bob ford liked to go for long walks in the rain.
he received permission from his parole officer, mr chester a arthur, to go for a walk.
rain had been predicted for the afternoon and evening of thursday, so bob asked ms emily post, his shift supervisor at the five and ten cent store, if he could leave early “on a personal matter”.
ms post had been satisfied with bob’s work in the preceding weeks, so she readily gave her permission.
as much as he looked forward to these excursions, bob also felt a secret trepidation whenever he embarked on one.
he was afraid of coming face to face with jesse james.
bob knew that jesse was dead, shot in the back by himself, bob ford, in a particularly cowardly and treacherous manner, but he still had to struggle against the feeling that he might encounter jesse at any bend in the road of life.
so he forced himself to confront his fear, as he was advised to do by the numerous self help books he
read on his time off.
bob was one of the most despised humans who ever walked the earth, so he had plenty of time to himself, and he read a lot of books, mostly self help books.
so, on thursday afternoon he set off. although he liked the rain, there were limits to how much he liked the rain, and he carried an umbrella with him, as well as a ham and cheese sandwich in case he should get hungry. the sandwich had plenty of mustard on it.
he had gotten two miles out of town, the sun was beginning to set and he was feeling a bit disappointed that the rain had not begun.
and then - just like that - the rain came down.
did it ever!
the rain came down as it had never come down before.
bob could hardly see two feet ahead of him.
well, he thought, i asked for it.
then he heard a car coming up behind him. he wondered f he should try to flag it down and hitch a ride.
after all, he had come out with the express purpose of walking in the rain.
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