were looking up.
Benjamin felt like a very lucky guy.
Unfortunately the initial euphoria at landing such a plum position almost immediately
gave way to disappointment. The job was incredibly stressful, and was making him
quite unhappy. There was just so much responsibility. He felt like it was a job for a
younger man and decided to ask for a demotion. He wasn't embarrassed at all asking
for this, he'd tried his best after all, but his age was against him. His boss quite
happily transferred him to a role with less responsibility, and Benjamin became far
more relaxed.
It was worth the drop in salary just to forget about all the stress.
Money wasn't really an issue anyway as both of his daughters were grown up and
married. In fact he'd somehow managed to make a large sum of money from the
wedding of his eldest daughter. He couldn't quite figure it out, but he guessed that it
was some sort of promotion from the hotel that served as venue for the event. They
paid him monthly fees after the wedding and then finally a large lump sum.
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